Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood

Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER The compelling, inspiring, and comically sublime story of one man's coming of age, set during the twilight of apartheid and the tumultuous days of freedom that followed NAMED ONE OF PASTE'S BEST MEMOIRS OF THE DECADE NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY Michiko Kakutani, New York Times USA Today San Francisco Chronicle NPR Esquire Newsday Booklist Trevor Noah's unlikely path from apartheid South Africa to the desk of

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - The compelling, inspiring, and comically sublime story of one man's coming-of-age, set during the twilight of apartheid and the tumultuous days of freedom that followed

NAMED ONE OF PASTE'S BEST MEMOIRS OF THE DECADE - NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY Michiko Kakutani, New York Times - USA Today - San Francisco Chronicle - NPR - Esquire - Newsday - Booklist

Trevor Noah's unlikely path from apartheid South Africa to the desk of The Daily Show began with a criminal act: his birth. Trevor was born to a white Swiss father and a black Xhosa mother at a time when such a union was punishable by five years in prison. Living proof of his parents' indiscretion, Trevor was kept mostly indoors for the earliest years of his life, bound by the extreme and often absurd measures his mother took to hide him from a government that could, at any moment, steal him away. Finally liberated by the end of South Africa's tyrannical white rule, Trevor and his mother set forth on a grand adventure, living openly and freely and embracing the opportunities won by a centuries-long struggle.

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.

The stories collected here are by turns hilarious, dramatic, and deeply affecting. Whether subsisting on caterpillars for dinner during hard times, being thrown from a moving car during an attempted kidnapping, or just trying to survive the life-and-death pitfalls of dating in high school, Trevor illuminates his curious world with an incisive wit and unflinching honesty. His stories weave together to form a moving and searingly funny portrait of a boy making his way through a damaged world in a dangerous time, armed only with a keen sense of humor and a mother's unconventional, unconditional love.

Praise for Born a Crime

"Compelling . . . By turns alarming, sad and funny, Trevor Noah's] book provides a harrowing look, through the prism of Mr. Noah's family, at life in South Africa under apartheid. . . . 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."--Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times

Binding Type: Hardcover
Publisher: One World
Published: 11/15/2016
ISBN: 9780399588174
Pages: 304
Weight: 1.15lbs
Size: 9.30h x 6.50w x 1.10d

Review Citations: Library Journal Prepub Alert 06/15/2016 pg. 52
Booklist 10/01/2016 pg. 8
Kirkus Reviews 10/01/2016
Library Journal 06/15/2016 pg. 52
Publishers Weekly 10/31/2016
BookPage 12/01/2016
Shelf Awareness 11/25/2016

Accelerated Reader Quiz #/Name: 195413 / Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood
Reading Level: 5.4 / Interest Level: Upper Grade / Point Value: 13