Review of 'Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood' on 'Goodreads'
5 stars
Funny and eye opening.
English language
Published Jan. 14, 2016 by Spiegel & Grau.
4 stars
(172 reviews)
Noah's path from apartheid South Africa to the desk of The Daily Show began with a criminal act: his birth. Born to a white Swiss father and a black Xhosa mother, at the time such a union was punishable by five years in prison. As he struggles to find himself in a world where he was never supposed to exist, his mother is determined to save her son from the cycle of poverty, violence, and abuse that would ultimately threaten her own life. With an incisive wit and unflinching honesty, Noah weaves together a moving yet funny portrait of a boy making his way through a damaged world in a dangerous time.
Review of 'Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
If you're going to read this, you need to get the audiobook.
arkadione reviewed Born a Crime by Trevor Noah
Review of 'Born a Crime' on 'Goodreads'
5 stars
Heartfelt memoir by a very funny comedian from South Africa. He has lived quite an amazing life. His stories were illuminating for me as I know quite little about Africa. You could tell the was no ghost writer writing this book. His words are his own and his stories are great.
Review of 'Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
"Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood" by Trevor Noah is an engrossing, deeply personal memoir by one of the world's top comedians. It goes beyond mere autobiography and, with Noah's characteristic humor and grace, tells the story of a young man seeking his place at the end of Apartheid and the birth of a new South Africa. At the center of the story is Noah's relationship with his mother-one of the fiercest ladies every put to paper. While it has a serious heart, the book is hilarious and I found myself laughing hysterically at many points. My only complaint is that the funny moments are funny but at times, I felt a like I was reading a stand-up routine written into narrative form. I've read a few memoirs in the past where I felt as if the author had recorded himself and wrote it down as a …
"Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood" by Trevor Noah is an engrossing, deeply personal memoir by one of the world's top comedians. It goes beyond mere autobiography and, with Noah's characteristic humor and grace, tells the story of a young man seeking his place at the end of Apartheid and the birth of a new South Africa. At the center of the story is Noah's relationship with his mother-one of the fiercest ladies every put to paper. While it has a serious heart, the book is hilarious and I found myself laughing hysterically at many points. My only complaint is that the funny moments are funny but at times, I felt a like I was reading a stand-up routine written into narrative form. I've read a few memoirs in the past where I felt as if the author had recorded himself and wrote it down as a transcription. But it was the moments where the book is more reflective that it shines. Very recommended.
Review of 'Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood' on 'Goodreads'
5 stars
This isn't a memoir as much as a love letter to Trevor Noah's mom. She's an incredible strong person and an inspiration. While it's superficially about Noah and how he grew up in South Africa, there are so many bits and pieces of her in his story that it could be her memoir as well.
Also this opened my eyes how much I don't know about South Africa. I knew that there was Apartheid and I knew Nelson Mandela was in prison for forever and then came free. That's about it. My prized German education has failed me, and I feel deeply embarrassed about this lack of knowledge and understanding.
Review of 'Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood' on 'Goodreads'
5 stars
Funny and poignant. I recommend you read this book for its equal mixture of humour and social commentary.
None
5 stars
Wow. Echt Wow. Dieses Hörbuch ist definitiv ein Highlight in 2018! Ich kannte Trevor Noah vorher nicht, aber er liest das Buch einfach großartig. Wenn Du einigermassen fit in Englisch bist, solltest Du unbedingt das englische Hörbuch hören! Allein, wie Trevor die verschiedenen Sprachen - Afrikaans, Xosha, Zulu, Deutsch, Englisch usw. - mit einer Aussprache liest, die kein "normaler" Sprecher hinbekäme, ist die Sache wert. Ausserdem lernt man extrem viel über das Apartheidsystem, über die Lebenwirklichkeit schwarzer Südafrikaner, über starke Mütter, über das Finanzsystem der Townships, über die Kultur der verschiedenen Stämme in Südafrika - und irgendwas hab ich jetzt sicher noch vergessen.
Dieses Buch werde ich sicher irgendwann noch einmal lesen und es hat mich inspiriert, mich mehr mit afrikanischer Kultur zu beschäftigen. Trevor Noah hat mich da sehr neugierig gemacht und mir gezeigt, wie wenig ich darüber weiß und wie weit weg das bisher von meiner Lebenswirklichkeit ist.
Review of 'Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
It's a great introduction to Apartheid, a terrible chapter in South Africa's history, but told through the lens of a cheeky boy. When Trevor was born inter-racial sex was a crime. His mother was a no nonsense woman who flouted the rules and lived in the white part of town. There she met a white Swiss man and she asked one day for him to give her a child. I loved the stories of his parents, it wasn't quite what I was expecting from the title. He was born out of a woman's desire to give a child everything she did not have for herself.
She did so much to give Trevor the best possible advantages in life when odds were stacked against him. She was fiercely religious and would hit Trevor but everything was done with love. When his mum meets his stepfather, things go downhill and it was …
It's a great introduction to Apartheid, a terrible chapter in South Africa's history, but told through the lens of a cheeky boy. When Trevor was born inter-racial sex was a crime. His mother was a no nonsense woman who flouted the rules and lived in the white part of town. There she met a white Swiss man and she asked one day for him to give her a child. I loved the stories of his parents, it wasn't quite what I was expecting from the title. He was born out of a woman's desire to give a child everything she did not have for herself.
She did so much to give Trevor the best possible advantages in life when odds were stacked against him. She was fiercely religious and would hit Trevor but everything was done with love. When his mum meets his stepfather, things go downhill and it was hard to read about the domestic violence.
Trevor talks about the genius of how Apartheid turned the majority black population against each other but also the utter lunacy of some of the policies. Chinese people were categorised as black but because South Africa wanted a good trading relationship with Japan, the Japanese were classified as white. Your classification could change too, you could become white if you were pale skinned and acted white but you could also be "downgraded" from white to coloured or coloured to black.
His childhood was one of never quite belonging. He was brought up by a black family yet if he ever ventured out in Soweto he would be called white. They were so separated that many had never really seen a white man and Trevor's paler skin was a novelty. He was educated and spoke many languages, which helped him make friends. If you speak the same language you are familiar and less scary. Yet he didn't feel accepted by coloured communities, he felt black.
I lost a bit of interest reading about his life of petty crime. He started making money selling pirated music, went on to DJing and then started providing loans, albeit much safer than most loan sharks. I tuned back in for the edge of the seat account of what happened to his mother.
It's well written with a good balance of history, humour and personal hardship. I laughed at Trevor's fear of flies going up his bum when he went to the outhouse and the dawning horror of what he does to resolve this.
Thankfully it isn't at all about his time as a comedian or how he got there. I usually have little interest in reading the childhood portions of memoirs but this was the opposite. It was all childhood and a fascinating look at race from the perspective of a country that's not the US or UK.
Cheri reviewed Born a Crime by Trevor Noah
Review of 'Born a Crime' on 'Storygraph'
4 stars
I enjoy watching Noah on The Daily Show. Had never heard of him before that and knew next to nothing about him. But even if I'd never heard of him before listening to his memoir, I'd have found it very interesting. And having him tell his own story made it even better. I definitely recommend this book to anyone who enjoys memoirs.
Review of 'Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood' on 'Goodreads'
5 stars
I highly recommend that you do not read this book.
You absolutely must listen to Trevor Noah read his own book in audio form.
Review of 'Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood' on 'Goodreads'
5 stars
This was a fantastic one. Narration by Trevor himself was simply superb and engaging. Highly, highly recommend it.
Review of 'Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
This has got to be one of the more interesting autobiographical books I've read. Growing up in the apartheid police state, the son of a white father and black mother, sounds like hell. Stories about his childhood status as a "colored" person who floated among the "black," "colored," and "white" apartheid racial castes, and how he learned how to speak many different languages and accents in order to be accepted by everyone, Noah gained a perspective not held by many of the nationals at the time, since they were locked into all those categories. He continually gives credit to his mother for exposing him to the educational and cultural things she never had growing up.
He ends with the story of his step dad shooting his mother, from his early adulthood. I was hoping he would provide more insights into the US since he lives here now, but I guess …
This has got to be one of the more interesting autobiographical books I've read. Growing up in the apartheid police state, the son of a white father and black mother, sounds like hell. Stories about his childhood status as a "colored" person who floated among the "black," "colored," and "white" apartheid racial castes, and how he learned how to speak many different languages and accents in order to be accepted by everyone, Noah gained a perspective not held by many of the nationals at the time, since they were locked into all those categories. He continually gives credit to his mother for exposing him to the educational and cultural things she never had growing up.
He ends with the story of his step dad shooting his mother, from his early adulthood. I was hoping he would provide more insights into the US since he lives here now, but I guess I'll have to wait until his next book.
Fynch reviewed Born a Crime by Trevor Noah
None
5 stars
Noah is very funny. But he's also an eloquent writer who articulately explores issues of race, colonialism, and class.
Review of 'Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood' on 'Goodreads'
5 stars
Fascinating biography of Trevor Noah, telling the remarkable stories of his childhood as a mixed race child in apartheid South Africa where he was unable to acknowledge either parent in public as his very existence was a crime. Through the fall of apartheid and the difficulties of extreme poverty and growing up with an abusive step-father, this biography is both an interesting history of South Africa and the riveting personal story of the now well-known comedian. The audio book is read by Noah himself.
Review of 'Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood' on 'Goodreads'
5 stars
Its approachable funny and endearing. Trevor Noah possesses a very engaging voice and breezes through his story with lightness and intelligence.
Personally, it made the environment of South African life real. That was probably my favourite part of the book, its cheer honesty and straight forwardness.
Totally reccommended, lots of insights about life in South Africa, diversity, racism, family and life in general. Little pearls of wisdom are sprinkled throughout the book along with the witticism and general joyfulness.
Loved it, will probably read again and reccommend.
