Memoir Review: Born a Crime

The first book I tackled for Nonfiction November was one I'd been meaning to read for a while: Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood by Trevor Noah. The popular comedian and host of The Daily Show here turns his attention to his own childhood in both apartheid and post-apartheid South Africa. I was finally motivated to listen to the book on audio (read by the author) when I heard that Book Cougars, my favorite books podcast, had chosen it as a November read-along (check out the episode with their discussion at the link). I'm so glad I didn't put off reading this book any longer because I was riveted by its powerful, thought-provoking, and hilarious stories.

Noah explains at the start of the book what South Africa was like during apartheid; they looked at race very differently than Americans do. Black South Africans were those who were a part of over a dozen African tribes native to the area. Whites were mostly European immigrants - beginning with the Dutch but including others - who were the ruling class (quite a trick as they were vastly outnumbered by blacks 5 to 1 at the time). And mixed race people, like Noah, whose mother was black and his father white? They were almost non-entities, referred to as colored and lumped together, regardless of the mix of their races, and segregated from both blacks and whites. In this way, Noah says that he grew up feeling that he didn't belong - not with his mother's black relatives nor with his white father nor even in the colored neighborhoods where he and his mother later lived. His lighter brown skin visibly set him apart during those years, but language and humor helped him to feel more a part of things among his classmates. He recounts his earliest memories as a small child, not allowed to hold hands with his father in the park or even acknowledge that he knew him, going to both private and public schools, spending time with his mother's black family, the cruel and abusive step-father who was later in his life, and many tales of mischief!

The result is a series of stories that paints a vivid picture, of both South Africa overall and this one child's very unique experiences growing up there. His matter-of-fact details of living in poverty are often stunning and the blatant racism horrifying, but because it is Trevor Noah, those darker moments are well offset by plenty of humor. I was often laughing out loud while listening to this audio book and playing bits of it for my husband and son (who is a big Noah fan) - I wonder what my neighbors think when they see me walking along the streets laughing hysterically all by myself? As evidenced by all the trouble he got into as a kid, Noah is clearly very smart, and here that intelligence comes through as fascinating insights into the societal and cultural standards that kept blacks in a lower class (and coloreds even lower) and kept the poor from ever digging out of poverty, including things that are just as true here in the U.S. Through it all, his mother comes through as an amazing woman, and much of this memoir is a tribute to her strength, love, and commitment to giving Trevor a better life. I was captivated by every moment of this audio book; it is definitely one of those cases where the audio is best, hearing these stories in Noah's own South African accent, including bits of many other languages throughout. Besides, his comic timing is impeccable. Whether you are a fan of his political comedy and stand-up routines or not, you don't want to miss this moving, thoughtful, and very funny inside look at growing up in South Africa and the lingering effects of apartheid on a child who didn't fit in.

304 pages, Trevor Noah
Audible Studios/Brilliance Audio

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Listen to a sample of the audio book, from the beginning of the memoir, or buy the audio book through Audible.

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