Born a Crime, by Trevor Noah, is one of my favorite autobiographies. However, I do not
think I can even call this book an autobiography. He doesn’t talk at all about his future life, all he
talks about is his childhood and funny stories from it. Therefore, I like to call it a collection of
memoirs. This book takes place in South Africa during the 80’s, and this is when racism played a
big role in society. He talks about his life and how racism has impacted his life, and also how
without racism his life would have been much different.
What I like is that this book has many
short, funny memoirs while talking about a serious topic. The story starts off by Trevor
explaining why he was born a crime: he had a black mother and a white father, and that was
illegal. Because of that, his dad was absent most of his life. He talks about his childhood, how he
was a mischievous kid and how he got in a lot of trouble. He then talks about his stepfather, and
how he was problematic. He talks about his odd jobs after high school, such as DJing and
pirating. I believe that this is a great book for ages 12+, because there are many sexual
references, lots of language, and a little bit of violence. If you are looking for a fun read, this
would be a great book. However, if you are looking for a book to learn something and with
challenging vocabulary, this is the wrong book. I rate this book 4 stars out of 5 because the
chronological order confused me and because of the lack of vocabulary.