Stellar comedian and host of the Daily Show, Trevor Noah knows how to tell a harrowing and enlightening story. His autobiography, Born A Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood, is genuinely breathtaking. The Guardian called it “Essential reading” and I stand by that statement. It’s not that the book is thoroughly educational, Born A Crime holds priceless facets of truth about governmental and social structures fashioned by racism.  

I finally got the chance to settle in and read the memoir and I was not disappointed. The novel has been on my radar for quite some time, especially since the announcement that Black Panther star, Lupita Nyong’o, would play the role of Noah’s mother in the film adaptation. I’m an avid viewer of the Daily Show with Trevor Noah, yet as I read, I gained new levels of appreciation and respect for this other-worldly and incredibly intelligent comedian. 

Born A Crime might as well be required reading because anyone can find points of connection and world-shifting insight in Trevor Noah’s life story. The best part about the book is how accessible the language is. Levity is Noah’s forte, yet the harsh realities are also drawn out for the reader seamlessly. He doesn’t mince words as he tells candid stories from different points in his life. He illustrates violence and the systematic oppression of apartheid in South Africa with such mastery, you are naturally absorbed.

If you thought you knew everything there was to know about the system of apartheid, what you know doesn’t compare to his lived experience. The way Noah writes about apartheid, I felt he was able to articulate what African-Americans have often felt about racism in America. Before nearly every chapter, Noah offers the reader a vignette of social and/or historical context.

The only way to make apartheid work…was to cripple the black mind. Under apartheid, the government built what became known as Bantu Schools. Bantu schools taught no science, no history, no civics. They taught metrics and agriculture: how to count potatoes, how to pave roads, chop wood, till the soil. – Trevor Noah

Directly following this vignette is one of the most striking chapters that brought me to tears.  Noah wrote the chapter about his mother called “The Second Girl”. Just moments before I read the section I was laughing so hard and then the next thing I know, I’m reading and bawling. As he explained his mother’s background, he shed new light on the closeness of their relationship. Her story was one he knew, one which he clearly appreciated and chose to honor in print.

There were times when she literally ate dirt. She would go down to the river, take the clay from the riverbank, and mix it with the water to make a grayish kind of milk. She’d drink that to feel full. – Trevor Noah

“The Second Girl” reiterated for me that no one should have to live this way, scavenging for food, unwanted by their own family. Yet, the reality is that so many black and brown people do live like this. How do we change it? First of all, having awareness that these things happen is an important step. How do you gain awareness? Well, reading a book like Born A Crime is one way and then there’s further education and action.

I think I was also crying like a baby because I gathered a sense of how intrinsic the relationship was and still is between Noah and his mother. Noah relaying his mother’s story showed me the impact of sharing your story with people in your life, especially your children. Oral histories, traditions, etc., this knowledge can go such a long way. Trevor Noah is obviously a product of his mother’s conscious decisions to be open about who she is as a person through and through.

Of course, there are many more amazing, heartwrenching, and hilarious moments. Therefore, if you haven’t read the book, go out and purchase it.

Noah mentions bits and pieces of his past in his comedy specials and during the Daily Show, those moments don’t even compare to the full, unabashed story. You would think a life like this wouldn’t be possible, yet as the old saying goes: fact is stranger than fiction. As a reader, my go-to genre is fiction. I love to be submerged in a world with characters I can wholly imagine. Yet, as a writer and reader, I’m grasping the immense benefit of opening my eyes to the power of nonfiction stories. Born A Crime has convinced me wholeheartedly the necessity of reading nonfiction, whether it’s prose, an autobiography, etc. Such stories teach you in ways that you can’t even imagine, they open up your life and perspective beyond any previous confines.

If you read the book, please share a comment on a moment that stuck out to you, etc.

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Best,

Kai