Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood by Trevor Noah
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I am not a fan of Trevor Noah necessarily; I don’t think I’ve ever watched his show. I only picked up this book on the recommendation of my son who was reading it in class. This was my second audiobook. I enjoyed hearing it read by the author. He is a talented performer, and it did not feel as though I was being read to, so the time passed very, very quickly. I’m not sure I would have enjoyed the book if I had been reading it myself.
I found some of the discussions of apartheid and life in South Africa to be fascinating though I didn’t agree with many of his philosophical conclusions. As a Jamaican many of the descriptions of the physical realities of living there felt very familiar to me (there is always a goat!). In particular I laughed out loud at the idea that KFC is such an important part of the culture. We Jamaicans take KFC very seriously as well. However, this is not a funny book. There are stories that are funny and the way he tells others are also funny but ultimately this is a story of family dysfunction, violence, poverty. and racial tensions.
I didn’t always find Trevor to be a very likeable character. His stories about animal cruelty and the story of the friend named Hitler in the Jewish school I found alarming. I also would have liked him to have more reflection on these and other stories he told. Instead, I felt he belittled the anguish that he may have caused at times. I also wish the story did not end when it did. I would have liked more information about how he got from the childhood to where we see him now.
My biggest issue with reading this book was how much I disliked his family. His parents were incredibly selfish. His mom birthed him knowing it would make his life difficult. His dad just somehow faded away for 10 years but then picked right back up once Trevor looked for him. Why didn’t he make any effort to at least make it known where he was? I truly did not like his mom. I realize I am in the minority, and she is portrayed as this loving tower of strength. But to me she was a cruel and abusive figure. The fact that she had a change of heart and didn’t treat his siblings the same way but never apologized was problematic for me. I reject the narrative that beatings and such discipline are done out of love. Noah himself described his mother as kind – yet not one story he told of her reflected kindness. The fact that she laughed at him when he was bullied or embarrassed him repeatedly in the name of discipline is not synonymous with kindness.
Overall – I enjoyed the book. I learned quite a bit about life in pre and post-apartheid South Africa. I learned some about the culture. Like many memoirs this was not linear. I often wished it was because it was at times hard to keep the timeline straight. I found myself wanting to learn more about his relationship with his siblings who are only tangentially included in the story. His performance of the story was fantastic!
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