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.