Born a Crime
by Trevor Noah
KSh 1,290
The compelling, inspiring, and comically sublime story of one man’s coming-of-age, set during the twilight of apartheid and the tumultuous days of freedom that followed.
Trevor Noah’s unlikely path from apartheid South Africa to the desk of The Daily Show began with a criminal act: his birth. Trevor was born to a white Swiss father and a black Xhosa mother at a time when such a union was punishable by five years in prison. Living proof of his parents’ indiscretion, Trevor was kept mostly indoors for the earliest years of his life, bound by the extreme and often absurd measures his mother took to hide him from a government that could, at any moment, steal him away. Finally liberated by the end of South Africa’s tyrannical white rule, Trevor and his mother set forth on a grand adventure, living openly and freely and embracing the opportunities won by a centuries-long struggle.
Born a Crime is the story of a mischievous young boy who grows into a restless young man as he struggles to find himself in a world where he was never supposed to exist. It is also the story of that young man’s relationship with his fearless, rebellious, and fervently religious mother: his teammate, a woman determined to save her son from the cycle of poverty, violence, and abuse that would ultimately threaten her own life.
The eighteen personal essays collected here are by turns hilarious, dramatic, and deeply affecting. Whether subsisting on caterpillars for dinner during hard times, being thrown from a moving car during an attempted kidnapping, or just trying to survive the life-and-death pitfalls of dating in high school, Trevor illuminates his curious world with an incisive wit and unflinching honesty. His stories weave together to form a moving and searingly funny portrait of a boy making his way through a damaged world in a dangerous time, armed only with a keen sense of humor and a mother’s unconventional, unconditional love.
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Description
| Author: | Trevor Noah |
| ISBN: | 9781473635296 |
| Country: | South Africa |
| Publisher: | Hodder & Stoughton General Division |
| Size (mm): | 152 x 233 x 13 |
| Pages: | 304 |
| Format: | Paperback |
| Colour: | Black & White |
| Weight | 398g |
| Language: | English |
| Publication  Date: | 17 Nov 2016 |
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Trevor Noah
Trevor Noah is the most successful comedian in Africa. He is the host of the Emmy and Peabody Award-winning program The Daily Show on Comedy Central. Noah joined The Daily Show in 2014 as a contributor.
Born in South Africa to a black South African mother and a white European father, Noah has hosted numerous television shows including South Africa’s music, television and film awards, the South African Comedy Festival and two seasons of his own late night talk show, Tonight with Trevor Noah. He made his U.S. television debut in 2012 on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and has also appeared on Late Show with David Letterman, becoming the first South African stand-up comedian to appear on either late night show.
Noah recently debuted his one-hour stand-up special, Trevor Noah: Lost in Translation, on Comedy Central. Filmed at The Lincoln Theatre in Washington, D.C., Trevor Noah: Lost in Translation brings Noah’s unique world-view and global analysis of American culture to the forefront. In the special, Noah addresses major domestic and international events of the past year, sharing his outlook on the world today, including terrorism, racial tensions in America and what it was like being African and travelling into the United States during the Ebola crisis.
Noah's one-man show The Racist at the 2012 Edinburgh Fringe was a sold out run that became one of the most talked about shows at the Festival that year. That same year, Noah was the subject of David Paul Meyer's award-winning documentary film You Laugh But It's True which tells the story of his remarkable career in post-apartheid South Africa. His Showtime comedy special, Trevor Noah: African American premiered in 2013. Recently, Noah performed for the Royal Family at the Royal Variety Performance. He was nominated for "Personality of the Year" at the 2014 and 2015 MTV Africa Music Awards and won the award in 2015.
He continues to tour all over the world and has performed in front of sold out crowds at the Hammersmith Apollo in London and the Sydney Opera House in Australia as well as many US cities.
Lenny –
Awesome service
Ivy –
First, great service. The book was delivered within a day of placing my order.
Second, it is a good and very easy read. Bill Gates already reviewed this so I won’t go into all that. Trevor Noah mixes his personal experiences with commentary on apartheid in SA, giving great context. He also diffuses tense situations with humor, which is a testament to how great he is as a comedian.