BORN A CRIME – by Trevor Noah

Trevor Noah is a popular comedian, currently host of the late night, Daily Show on television. He was born in South Africa and is now in his mid 30s. The book does not deal with his work on television or his interaction with celebrities. Rather it is more or less an autobiography which traces his life beginning in South Africa when he was born a crime since it was against the law for mixed racial couples to have children or even to be married. His father was white and his mother was black. His father was mostly out of the picture and the young Trevor was very close to his mother. At times, they were very poor and he even had to eat caterpillars for food at one time. The reader gets a feel what apartheid was like in South Africa. During the author’s youth, things changed somewhat as apartheid was abolished and he was able to go to a mixed school, but the author describes how there were still clear distinctions between white, black, and colored (or mixed).

While Noah was technically colored, he clearly identified with being black. He gives the reader a picture of the violence between various black groups after apartheid fell. There are descriptions of the stereotypes of the various black groups and many life-threatening situations, which Trevor and his mother experienced. What comes across is the very close loving relationship that he and his mother had for each other as Trevor was growing up in South Africa.

The book did jump around to different time periods not necessarily in chronological order, but it is more like you have had a conversation about some experience with a friend that might not follow the last time you spoke with him or her.

The book clearly presents the inside story of life in South Africa during the past 30 years. It is a piece of history that most of us never learned in school and it could not be better told by someone who lived it and has the ability to express himself as well as Trevor Noah. In retrospect, I wish I had chosen the audio version of the book, so I could have heard it through the voice and expression of the author.