Thought provoking book review: Born a crime by Trevor Noah

A few months into the year and I’ve kind of fallen off my plan to read a book a month so to get back on track, I downloaded the audio book version of Born a crime: Stories from a South African Childhood by Trevor Noah and I absolutely could not stop listening to it. Maybe you would consider this cheating because I wasn’t actually ‘reading’ but I believe I finished listening to it within 3 days. Maybe 4. That, ladies and gentlemen is an accomplishment worth mentioning!

Do any of you use Audible? It is seriously life changing though it can eventually become a bit pricey if you’re constantly buying new books. On the bright side, if you were to listen straight through, you could finish a book in just a day because this one for example was only 8 hours and 41 minutes long. In addition to that, you are able to increase the narration speed up to 3 times faster than normal which means you could totally listen to multiple books a day. I highly recommend Audible and if you’ve never used it before, you’re able to get a 30 day free trial and listen to your first book for free.

Born a crime is the perfect title for this memoir in which Trevor Noah, the current host of The Daily Show goes into details about his experiences growing up during Apartheid in South Africa. The simple fact that his mother, a black woman conceived a child by a Caucasian man was a crime punishable by up to 5 years of imprisonment. Trevor’s mere existence was evidence of his parents’ “crime” so for the majority of his childhood, he had to be hidden because a “colored” child was seen as superior to his Black counterparts and inferior to his White counterparts.

Listening to an audio book that is narrated by the author himself, the listener definitely gets a better sense of the emotions behind the words. Trevor spoke Xhosa many times in the book which is one of the official languages of South Africa. Had I read the word “Xhosa”, I am not even sure how I would have pronounced it in my head but I found out that this language is full of clicking sounds. It’s one of those things that have to be experienced because no amount of explanation would help you comprehend the sound but if it helps, Xhosa reads more like a clicking sound followed by kosa.

Because Trevor is a comedian, one can expect the book to be funny and it was but the story line was by no means predictable. The author effortlessly takes the reader on a ride that could very much be compared to a roller coaster: one second you’re sad that hate and racism could prevail so much in our world that someone’s mere existence can be deemed a crime, the next, you’re crying of laughter at the author’s wit and delivery and a moment after that, you’re thinking I cannot wait to meet this man in person and don’t get me started about his mother. I LOVE HER!

The interesting part of this book was realizing that Trevor wasn’t really the hero of his own story. He confirmed my thoughts in an interview when he said that it wasn’t until he finished writing the book that he realized that the compilation of the stories he shared painted his mother as the hero and him as just her sidekick. Haha! I finished the book and seriously thought to myself Patricia Nombuyiselo Noah is absolutely one of my heroes. Her defiance led her to choose to have a child she knew would be born a crime. She was fearless in all her decision making which to me is beyond admirable and proof of her faith in God.  Where most people would use inconveniences as excuses, she uses them as motivation to forge ahead. Mrs. Noah’s way of thinking is so different than most, for instance: most South African mothers choose a name that has meaning for their children but she specifically chose the name Trevor for her ‘colored’ son because “It’s just a name.” Trevor said “My mother wanted her child beholden to no fate. She wanted me to be free to go anywhere, do anything, be anyone.” Not that I’m against meaningful names, but that’s just genius thinking!

There is so much more that I can say to convince you to read this book but we would be here all day. If you do nothing else today, pick up this book or simply download the audible version. You will not regret it.

About the look: Lavender seems to be the unofficial color of this Spring season and I am totally loving it! It is such a beautiful soft shade that even if you don’t like purples, you can’t deny its beauty. The contrast of the pastel against the ultra bright fuchsia creates such a nice balance. I wore this outfit to church but it can be also worn for a mid-day brunch, a graduation, and even to the office if your work environment allows it.  The coordinated set and these shoes with the contrasting red heels (only $50!) are from Zara. The purse is by Michael Kors.

What color would you pair with lavender? Chime in below. 

I hope you enjoyed this look and will subscribe for more.

Until next time,