Born a Crime

Description

Trevor Noah recounts growing up in South Africa under apartheid, where his birth to a Black mother and white father made his very existence evidence of an illegal interracial relationship. Through linked episodes, he describes learning to navigate racial categories designed to separate people, as well as poverty, hunger, violence, attempted kidnapping, and the hazards of adolescent dating. At the memoir’s center is his fearless, deeply religious mother, whose determination exposes him to a wider world while shielding him from abuse and deprivation whenever she can. Noah uses comedy to reveal both the absurd logic and the brutal consequences of institutional racism. The result is a childhood story shaped by quick adaptation, linguistic and social ingenuity, and a demanding form of maternal love.

Themes