Born a Crime, by Trevor Noah

I loved this memoir by comedian and host of The Daily Show, Trevor Noah. With a Black mother and a white father, and born in the last decade of apartheid, he would have been taken from his mother if he had been found out by the authorities, and she would likely have gone to jail.

In this book, Trevor tells us about his childhood and the many different societies that made up South Africa under apartheid. When his mother took him for a walk in the park, she had to pretend that she was the maid, because he was obviously of mixed race. His father tried to go to the park at the same time so that he could at least see him from a distance, but Trevor would run towards him, calling "Daddy," endangering all of them. Eventually his father moved to another city and they lost touch, only resuming their relationship when Trevor was an adult.

Trevor writes about his experiences at school and home, bringing us to the point where he decided to immigrate to the United States. He faces many challenges, from an abusive stepfather to social pressures at school, where he has to decide whether he's going to hang with the white kids or the black kids. After he graduates from high school he makes a living selling pirated CDs and working as a DJ at parties. Only after a traumatic attack on his mother by his stepfather does he realize that he has to leave South Africa to be safe.

This is an excellent memoir. It's well-written, and reads like a novel. It has the right combination of personal story and historical context, so important to understand the culture and society of South Africa under apartheid and in the years just after it was abolished.

Trevor Noah. Born a Crime: Stories of a South African Childhood. New York: Spiegel & Grau, 2016. 288 pages. ISBN 9780399588174.