A review by _askthebookbug
Born a Crime: Stories From a South African Childhood by Trevor Noah

5.0

It's Trevor Noah : Born A Crime.
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"As a kid I understood that people were different colors, but in my head white and black and brown were like types of chocolate. Dad was the white chocolate, mom was the dark chocolate, and I was the milk chocolate. But we were all just chocolate." - Trevor Noah.
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Such a stunning book. Born a crime is a splendid autobiography about the famous South African comedian Trevor. As I write this, I can't help but struggle to put few words together about this glorious piece of work. There are a lot of things that this book focuses on, the biggest one being the Apartheid. A severe racial discrimination that went on for about forty years in South Africa, Apartheid is one of the cruelest rights that white men exercised. As the author walks us through his life, he makes sure to let the world know how bad things were back when people were segregated into different colours. White being the most privileged. Born to a black mother and a Swiss- German father, Trevor often felt the brunt of being different.
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The book is extremely funny while addressing serious issues. That's a given considering how wonderful a comedian Trevor is. He talks in detail about his childhood, about how he never fit in anywhere for being light-skinned. My favourite parts were when he spoke about his mother, Patricia. She was a headstrong woman who made her way through poverty and taught wonderful values to her son. Her lessons are something that even I would follow for they're all spectacular. Trevor paints a picture about how tough times were back when black people did not have enough opportunities to move forward. There are a thousand quotes by Trevor that affected me more than I thought it would.
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This book is not all rainbows. It has the darkest stories of South Africans but the author gracefully narrates everything with a slight tone of hilarity to it. That's what makes it a superb read. It'll probably be one of my favourite reads of this year. It's important that people read and know about Apartheid for we are not taught about it in schools and colleges. A must read for all age groups.
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Rating - 5/5.