Born a Crime by Trevor Noah

This is actually the one and only non-fiction book I've read this year (and probably for the past few years too lol). Nonetheless, I can assure you this book won't disappoint you unless you don't know who Trevor Noah is. 

So, a bit of background check on him. Trevor Noah is a South African comedian and the host for The Daily Show. I'm not a fan of The Daily Show so i rarely watch him there but his comedy show? 10/10. You can watch two of his comedy show in Netflix which I suggest you to watch them first before reading this book. He also posted short clips of his comedy show in his Youtube channel (I memorized almost 70% of his comedy dialogue. Yes that's how much I've fallen for this guy's comedy LOL).

Back to the book,

My sister purchased this book through Book Depository website for RM44.13. There're actually two version of this book; filtered and unfiltered. You can buy the filtered one in Popular for RM50++. The one i read is the unfiltered one (which I don't think it should be filtered though? Idk).

Born a Crime is a book about Trevor's journey from his childhood life up until he became a comedian. As the title portray, he was born a crime during the apartheid time because his father is a white man and his mother is a black woman. Basically, that was an illegal relationship during the time. Trevor told his story about how he couldn't walk side by side with his father fearing they will get caught because apparently white people cannot be associated with black people during the time. 

However, Trevor was not 'labelled' as black kid either. He was somehow became 'colored' kid. 'Colored' people is the people who are not white but not black either. When Trevor was a child, his friends would avoid playing with him because his skin is brighter than the kids. In this book, he told a story about how he wasn't belong to any group at school, how he cannot walk with his mother and father in public; all because of the color of his skin. 

This book isn't actually focused on Trevor alone but it is also focused on his mother. Her strength, her will to fight, her stubbornness, her faith and beliefs; very inspiring. Back in the apartheid time, black women aren't given opportunity to work and go out fighting for their rights but Trevor's mother wasn't a quitter. 

One of his mother's quote that I like;

"but don't cry about your past. Life is full of pain. Let the pain sharpen you but don't hold on to it. Don't be bitter" 

Reading this book is like taking a time off your serious busy day. Trevor deliver his story in a very funny way. I remember this one funny event he told in the book; 

Trevor's family has strong belief in their religion and his mother would always bring him to the church which Trevor didn't actually love to do lol. So in the church, they would prepare Jesus's body and blood which were crackers and grape juice but Trevor wasn't allowed to eat them. Then, he would argue with the nuns and priest;

"Only Catholics can eat Jesus's body and drink Jesus's blood, right?"

"Yes."

"But Jesus wasn't Catholic."

"No."

"Jesus was Jewish"

"Well, yes."

"So you're telling me that if Jesus walked into your church right now, Jesus would not be allowed to have the body and blood of Jesus"

"Well...uh...um..."

Cracked 😂

When I wrote summary like this, it makes the book sounds boring-documentary-autobiography book kinda vibe but believe me, you'll be laughing your stomach out while reading the book. Despite the comedy brought into the book, Trevor's word of wisdom exceptionally hits you on the nose too. You'll come across a lot of reality-knock quotes given by him throughout the book. 

What I like about this book is how Trevor delivers his story in the most less-boring cliche kind of autobiography book. Maybe because he's a comedian himself but incorporating comedy into writing wasn't an easy task. That's a proven talent there. 

However, the book got a little bit boring towards the end. His story telling got a little bit plain and kind of  'I have a deadline to be chased' delivery. Despite that, the story at the end is going to astonish you because that wasn't a daily normal lifestyle people are having. (Hint; her mother was shot twice by his stepfather).

I rated this book; 9/10.