
Born A Crime – Trevor Noah
To write or share a painful personal memory is hard. But Trevor Noah in his book, Born A Crime, manages to share his coming to age hardships in the most light hearted manner possible. It is informative, inspirational and witty, all at the same time.
The book is set in the apartheid, post-apartheid period when it was illegal for a white person to have a child with a black person. So being the child of a swizz man and a black Xhosa women, Trevor Noah was literally born a crime. He talks about how he had to spend most of his childhood hiding in the house, how he being colored never belonged to any group – the white, the black or the Indian’s, his struggles of fitting in. He fills the book with fine observations, tells us how even in post apartheid period things were not good as it sounds to be.
MY OPINION
I feel the book is not just about him, but equally about a strong, amazing woman, his mother, who taught him with her life and made sure he got to experience things she never could. Together, they have gone through poverty, struggles and pain which we can’t even begin to fathom. But amidst all this grim incidents and experiences, Trevor Noah and his mother still manages a smile and makes us smile too. I consider this the greatest strength of the book. It was a super cozy read for me. Try it if you have time. Happy Reading!!!