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A review by plantladyreader
Born a Crime: Stories From a South African Childhood by Trevor Noah
5.0
This is the first memoir I've read in a long time, and it's definitely reinvigorated my taste for non-fiction.
We all know Trevor Noah as the hilarious late-night tv show personality and comedian. He's funny, he fights for what he believes in, and he genuinely seems like an intelligent, kind celebrity. Born a Crime gives a glimpse at what life was like for Noah growing up in South Africa during and post-apartheid. This is another book that makes me appreciate the privileged world I've grown up and lived in. The atrocities that took place in South Africa during the apartheid from the 1940's all the way to the 1990's are well-documented horrors. Living through such direct racism is something I can't even begin to imagine. Reading a personal account of a childhood growing up as a mixed race child in such a world of prejudice, dealing with bullies, abuse and regular teenage troubles, Noah shows that it is possible to overcome your hardships in life and rise to the top. The love Noah shows for his mother, and she for him, was truly inspiring. In many instances where they only had each other, it was beautiful to read about how far that love could take them.
My only complaint is that the timelines jumped around A LOT and I had trouble discerning what age Noah was with each chapter. The passages at the opening of each chapter set up which area of his childhood Noah was discussing, but sometimes I was still confused on timeline.
I'm not giving a star rating, because anyone who can open up to total strangers about their struggles and trials in life is a 5-star writer in my eyes. It takes a strong person to lay themselves out fully in a memoir, sharing the good, bad and ugly, in the hopes of inspiring others and allowing others to see their own personal struggles in yours. I feel like a better person having read this, as it has allowed me to gain a better understanding of the apartheid in South Africa, racism and how it can exist to extremes no matter where you are, and that as long as you've still got faith in those you love, you'll be okay.
We all know Trevor Noah as the hilarious late-night tv show personality and comedian. He's funny, he fights for what he believes in, and he genuinely seems like an intelligent, kind celebrity. Born a Crime gives a glimpse at what life was like for Noah growing up in South Africa during and post-apartheid. This is another book that makes me appreciate the privileged world I've grown up and lived in. The atrocities that took place in South Africa during the apartheid from the 1940's all the way to the 1990's are well-documented horrors. Living through such direct racism is something I can't even begin to imagine. Reading a personal account of a childhood growing up as a mixed race child in such a world of prejudice, dealing with bullies, abuse and regular teenage troubles, Noah shows that it is possible to overcome your hardships in life and rise to the top. The love Noah shows for his mother, and she for him, was truly inspiring. In many instances where they only had each other, it was beautiful to read about how far that love could take them.
My only complaint is that the timelines jumped around A LOT and I had trouble discerning what age Noah was with each chapter. The passages at the opening of each chapter set up which area of his childhood Noah was discussing, but sometimes I was still confused on timeline.
I'm not giving a star rating, because anyone who can open up to total strangers about their struggles and trials in life is a 5-star writer in my eyes. It takes a strong person to lay themselves out fully in a memoir, sharing the good, bad and ugly, in the hopes of inspiring others and allowing others to see their own personal struggles in yours. I feel like a better person having read this, as it has allowed me to gain a better understanding of the apartheid in South Africa, racism and how it can exist to extremes no matter where you are, and that as long as you've still got faith in those you love, you'll be okay.