Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood

I like Trevor Noah. I randomly watched him a while ago and I thought he was really funny, so I watched some more and I really liked him, but I can't say I'm a fan. I don't follow him and I just found out he's hosting a show after I started reading this book. It's also unusual for me to read this book, I attempted reading memoirs before, but I couldn't get into them, so when I saw this book and thought 'yeah, I want to read that' it was uncharacteristic.

I was expecting, based on Trevor Noah's stand-up, to enjoy this book, but I was not expecting to find things I can relate to. I'm from the other side of the world so being able to relate to some aspects of life in South Africa was quite a surprise.

I liked the narration a lot, I didn't feel at any point that it was being made light of the situations or dramatising them, but simply relating things as they happened. I liked the format a lot too, various things that were properly told about later in the book were mentioned in earlier chapters, before we got the whole picture. I read this book the same way I would listen to someone tell me about their life and I think that was the intended way for this autobiography to be read.

I could go ahead and write about the things I liked, the ones I related to, the ones that made me sad, but then I would do this book no justice. 'Born a Crime' is an experience and I feel like finding out about what's in it by reading a review rather than picking up the book and reading it yourself takes away from how good reading it actually is.

The audiobook, narrated by Trevor Noah himself, is getting a lot of praise too and I agree. I listened to a bit of it and the narration is great, it also helps with unfamiliar words and names that I wouldn't know how to pronounce.

'Born a Crime' is a fantastic book and so worth picking up. Apart from Trevor Noah's life story (which, in a way, is a more his mother's story) we also get a good history lesson.

Completely blown away. This had been on my list for a long time. I was never quite ready for the typical, lighthearted book by a comic. This is not your typical humor fare.

For sure, it's funny. The Daily Show host does not disappoint with hilarious stories of growing up in South Africa. I didn't expect his delicate touch on thorny topics, thoughtful prose, nor magnetic storytelling.

If you've thought about reading this one, dive in now. And if you haven't thought about it, you really should.

One of the best audiobooks I've listened too. I'm sure the book would be funny (my BOB kids confirm this is true), but him building and landing the jokes was a treat and I definitely laugh-snorted a few times in the car. I also appreciate how he used the intros to the chapters to give historical and cultural context to his personal stories, as I definitely learned from this book. All BOB team members have given this a super thumbs up!

I read this book, though I'd really like to listen to the audio book version. It's narrated by Trevor Noah himself, and apparently very, very good. I totally believe that - the man is hilarious on The Daily Show. I still really enjoyed the stories Noah told, though I wish he'd gotten more into his journey as a comedian, and not just his childhood and teenage years.

Noah has an uncanny way of explaining background information that you need to know while not giving away the (actually somewhat obvious in hindsight) punchline. Even the background information is told in an extremely entertaining way - you can feel Noah's everpresent grin through the pages. Even though the book begins (and sort of ends) on a sad note, the book itself is a happy, optimistic one. I didn't laugh myself silly, like the next book I read (Jenny Lawson's Furiously Happy), but I did have to giggle and read parts to my husband. (And he actually laughed at them, instead of looking at me like I was insane, which is what happened with Furiously Happy.)

I've been a fan of Trevor Noah's since shortly after he took over The Daily Show, and this was an interesting peek at his background, and the very different culture he grew up in. I highly recommend this book.

You can find all my reviews at Goddess in the Stacks.

Listened to this audiobook. Normally I love comedians' memoirs — especially hearing it in their voice and delivery — but this one didn't thrill me. Maybe it's because I came into it with the wrong expectation: that it would be funny. And don't get me wrong, it WAS funny at times, just not in a laugh-out-loud way.

But this was very interesting from a cultural perspective, learning about how prevalent a role apartheid played in his youth (despite that being not so long ago), and his mom is a BADASS lady I loved hearing about. It's dramatic and interesting and eye-opening for sure, but this is a rare instance of a memoir I think I would have actually enjoyed more had I read it on the page vs. listened to it over the course of a few months via auidobook.

I changed my rating from 4 to 5 stars because I am still thinking about this book. It was really well written, hilarious, and insightful. I loved his perspective on how languages connect people and what it was like growing up under apartheid. It's a book I would definitely recommend, and it's a fun read despite some heavy topics.

I listened to the audiobook of this and it was fabulously narrated by Trevor! I'm not usually keen on audiobooks so that's saying something.

It was a brilliant book, which was only made better by Trevor's narration of it. I think it's what really helped to bring the country/people/culture to life.

I know I'm (way) late to the party but if you haven't read this book, then read it! Or like I did, listen to the audiobook!

“We spend so much time being afraid of failure, afraid of rejection, but regret is the thing we should fear most.
Failure is an answer. Rejection is an answer. Regret is the eternal question you will never have the answer to, what if.”

Really Trevor?
You keep the whole book light and hilarious and end on such a gut wrenching note?
The last chapter was heartbreaking.
All in all a good listen, especially if you're sick, after all laughter is the best medicine!

HUUUUUUUUUUUGE trigger warnings. Some of the worst animal cruelty I've ever come across and it's handle with very little grace or consideration for life.

At times unforgivingly brutal and at other times laugh-out-loud funny, I can honestly say this book was a journey. I have a very hard time handling animal cruelty so there were moments when I almost couldn't finish reading but the story kept me going. I had to remember that it's a different culture, and a different way of looking at life. It was an interesting glimpse into life in Africa. Trevor Noah is a great story teller and I'm really glad I listened to the audiobook because it made the experience that much more amazing.

Edit 03/25/2019: Counting this as my South Africa Book around the World.

After reading a lot of books that left me disappointed, this was so refreshing.

As someone who reads a lot of celebrity memoirs (and I mean...A LOT), I thought I knew what to expect. Usually, it is a series of essays relying how they became the star they are now mixed with some humor in there. But this was different. I learned so much from this book, and would encourage anyone to read it as well (whether you know who Trevor Noah is or not). It had the self-depricating stories (like his failures with romance), and also included how he learned comedy but in ALL of the essays I learned something. I learned about South Africa, language/linguistics, community, and parenting.

The last couple lines in this book left me teary. Beautiful memoir, nice surprise.