Review | Born A Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood

Born A Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood // Trevor Noah

Love is a creative act. When you love someone you create a new world for them. My mother did that for me, and with the progress I made and the things I learned, I came back and created a new world and a new understanding for her. 

I picked up this book for a prompt because I somehow remembered that Trevor Noah was from South Africa. I didn’t know what I was in for. Because a lot of comedians will write memoirs and sometimes it won’t be funny and this book wasn’t funny. 

But it was the realest thing I’ve ever read. 

The way he describes navigating his life during apartheid after apartheid and all it entailed including an abusive stepfather, feeling like an “other”. There were things about his experiences that though unique were utterly universal. He didn’t fit in anywhere and he kept stressing that one must make a choice because race is such a large topic in the American Arena, it was refreshing to see racism from another point of view in another arena. He explained a lot of things that I personally had never heard of, so this book, while entertaining, was also incredibly educational.

The stories, while some funny, highlighted the struggles that most kids growing up face, although he had to do more because of where he grew up. He talks about his first crush and love and not understanding the intricacies of domestic violence and how to escape the hood and the concept is the black tax. After reading this and understanding what he went through I have a new appreciation for how he can stand up and make people laugh for a living. There’s strength in that.

It seems like all the circumstances fit together in a way that can only be God ordained. I don’t think there is a single thing in this book but I could say that I disliked. it made me laugh at all the weird situations he would find himself in, it made me cry when he was beaten down, it made me angry when I read about the injustice but at no point did I want to put this book down. It was an utterly singular experience that I would highly recommend to anyone who is going to pick up a memoir or pick up something from an author who is not from America.

There are three things that I learned from this book and (I don’t usually learn things from books) I learned that no matter how smart you think you are, your mother is smarter. I learned that language is the unifier of people and I learned that as long as you focus on the differences of the people around you, to you, you will always be alone. 

I thank Trevor for writing this and for getting out of the “Hood” and for giving hope that it can happen and it will happen if you believe in yourself and have a mother who never lets you get away with anything. 

2019 POPSUGAR Reading Challenge – A book author from Asia, Africa, or South America 
2019 ATY Challenge – A book related in some way to a TV show/series or movie you enjoyed