WINNER OF THE THURBER PRIZE
The compelling, inspiring, (often comic) coming-of-age story of Trevor Noah, set during the twilight of apartheid and the tumultuous days of freedom that followed.
One of the comedy world's brightest new voices, Trevor Noah is a light-footed but sharp-minded observer of the absurdities of politics, race and identity, sharing jokes and insights drawn from the wealth of experience acquired in his relatively young life. As host of the US hit show The Daily Show with Trevor Noah, he provides viewers around the globe with their nightly dose of biting satire, but here Noah turns his focus inward, giving readers a deeply personal, heartfelt and humorous look at the world that shaped him.
Noah was born a crime, son of 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 first 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, take him away.
A collection of eighteen personal stories, Born a Crime tells the story of a mischievous young boy growing into a restless young man as he struggles to find his place in a world where he was never supposed to exist. Born a Crime is equally the story of that young man's fearless, rebellious and fervently religious mother - a woman determined to save her son from the cycle of poverty, violence and abuse that ultimately threatens her own life.
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, Noah illuminates his curious world with an incisive wit and an unflinching honesty. His stories weave together to form a personal portrait of an unlikely childhood in a dangerous time, as moving and unforgettable as the very best memoirs and as funny as Noah's own hilarious stand-up. Born a Crime is a must read.
A BOOK TO READ NOW, WALL STREET JOURNAL
'Powerful, charming and clever' THE TIMES
'Witty and brilliant' O: THE OPRAH MAGAZINE
'A memoir with heft . . . this story soars' PEOPLE, Best New Books
Trevor Noah was BORN A CRIME - not because he could answer back in five languages; not because his mother threw him out of the window of a moving car; not because he shoplifted; not because he accidentally burnt down someone's house with a magnifying glass; not even because he took Hitler to a bar mitzvah - but because this was South Africa and his mother was black and his father was white . . .
'Moving stories that will leave you laughing' BILL GATES
'Raw, compelling and by turns alarming, sad, and funny. . .' NEW YORK TIMES
'A soul-nourishing pleasure' USA TODAY
'A remarkable memoir leavened with insight and wit, Born a Crime does more to expose apartheid - its legacy, its pettiness, its small-minded stupidity and its damage - than any other recent history or academic text' GUARDIAN
www.johnmurray.co.uk www.trevornoah.com
@johnmurrays @trevornoah #BornaCrime
One of the comedy world's fastest-rising stars ('SLICK, INTELLIGENT AND BLISSFULLY FUNNY' Time Out) tells his hilarious and moving coming-of-age story during the twilight of apartheid in South Africa and the tumultuous days of freedom that followed.An engaging, fast-paced and vivid read . . . Essential reading not only because it is a personal story of survival, leavened with insight and wit, but because it does more to expose apartheid - its legacy, its pettiness, its small-minded stupidity and its damage - than any other recent history book or academic textIt's no surprise that Trevor Noah, the slyly suave successor to Jon Stewart as host of The Daily Show, should write a smart book. But 'smart' doesn't begin to cover what he pulls off in Born a Crime . . . Noah's memoir is extraordinary . . . essential reading on every level. It's hard to imagine anyone else doing a finer job of itPowerful... The story of his life is full of chase scenes in which he runs, hell for leather, from spankings, from the long arm of the law, and from the swinging fist of his stepfather..
. a unique perspective A
soul-nourishing pleasure, even with all its darker edges and perilous turns, reading Noah recount in brisk, warmly conversational prose how he learned to negotiate his way through the bullying and ostracism . . . is
an enormous giftA BOOK TO READ NOWA memoir with heft... The interracial coupling that produced him really was a crime, making him an outsider. But
he thrives with the help of his astonishingly fearless mother. (At one point she tosses him from a moving car -- driven by gangsters -- to save his life.) However brutal South African history is,
their fierce bond makes this story soarNoah has a real story to tell -- and tells it well... A little scary, but trust me -- it's funnyAn affecting memoir. . . a love letter to his motherMind-blowing as f***Noah proves
a gifted storyteller, deftly lacing his poignant tales with amusing irony
Incisive, funny, and vivid, these
staggering true tales are anchored to Noah's portrait of his courageous, rebellious, and religious mother who defied racially restrictive laws to secure an education and a career for herself - and to have a child with a white Swiss/German even though sex between whites and blacks was illegal. . . .
Trevor Noah's electrifying memoir sparkles with funny stories . . .
and his candid and compassionate essays deepen our perception of the complexities of race, gender, and classA gritty memoir . . .
studded with insight and provocative social criticism . . . and
brilliant storytelling and acute observationsSharp, at times harrowing ...
The Daily Show host Trevor Noah reveals his coming-of-age as the son of protective interracial parents in apartheid South Africa
Humble, candid and funnyThoughtful, observant and empathetic...a
warm and human story of the type we will need to survive the Trump presidency's imminent freezing of humane values
Compelling . . .
By turns alarming, sad, and funny, his book provides a harrowing look through the prism of Noah's family, at life in South Africa under apartheid and the country's lurching entry into a post-apartheid era in the 1990s . . .
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 motherTreats what could be a dark topic with humour and light.
