Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood by Trevor Noah

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Title: Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood
Author: Trevor Noah
Published by: Audible Studios
Release Date: November 15, 2016
Format: Audiobook
Narrator: Trevor Noah
Pages: 9
Length: 8 hours, 50 minutes
Genres: Non-fiction, Autobiography
Source: Audible
Reading Challenges: CC's Goodreads Reading Challenge
Find it: Goodreads ✩ Amazon
My rating:

Blurb:

Trevor Noah, one of the comedy world's fastest-rising stars and host of The Daily Show, tells his wild coming-of-age story during the twilight of apartheid in South Africa and the tumultuous days of freedom that followed. In this Audible Studios production, Noah provides something deeper than traditional memoirists: powerfully funny observations about how farcical political and social systems play out in our lives."Nelson Mandela once said, 'If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart.' He was so right. When you make the effort to speak someone else's language, even if it's just basic phrases here and there, you are saying to them, 'I understand that you have a culture and identity that exists beyond me. I see you as a human being.'" (Trevor Noah)Attuned to the power of language at a young age - as a means of acceptance and influence in a country divided, then subdivided, into groups at odds with one another - Noah's raw, personal journey becomes something extraordinary in audio: a true testament to the power of storytelling. With brutal honesty and piercing wit, he forgoes an ordinary reading and, instead, delivers something more intimate, sharing his story with the openness and candor of a close friend. His chameleon-like ability to mimic accents and dialects, to shift effortlessly between languages including English, Xhosa, and Zulu, and to embody characters throughout his childhood - his mother, his gran, his schoolmates, first crushes and infatuations - brings each memory to life in vivid detail. Hearing him directly, you're reminded of the gift inherent in telling one's story and having it heard; of connecting with another, and seeing them as a human being.The stories Noah tells are by turns hilarious, bizarre, tender, dark, and poignant - subsisting on caterpillars during months of extreme poverty, making comically pitiful attempts at teenage romance in a color-obsessed world, thrown into jail as the hapless fall guy for a crime he didn't commit, thrown by his mother from a speeding car driven by murderous gangsters, and more.--audible.com

8 hrs & 50 mins

My Review:

Holy crap this book was awesome.  If you like autobiographies, which, I do. An autobiography is best read in audio form, you can listen to it without thinking to hard. And if your family overhears you don’t have to worry that much about the content, ie sex scenes aren’t really a worry with these types of books.

My daughter started listening to this book when I was about halfway through. She loved it.  She kept asking, “Mom, can we listen to the guy with the stories?” While there were some things that I was unsure about her hearing, ie Trevor Noah grew up in an abusive household, similar to my own upbringing. And I was worried how she would take it, but I let her listen and kept an open mind. Turns out I didn’t really have to worry.  She LOVED this book.  I’m excited to listen to more like this with her.

I loved this book as well. I gave such a stark contrast to my own lifestyle growing up in America.  Even after everything he went through, he didn’t let it break him.  He put a sardonic spin on most of his stories, which seemed to feel more real to me because of it.  It wasn’t too serious, but it was just serious enough if that makes sense.  I hope it does cause I have no other way to explain it.  His views on abuse were pretty spot on and I agreed with him. And I learned so much about his country, things I never would have thought were possible. The food they ate when they had no money. The buses, like WTF, never would have thought they could be run by anything other than government.  The violence that was prevalent (not just domestic), the sexism, the different tribes and languages.  I could go on and on. It was just incredibly interesting.  And he explained it with enough detail and vibrancy that I wasn’t confused with info overload.  It was just a great book.

I would highly recommend it.