Publisher: Spiegel & Grau, November 2016
rating: 4/5
"The tricky thing about the hood is that you are always working, working, working and you feel like something's happening, but really nothing is happening at all"
A Young Trevor lives in South Africa with his single mum. This is during the height of apartheid. Trevor is, in fact, “Born a Crime”, since the existing laws of the land do not permit inter-racial sexual relations. Any man or woman who is caught engaging in sex with a person from a different race risks imprisonment of up to 5 years. So Trevor and his Swiss dad have to stay far away from one another for safety. At one point, Trevor’s mother even hires a colored nanny to pretend to be the boy’s mother when they visit a public place.
Growing up in a ghetto, Trevor experiences or interacts with people who go through the typical challenges of slum life and of a young man: crime, drug abuse, poor sanitation, violence, police brutality, hunger, anger, heartbreaks, interracial mistrusts, name it. A mid these, he learns to hustle and makes small money running errands for the rich kids, selling pirated music, lending out money for interest, and deejaying. But things really go south when Trevor’s mum marries an unpredictable and violent alcoholic who, in the end, points a 9mm handgun at her head and fires! No, nobody dies in this story.
If you have watched and liked Trevor Noah’s comedy shows then you’ll probably love this book. The story is full of light humor as well as serious introspection. Oh, and the first-person account is best read in Trevor’s accent; makes it very humorous.
