Born A Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood
Ratings617
Average rating4.6
I like Trevor Noah. I randomly watched him a while ago and I thought he was really funny, so I watched some more and I really liked him, but I can't say I'm a fan. I don't follow him and I just found out he's hosting a show after I started reading this book. It's also unusual for me to read this book, I attempted reading memoirs before, but I couldn't get into them, so when I saw this book and thought 'yeah, I want to read that' it was uncharacteristic.
I was expecting, based on Trevor Noah's stand-up, to enjoy this book, but I was not expecting to find things I can relate to. I'm from the other side of the world so being able to relate to some aspects of life in South Africa was quite a surprise.
I liked the narration a lot, I didn't feel at any point that it was being made light of the situations or dramatising them, but simply relating things as they happened. I liked the format a lot too, various things that were properly told about later in the book were mentioned in earlier chapters, before we got the whole picture. I read this book the same way I would listen to someone tell me about their life and I think that was the intended way for this autobiography to be read.
I could go ahead and write about the things I liked, the ones I related to, the ones that made me sad, but then I would do this book no justice. 'Born a Crime' is an experience and I feel like finding out about what's in it by reading a review rather than picking up the book and reading it yourself takes away from how good reading it actually is.
The audiobook, narrated by Trevor Noah himself, is getting a lot of praise too and I agree. I listened to a bit of it and the narration is great, it also helps with unfamiliar words and names that I wouldn't know how to pronounce.
'Born a Crime' is a fantastic book and so worth picking up. Apart from Trevor Noah's life story (which, in a way, is a more his mother's story) we also get a good history lesson.
4.5
This book. wow. Talk about crazy childhood!!! I would place Born a Crime in that category of memoir/autobiography that is nonfiction but SERIOUSLY reads like fiction. Like, some of the scenes Noah talks about truly felt like a TV show. At times it was so hard for me to wrap my mind around (which also reveals so much of my privilege and ability to have a “normal” childhood for the most part). Told in a series of essays/short stories, Born a Crime still had a thematic arch that highlighted Noah's growth from apartheid South Africa to The Daily Show. I would recommend this to anyone/everyone! The one teensy tiny negative I felt was that Noah's tone, while obviously sarcastic and humorous, at times felt a LITTLE braggy/patronizing (kind of like, “oh yeah I knew I was destined to be famous from the first time I spoke”), although friends have been quick to point out, that this adds to the humor! But honestly after reading this book, I truly believe that Noah WAS destined for success and that the pride and ego are absolutely warranted.
This man is my idol. His childhood wasn't all roses, but he never complains. He recalls and enjoys the little happy moments of his life. It's so inspiring to see how he had turned his life around.
I don't think I've laughed this hard while reading an autobiography ever. A must-read.
Fascinerende verhalen over de jeugd van Trevor Noah, en hoe hij (via best wel wat omwegen) uit de ellende ontsnapte. Hij viel als zoon wat een Zwitserse vader en een Afrikaanse moeder min of meer buiten alle hokjes die het regime in die tijd had bedacht. Sterk verhaal over een buiten-wc, een blinde (maar nog wel kunnen ruiken) grootmoeder en witchcraft :-)
I listen to this on audio book and was pleased to see it was narrated by Trevor Noah! He performed it exceptionally well and I'm really glad to have gotten the audio book. I highly recommend you listen to this book! For the book itself I was entirely captivated, I drove around my block again to just listen to it for a little bit more. I knew that Trevor was from South Africa but I didn't know anything about South African history or culture. I've learned so much more about South Africa and this book is just full of life lessons and wisdom of Trevor growing up. I wish I could phrase exactly how I feel about this book, I think it's an important read and I think it is also an uplifting read. ~Ashley
I changed my rating from 4 to 5 stars because I am still thinking about this book. It was really well written, hilarious, and insightful. I loved his perspective on how languages connect people and what it was like growing up under apartheid. It's a book I would definitely recommend, and it's a fun read despite some heavy topics.
I absolutely loved this book. Trevor is a fantastic story teller. Each story I find to be enveloping and enthralling. There's heartbreak, love, hilarity, devastation. All the emotions are here. Everyone should read this book. I don't care if you're into memoirs or not, you gotta read this. I have even more respect for Trevor Noah now that I'm aware about this harrowing upbringing through his childhood/young adult years. It is also a fantastic ode to his fearless, hilarious and loving mother. I'm so glad to be more aware of Apartheid in South Africa now. I feel like a moron for not knowing enough but at least I feel a little less like a moron now.
I listened to the audiobook of this and it was fabulously narrated by Trevor! I'm not usually keen on audiobooks so that's saying something.
It was a brilliant book, which was only made better by Trevor's narration of it. I think it's what really helped to bring the country/people/culture to life.
I know I'm (way) late to the party but if you haven't read this book, then read it! Or like I did, listen to the audiobook!
4.5 stars
I think if I had read this in print it would have been a 4 star book but the audiobook pushed it to a 4.5/5 as Trevor Noah reads it so well.
The disjointed sense of time in this book serves to make it more of a macro story about racism/relations between different racial used identities in South Africa, and life under Apartheid...as opposed to a very specific personal story as it might have read if it had been in chronological order. While in general I didn't mind the jumping around in time, there were a few moments where it suffered from the same issue I've seen in other memoirs; it felt like it was originally written as separate essays, and not enough was done to tie them together. Sometimes characters or places were introduced as if we had never heard about them before, when we had just been reading about them in the previous chapter. The choices of where to put chapter breaks also felt kind of odd, as often an idea was introduced at the end of one chapter and only became relevant two thirds of the way through the following chapter. I got the hang of this partway through reading but it felt unusual.
As the story goes on it becomes clearer that this story is truly about his relationship with his mother above all else, and she is a fantastic character. He does an excellent job of portraying her as a whole person, both romanticized through a child's eyes, respected/feared through a child's eyes, and loved in different ways at different ages. Looking back at his mother from an older point of view he is able to understand her and her choices with more sympathy than he did as a child, but even as a child their relationship is clearly so mutually loving and respectful (shown through teasing, laughing, teamwork) even when it is tense or strained.
He did a fantastic job of interweaving history/politics, personal anecdotes, scary stories, lights stories, stories that should be scary but are told as though they are light, and humour.
Sometimes the relevance of the anecdotes felt slightly inconsistent, as did the level with which he analyzed them. Sometimes the gravity of what was going on felt shocking, and I would wonder why his character didn't feel more deeply about it, and then he would remind the reader that he was 5, or 6, or 7 years old when that anecdote occurred and it would make his lack of understanding of severity make sense. For that reason a chronological narrative might have been interesting as it would have allowed more insight into his changing understanding/character overtime.
I'm not typically a celebrity memoir reader but I suspect most are not this open and frank.
How many times have people recommended this book to me? At least a hundred, I'm sure. But I was determined to stay away from it. I've been encouraged to read celebrity memoirs before, and, time and time again, I was disappointed. Celebrities can't write, I told myself.
Then a copy of Born a Crime appeared in my Little Free Library, and I was tempted. Why not try it?
I've had to adapt my former precept to most celebrities can't write. Trevor Noah is the exception. Not only can Noah write, he can write with the best of them.
This is the story of Trevor Noah's young life, growing up in the worst of times in South Africa, with a white father and a black mother. He tells the stories of his life trying to fit in at school with a racial group that accepts him (is he white? is he black? is he colored?) when none of them really do. He tells stories of his mother and his older relatives and their beliefs. He tells stories of South Africa. And all of these are tinged with humor and deep emotion.
I'm not one to read memoirs but I'm happy I picked this up. I laughed, I cryed, it made me angry. I could relate to it at certain points. It's a book worth picking up.
I don't read a whole lot of memoirs, but this one had everything I could ask for and more. As a comedian you'd expect the book to be amusing and while it is, it's also so much more than that. There is a significant difference between reading in a History book about apartheid and reading a first hand account. To put it simply and succinctly it's just an incredibly interesting accounting of his life. Part heartbreaking, part frustrating, and part inspiring. More than anything else though it's a love letter to his mother.
The only complaint I have is at times the time frame is a bit hard to grasp because the book is not told linearly and there is a lot of jumping around. This didn't bother me that much, but it is something to note cause I do see how that could be a major annoyance for others. I really enjoyed the casual writing style though as I felt it really captured his voice and felt very authentic. Highly recommend!
Fantastic book. It educated me on a topic like Apartheid, which I was not familiar with. It was well written and I was moved by the story.
Knowing that the context in which Trevor grew up is as recent as it is, just lets me know how different the world can be from country to country, as well as makes me appreciate more what I have had in my existence.
I would absolutely recommend it to most people.
I've picked up this book because I liked Trevor Noah and now I like him even more.
Trevor's words and stories transport us to the reality of what it was like to live and grow up in South Africa, during and after apartheid. We get to know a bit more about him and how he became the man we recognize and admire.
This book is also a love letter to his mother, an incredibly brave woman and one I loved reading about. Thank you Trevor for sharing her with the world.
As a massive fan of Trevor Noah's stand up I had heard most of this content before, but being able to get the broader context of the things I had heard before was so much more engaging.
Excellent. Extremely informative about apartheid, begins and ends with his relationship with his unparalleled mother. It wasn't the point of this book, but I really wish he'd covered his career path and how he ended up at The Daily Show.
My favorite segments on The Daily Show are the behind the scenes clips where he talks about something random. He brings a lot of depth to topics that indicate a more nuanced, insightful way of looking at things, and after learning more about how grew up it makes sense. There was also a section that was very validating as a parent, as I share his mom's beliefs about access to books and speaking to children like they can handle full sentences. The book is funny as well, but I'm personally less interested in his humor and more in how he sees the world.
I usually don't read non fiction and I definitely don't read memoirs. But when I heard about this book I knew I had to read it. Then I learned that the audiobook was narrated by Trevor Noah himself and I instantly knew that was the only way to fully enjoy this book. And I have to say that I enjoyed this book very much. The stories are interesting and the narration is engaging. His experiences are so different from my own that it's almost unbelievable that we grew up in the same planet, but, at the same time, are extremely relatable.
this book was so insightful and so much fun. his humor translated so well i could hear trevor noah's voice in my head while reading this. you learn so much about his mother and his relationship w her as well.
Great, great, great. I always love when the settings of a book is in a less usual place and learning about South Africa in a very important period was really exciting. The author writes with good flow and even the toughest passages are rendered without too much weight. The performance in the audiobook was also top notch.