{"id":7562,"date":"2023-05-27T01:00:09","date_gmt":"2023-05-27T06:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/?p=7562"},"modified":"2024-06-13T21:43:43","modified_gmt":"2024-06-14T01:43:43","slug":"book-born-a-crime","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/book-born-a-crime\/","title":{"rendered":"Born a Crime: Stories From a South African Childhood"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"book-1095\" class=\"bdb-book-info\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/book_bornacrime.png?fit=250%2C380&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Born a Crime: Stories From a South African Childhood\" class=\"alignright\"\/><strong>Title:<\/strong> Born a Crime: Stories From a South African Childhood<br \/><strong>Author:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/book-database\/author\/trevor-noah\/\">Trevor Noah<\/a><br \/><strong>First Published:<\/strong> <span content=\"2016-11-15\">November 15, 2016<\/span><br \/><strong>Publisher:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/book-database\/publisher\/one-world\/\">One World<\/a><br \/><strong>Pages:<\/strong> 304<br \/><strong>Genre:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/book-database\/genre\/humor\/\">Humor<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/book-database\/genre\/memoir\/\">Memoir<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/book-database\/genre\/non-fiction\/\">Non-Fiction<\/a><br \/><strong>Format:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/book-database\/format\/hardcover\/\">Hardcover<\/a><br \/><strong>Source:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/book-database\/source\/library\/\">Library<\/a><br \/><strong>Rating:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/book-database\/rating\/5\/\"><span class=\"bdb-font-awesome-star-wrap\"><i class=\"fas fa-star\"><\/i><i class=\"fas fa-star\"><\/i><i class=\"fas fa-star\"><\/i><i class=\"fas fa-star\"><\/i><i class=\"fas fa-star\"><\/i><\/span><\/a><br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.goodreads.com\/book\/show\/29780253-born-a-crime\" target=\"_blank\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/addtogoodreads.png?ssl=1\" align=\"left\" border=\"0\"\/><\/a><br \/><br \/><strong>Synopsis:<\/strong> <p>Trevor Noah\u2019s 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\u2019 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\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n<p>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\u2019s relationship with his fearless, rebellious, and fervently religious mother\u2014his teammate, a woman determined to save her son from the cycle of poverty, violence, and abuse that would ultimately threaten her own life.<\/p>\n<p>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\u2019s unconventional, unconditional love.<\/p>\n<strong>Get the Book:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3Y9rTZD\" target=\"_blank\">Amazon<\/a>\r\n<hr \/><\/div>\t\t<script type=\"application\/ld+json\">\n\t\t\t{\n\t\t\t\t\"@context\": \"https:\/\/schema.org\/\",\n\t\t\t\t\"@type\": \"Review\",\n\t\t\t\t\"datePublished\": \"2023-05-27T06:00:09+00:00\",\n\t\t\t\t\"description\": \"Born a Crime: Stories From a South African Childhood\",\n\t\t\t\t\"publisher\": {\n\t\t\t\t\t\"@type\": \"Organization\",\n\t\t\t\t\t\"name\": \"Radical Dreamer\"\t\t\t\t},\n\t\t\t\t\"url\": \"https:\\\/\\\/pastelgoth.net\\\/blog\\\/book-born-a-crime\\\/\",\n\t\t\t\t\"itemReviewed\": {\n\t\t\t\t\t\"@type\": \"Book\",\n\t\t\t\t\t\"name\": \"Born a Crime: Stories From a South African Childhood\",\n\t\t\t\t\t\"author\": [\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t{\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"@type\": \"Person\",\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"name\": \"Trevor Noah\",\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"sameAs\": \"https:\\\/\\\/pastelgoth.net\\\/blog\\\/book-database\\\/author\\\/trevor-noah\\\/\"\t\t\t\t\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t],\n\t\t\t\t\t\"isbn\": \"\",\n\t\t\t\t\t\"numberOfPages\": 304,\n\t\t\t\t\t\"publisher\": {\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\"@type\": \"Organization\",\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\"name\": \"One World\"\t\t\t\t\t},\n\t\t\t\t\t\"image\": \"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/pastelgoth.net\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/book_bornacrime.png?fit=250%2C380&ssl=1\",\n\t\t\t\t\t\"datePublished\": \"2016-11-15T00:00:00+00:00\",\n\t\t\t\t\t\"sameAs\": \"https:\\\/\\\/www.goodreads.com\\\/book\\\/show\\\/29780253-born-a-crime\",\n\t\t\t\t\t\"genre\": \"Humor\"\t\t\t\t},\n\t\t\t\t\"author\": {\n\t\t\t\t\t\"@type\": \"Person\",\n\t\t\t\t\t\"name\": \"Jamie\",\n\t\t\t\t\t\"sameAs\": \"https:\\\/\\\/pastelgoth.net\\\/blog\\\/\"\t\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t, \"reviewRating\": {\n\t\t\t\t\t\"@type\": \"Rating\",\n\t\t\t\t\t\"ratingValue\": 5,\n\t\t\t\t\t\"bestRating\": 5\t\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t}\n\t\t<\/script>\n\t\t\n<h2>Review<\/h2>\n<p>For those that don&#8217;t already know who Trevor Noah is, he is a comedian from South Africa that is now the current host of <strong>The Daily Show<\/strong>, taking the place of Jon Stewart when he retired. Trevor is an accomplished polyglot, speaking 9 languages fluently and has some fluency in several more. In much of his comedy, he talks about his difficulties with racial identity having been born during apartheid to an African mother and a Swiss father. Apartheid was a system of institutionalized segregation in South Africa that lasted from the 1940s to the 1990s.<\/p>\n<p>The book is bursting at the seams with humorous anecdotes about growing up as the wild child in his family. Getting in trouble, trying to outrun and outsmart his mom, committing petty crimes with friends, striking out with girls; Trevor&#8217;s life was colorful in no small part because of his mother. In interviews, Trevor has stated that his memoir became an open love letter to his mother, Patricia Noah\u2013a fiercely independent woman that refused to be held down by her race or gender and sought to show her son the world outside of apartheid South Africa, who tried to save her son from the cruelty of the world.<\/p>\n<p>The last chapters had me sobbing which was something that I hadn&#8217;t anticipated. Trevor mentions his step-father in the early chapters in passing, like a dark cloud that hung over his family&#8217;s life. I wasn&#8217;t prepared for the deeply troubling and heartbreaking portrait of a loving family ripped apart by abuse and the failures of law enforcement to prevent tragedy despite numerous attempts to get help.<\/p>\n<p>I was already a fan of Trevor Noah, having watched some of his stand-up comedy, and was overjoyed when he took over <strong>The Daily Show<\/strong>. From this memoir I have a newfound respect for Trevor not only for the horrendous abuse and racism he has endured but how he allowed these things to shape who he is. He approaches issues of race, identity, poverty, and abuse with honesty and was able to articulate his feelings on topics that I have been struggling with for years. This memoir was surprisingly cathartic to me as someone that has struggled both with a mixed racial background and as a survivor of domestic abuse.<\/p>\n<p>This was a wonderful memoir that really showcased that even in the darkest of places one can still find hope and strength in love. It was both insightful and laugh-out-loud funny, even if some of the humor could be viewed as highly offensive. I really enjoyed this memoir and am happy that I read it, it&#8217;s definitely going down on my shelf as a favorite.<\/p>\n<h2>Quote<\/h2>\n<p><center><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;We tell people to <em>follow their dreams<\/em>, but you can only dream of what you can <em>imagine<\/em>, and, depending on where you come from, your imagination can be quite <strong>limited<\/strong>.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><\/center><\/p>\n<h2>Content Warnings<\/h2>\n<span class=\"ubb-spoiler\"><a class=\"ubb-view-spoil\">View Spoiler &raquo;<\/a><span style=\"display: none;\" class=\"ubb-thespoil\">Child Abuse, Domestic Abuse, Racism, Violence <a class=\"ubb-hide-spoil\" style=\"cursor: hand; cursor: pointer;\">&laquo; Hide Spoiler<\/a><\/span><\/span>\n<h2>About the Author<\/h2>\n<div class=\"ubb-about-author\">\n<h3>About Trevor Noah<\/h3>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"200\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/author_trevornoah.png?fit=200%2C200&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"alignleft ubb-about-author-photo\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/author_trevornoah.png?w=200&amp;ssl=1 200w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/author_trevornoah.png?resize=150%2C150&amp;ssl=1 150w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/author_trevornoah.png?resize=75%2C75&amp;ssl=1 75w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Trevor Noah is the most successful comedian in Africa and is the host of the Emmy and Peabody Award-winning The Daily Show on Comedy Central. This year The Daily Show has been nominated for three Emmys, including Outstanding Variety Talk Series. Noah joined The Daily Show with Jon Stewart in 2014 as a contributor.<\/p>\n<p>Born in South Africa to a black South African mother and a white European father, Noah has hosted numerous television shows including South Africa\u2019s music, television and film awards, and two seasons of his own late night talk show, Tonight with Trevor Noah.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ubb-author-links\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.trevornoah.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"\">Website<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/trevornoah\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"\">Twitter<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TrevorNoah\/\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"\">Facebook<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.goodreads.com\/author\/show\/15149526.Trevor_Noah\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"\">Goodreads<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/4eJAyJg\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"\">Amazon<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/trevornoah\/\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"\">Instagram<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Review For those that don&#8217;t already know who Trevor Noah is, he is a comedian from South Africa that is now the current host of The Daily Show, taking the&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7564,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[9],"tags":[2362,844,242,1884],"book-author":[527],"book-illustrator":[],"book-series":[],"book-publisher":[],"book-genre":[],"book-source":[],"book-format":[],"class_list":["post-7562","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-book-review","tag-apartheid","tag-black-literature","tag-racism","tag-south-african-literature","book-author-trevor-noah"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/book_bornacrime-header.png?fit=1080%2C540&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7562","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7562"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7562\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18676,"href":"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7562\/revisions\/18676"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7564"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7562"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7562"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7562"},{"taxonomy":"book-author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/book-author?post=7562"},{"taxonomy":"book-illustrator","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/book-illustrator?post=7562"},{"taxonomy":"book-series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/book-series?post=7562"},{"taxonomy":"book-publisher","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/book-publisher?post=7562"},{"taxonomy":"book-genre","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/book-genre?post=7562"},{"taxonomy":"book-source","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/book-source?post=7562"},{"taxonomy":"book-format","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/book-format?post=7562"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}