Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood [B0098-PB]

20119 PB in nice clean condition. A "brilliant" (Lupita Nyong'o, Time), "poignant" (Entertainment Weekly), "soul-nourishing" (USA Today) memoir about coming of age during the twilight of apartheid. "Noah's childhood stories are told with all the hilarity and intellect that characterizes his comedy, while illuminating a dark and brutal period in South Africa's history that must never be forgotten."-Esquire. Winner of the Thurber Prize for American Humor and an NAACP Image Award.

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. 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.

From recent Amazon/GoodReads reviews: "This is easily one of the best memoirs I’ve ever read. I knew Trevor Noah has lived a fascinating life, having been born into apartheid South Africa as a biracial child and raised by a Black mother. But I was unprepared for exactly how fascinating. This book is, by turns, hilarious, heart-tending, incisive, warm, and powerful. His voice comes through so strongly. I already loved Trevor Noah from all the work he has done on The Daily Show and seeing him do standup in Chicago several years ago, but this book somehow made me adore and respect him even more. Born a Crime is a masterful work and a credit to both Trevor and his superhero mother, Patricia."; "A perfect blend of humor and thought provoking stories and essays. I learned so much about apartheid that fascinated and disturbed me.
This memoir is easy to read, easy to love and easy to think on when you put it down. Glad I read!"; "Amazing! What a life lived and life lessons learned. All the emotions."