Born a Crime by Trevor Noah

One of my Popsugar Challenges this year was to read a book from a genre that I don't normally read. I try to read pretty widely, so there really aren't too many genres I never read from, but the biography/memoir category definitely fits the bill. I've only read a small handful of these over the course of my adult reading life, so I figured this was a good place to pull a book from. I'd heard very good things about comedian/host of The Daily Show Trevor Noah's memoirs, so I decided to give his bestseller, Born a Crime, a try.

Born a Crime is structured as a series of personal essays in roughly chronological order that tell the story of Noah's boyhood in South Africa. The title refers to the fact that he was born from a black South African mother and a white Swiss father, which was illegal during the time he was conceived under apartheid law. As such, his early life consisted of a lot of secrecy, moving around, and lying about his parentage in order to avoid the harsh penalties of producing a mixed child, which included serious jail time and losing parental rights.

When Nelson Mandela became president and apartheid law was abolished, Noah, now around six years old, faced different challenges. His existence was no longer evidence of a crime, but he was still a social outcast because he did not belong to any of the established groups in his school or neighborhood. South Africa remained very racially divided, and he didn't fit any of the accepted categories of black, white, colored, Indian, or Chinese. This struggle to find his place in the world occupies many of the essays in the collection, and Noah comments very intelligently on the insidious nature of colonialism, racism, and apartheid in South Africa and how it has had far-reaching effects on the population.

Flowing through these rather serious observations of social inequality are a very engaging collection of anecdotes about Noah's childhood and adolescence. Some of the stories are emotional and serious, while others are hilarious. All of them carry Noah's personal wit and charm. He is a natural storyteller, and the essays he writes feel more like sitting around having a comfortable conversation with a friend rather than reading a book. A few of my personal favorites involved the time he pooped in his living room and the fallout that ensued (trust me, it spiraled out of control quickly), and the story about performing as a DJ at a school with a friend named Hitler. Noah was quite the troublemaker growing up, and the scrapes he gets into are very entertaining to read.

Many of the essays center around his mother, who was the most important influence in Noah's life. She was quite an unusual and strong woman. She raised her children essentially alone and defied many of the expectations of her gender in a time and place where it was dangerous to stand out. Noah's love and respect for her shines out from every page, even throughout the stories where he's getting into trouble or struggling to understand her choices. The final essay in the collection, in which he details the domestic violence the family suffered with his mother's second husband, is especially powerful and is a fitting way to end the novel.

Born a Crime was a really pleasant surprise that I'm glad I took a chance on. You do not have to be a fan of The Daily Show to enjoy reading these memoirs, and I would encourage everyone to pick it up just for the commentary on race alone. I learned a lot about South Africa reading this that I didn't know before, and learning it through the lens of a young man who was actually there and in a unique situation within all of its tangled laws and social rules was fascinating. This is truly and interesting and inspiring read.

Challenge Tally
Popsugar Challenge: (a bestseller from a genre you don't normally read) 30/40

Total Books Read in 2017: 35