Born A Crime | Book Review

This book is good. This book is really good. Really really good.

I've been a fan of Trevor Noah ever since I watched one of his early episodes on The Daily Show. I didn't watch The Daily Show during Jon Stewart's time, so I didn't get all the fuss about doubting Trevor's ability to fill Jon's shoes. Jon did a wonderful job as a host (I watched couple of his episodes for comparison), but man oh man did he not make the best decision choosing Trevor as his replacement.

I get why people were skeptical at first; Trevor was an outsider. He's from South Africa. And now he's on TV for like 5 days a week commenting on US politics and all. But I thought that's why he fits the job perfectly. He got the perspective of an outsider coming from a third world country. And he traveled the world, so he got the knowledge and the experience. Indeed, he proved it by how good he is hosting the show.

Not only that I watch The Daily Show religiously, I also watched every single Trevor Noah's stand up video on YouTube. I'm not lying. Every single one. Even the 2 hours long one. That's how much I'm a fan. He's hilarious. I don't watch much stand up comedy, but Trevor is an exception. Unlike many comedian I know, he didn't repeat his jokes often. Maybe once in a while, but he usually have different jokes for different audience. He knows what suits his audience best. And you have to see him doing accents and impersonations. The Obama one was spot on!

Now that I've wrote 3 paragraphs telling you how much I'm a fan, you can imagine how excited I was when I heard Trevor published a book. Never have I ever this excited over a non-fiction book. It immediately went to my number one 'to-buy list'. But man, never have I face such difficulties finding new released (and best-seller) book like this one.

Long story short, after 10 long months of struggles, my bestfriends who lives in the capital, found the book and send me a copy as a gift. Thank you Stella, Jejes, Dinda, and Venna. You guys are the best!

I finished the book in two sittings, now let's start the review (I know, I know, the intro was too long. I'm sorry.)

The actual review begin here.

This has nothing to do with my liking for the author. It could be written by anyone, and still be one of the best books I've read. Hands down. It's the real definition of page turner. It's well-written and each chapter has its life-lesson. And what got me the most was no matter how tragic the story was, Trevor manage to add some humor to it. It's hilarious, sad, tragic, compelling, inspiring, all at the same time. The chapter Trevor Pray, and Go Hitler, to me, are exceptionally funny. The final chapter, My Mother's Life, broke my heart and nearly brought me to tears. This book is a roller-coaster of emotions.

The most significant figure in this book is Trevor's Mom. The fearless, strong-minded, independent mom. She was the one who shaped Trevor into who he is now. She was the one who chose to bring Trevor to the world despite the apartheid law in which she was not allowed to have sexual relationship with a white man. Which resulted in Trevor being born a crime.

As Trevor mentioned in his book, the two of them were not only mother and son; they were team. It's literally two of them against the world--against the nonsense apartheid AND post-apartheid situations.

This particular paragraph haunts me even after I finish reading the whole book, the one that I told you had broke my heart;
'When he said that, my body just let go. I remember the exact traffic light I was at. For a moment there was a complete vacuum of sound, and then I cried tears like I had never cried before. I collapsed in heaving sobs and moans.//My cry was not a cry of sadness. It was catharsis. It wasn't me feeling sorry for myself. It was an expression of raw pain that came from an inability of my body to express that pain in any other way, shape or form. She was my mom. She was my teammate.//When Andrew said, "shot her in the head," I broke in two.'

I almost cried.

You'll learn a lot reading this book. From family love and innocence of childhood to political situation in South Africa and the struggle of living in a third world country. And above all, it's very entertaining. When I thought it couldn't get any better, it did.

I would not have thought Trevor went through all of that. I wished he wrote more on what made him become a comedian as successful as he is now. Perhaps he'll tell us in another book. I hope he published more books after this.

Do I recommend this book for you to read? Definitely. But if this long post doesn't convince you enough, Bill Gates listed this book as his summer favorite. So yeah, Bill Gates and I are on the same page here.


Born A Crime ratings
Goodreads: 4,46/5
Book-bosomed: 5 stars out of 5