While I have not watched Trevor Noah on The Daily Show, I’ve heard of Born a Crime. It’s one of the books that the library has multiple e-copies of, and in light of what’s been going recently, I thought it would be a good idea to educate myself a bit more and managed to get a copy.

I initially thought that this was a memoir, but someone mentioned that this is a collection of autobiographical essays and that made a lot more sense. Trevor Noah writes about his childhood in South Africa, from the fact that his very existence was illegal to the ways that he was favoured by his family (but rejected by other groups).

As someone who didn’t know a lot about what happened in South Africa apart from the fact that there was apartheid and Nelson Mandela was jailed (and then freed), this book was eye-opening. It’s horrifying to see how outright racism was normalised and Noah goes a great job of showing how various groups were pit against each other so that they could not work with each other. It’s chillingly effective – keep someone down by giving someone that they aim to keep lower than them.

Despite the fact that racism and other heavy matters like domestic abuse is candidly discussed throughout book, there are funny moments. There is evidently a bond between Trevor and his mother and I enjoyed reading about their relationships and chuckled at the dynamics quite a few times.

The book is generally written in a light-hearted tone, which works most of the time. When it doesn’t work, however, it can be quite jarring. One such instance was the time where Trevor took part (led?) a “Go Hitler” chant at a Jewish school. While he did explain why Hitler was a common name, the light-hearted tone and defensiveness when someone tells him to stop does make it feel as though he didn’t understand why this would be offensive to a Jewish person. Perhaps he was writing from the viewpoint of himself in the past, and that past self was one that understandably did not understand why the chant was offensive, but because he has previously discussed Germany and the way they treat history (compared to South Africa), his defence of the “Go Hitler” chant falls a bit flat.

Overall, though, this was a well-written and shocking book. I’d definitely recommend this to people who are looking to read about life under/just after apartheid in South Africa, and for those who want to learn more about the devastating effects of racism.