Title: It's Trevor Noah: Born a Crime
Author: Trevor Noah
Publisher: Penguin Random House
Year: 2016
280 pages
From the Back: Trevor Noah, host of The Daily Show on Comedy Central, shares his remarkable story of growing up in South Africa with a black South African mother and a white European father at a time when it was against the law for a mixed-race child to exist. But he did exist - and from the beginning, the often-misbehaved Trevor used his keen smarts and humour to navigate a harsh life under a racist government. In a country where racism barred blacks from social, educational, and economic opportunity, Trevor surmounted staggering obstacles and created a promising future for himself thanks to his mom's unwavering love and indomitable will. This honest and poignant memoir will astound and inspire readers as well as offer a fascinating perspective on South Africa's tumultuous racial history.
Personal Thoughts: First, I want to admit that buying the young reader edition of this book was entirely accidental. However, there was nothing "young reader" about the writing. Maybe the language is different in the adult version? In any case, the young reader version didn't hamper the story, in my opinion.
No matter which version of the book you read, the narrative is a hard one. Trevor Noah does an excellent job at telling his story in these pages, giving readers an exclusive on what it was like growing up poor, not belonging to either the black or the white community, and being at risk for bullying, racism, or arrest no matter what he did.
It is a heart-wrenching story that shows how the public view of the end of apartheid didn't match what was actually happening on the ground in South Africa. It also brings to light what living in between two worlds is like - not white enough and not black enough to be accepted by either communities.
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