I believe the audiobook is the only way to read this book. Born a Crime came up as a recommendation. A small group of us had been talking about how audiobooks can be difficult to get into, and how several of us tended to like audiobook memoirs (this includes me). I think I’m still the newest regular member, but I’ve enjoyed meeting so many well-traveled, interesting women who choose to live outside the US. It’s one of my favorite audiobooks that’s I’ve read yet, right up there with Rex Ogle’s Free Lunch trilogy and Shaun David Hutchinson’s Brave Face. He’s a nobody with loads of unfair obstacles in his path, and readers will readily identify. He’s not a celebrity in the book he’s a poor biracial kid growing up in South Africa. I liked this approach because Trevor feels more real this way. Instead, Born a Crime is about Trevor’s family, his friends, and his childhood. There is zero focus on how Noah got famous or what that was like for him. While Trevor mentions The Daily Show and comedy tours a few times in the story, they are just brief mentions. Trevor is inspired by and in awe of her, and so am I. She’s as much of a character in the story as Noah is, and I would imagine she’s experienced plenty of her own fame as a result of her portrayal in the book. Trevor clearly loves his mother fiercely. By her sheer force of will, she ensured Trevor grew up both educated and street smart in a world where neither of them were truly safe, supported, or easily-accepted. Noah has recently moved on from The Daily Show, and I’d love to see him do some voice acting. Noah speaks and even sings in Xhosa and Zulu. He gives different people from his past different voices. His storytelling style is engaging and laugh-out-loud hilarious. I never watched The Daily Show, not with Jon Stewart or with Trevor Noah, but it is clear Noah’s success is well-deserved. This memoir is Trevor’s story, but it is also the story of the many obstacles constantly thrown in his and his mother’s path. I had no idea Trevor Noah had been through all that! It’s incredible that he became what he did, and he certainly owes a lot of that to his mother. Some parts are downright shocking and heartbreaking. Some parts are poignant reflections on race relations in post-Apartheid South Africa. I was hooked on Trevor Noah’s narration of the audiobook in minutes. This is one of my favorite audiobooks yet! A must for high school libraries. Nevertheless, Noah’s devoted and uncompromising mother-as voiced by her son-steals the show. Noah’s virtuoso embodiment of all the characters from his childhood, and his ability to perform accents and dialects effortlessly in English, Xhosa, and Zulu, garnered the Audie Award for Best Male Narrator in 2018. It’s a story that begins with his mother throwing him from a moving van to save him from a potentially fatal dispute with gangsters, then follows the budding comedian’s path to self-discovery through episodes both poignant and comical. Trevor Noah tells his wild coming-of-age tale during the twilight of apartheid in South Africa. Audie Award for Best Male Narrator (2018).Thurber Prize for American Humor (2017).NAACP Image Award for Debut Author and for Biography / Auto-biography (2017).Evergreen Teen Book Award Nominee (2019).
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