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A review by rbruehlman
Born a Crime: Stories From a South African Childhood by Trevor Noah
5.0
I think I've seen Trevor Noah perhaps once, live? I don't watch TV, and I can find late night talk shows in particular a bit exhausting. Consequently, I knew very little about Trevor Noah and had no real incentive to care about this book.
With that said, I loved this book. I learned an incredible amount about South Africa, from apartheid to race dynamics to poverty. It was a wonderfully human way to understand the effects of apartheid and the history and social fabric of South Africa. Some of the topics in the book were deeply heavy, but Trevor Noah handles them with skill and compassion... and the humor is tastefully and hilariously interwoven at just the right moments. I genuinely enjoyed getting to know Trevor and the people in his life, and I'm truly glad he made it big (how, I don't know--the book doesn't explain how he got his break. Second book? :) ). His mother in particular sounds like such a force to be reckoned with--little wonder he came out the other side.
With that said, I loved this book. I learned an incredible amount about South Africa, from apartheid to race dynamics to poverty. It was a wonderfully human way to understand the effects of apartheid and the history and social fabric of South Africa. Some of the topics in the book were deeply heavy, but Trevor Noah handles them with skill and compassion... and the humor is tastefully and hilariously interwoven at just the right moments. I genuinely enjoyed getting to know Trevor and the people in his life, and I'm truly glad he made it big (how, I don't know--the book doesn't explain how he got his break. Second book? :) ). His mother in particular sounds like such a force to be reckoned with--little wonder he came out the other side.