What We Are Reading Today: Born a Crime by Trevor Noah

What We Are Reading Today: Born a Crime by Trevor Noah
Updated 20 June 2019
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What We Are Reading Today: Born a Crime by Trevor Noah

What We Are Reading Today: Born a Crime by Trevor Noah
  • Noah’s memoir “is extraordinary . . . essential reading on every level

Trevor Noah’s Born a Crime is the story of a mischievous young boy who grows into a restless young man as he struggles to find himself in a world where he was never supposed to exist. 

“It is also the story of that young man’s relationship with his fearless, rebellious, and fervently religious mother — his teammate, a woman determined to save her son from the cycle of poverty, violence, and abuse that would ultimately threaten her own life,” said a review in goodreads.com. 

The 18 personal essays are by turns hilarious, dramatic, and deeply affecting, it added. 

Noah’s memoir “is extraordinary . . . essential reading on every level. It’s hard to imagine anyone else doing a finer job of it,” said a review in The Seattle Times.

Critic Michiko Kakutani of The New York Times said Born a Crime “is not just an unnerving account of growing up in South Africa under apartheid, but a love letter to the author’s remarkable mother.”

Noah is a South African comedian, television and radio host and actor.  He is known for hosting The Daily Show, an American satirical news program.