Born a Crime, a book written by Trevor Noah, tells the shocking story of Trevor’s life in South Africa during Apartheid. Trevor, who was “born a crime”, is a mixed-race person which was made in illegal in South Africa during this time.  I was fascinated by this book because it shows the honest realty of the childhood experienced by the hilarious well-known comedian by showing the government-related issues he faced as well as the personal issues he encounters. Struggle and overcoming hardship are quite big themes for this book. Trevor gives factual examples as well as personal examples by talking about himself and his family and friends. One of the most common people to come up in this book is Trevor’s mom, who had to concur many difficulties to provide Trevor with the best life possible despite the disadvantages she already had put on her by society and the government. One of my favorite quotes in this book is when she said, “I’m going to give you everything I never had” (72). Her constant, unconditional love for Trevor was always comforting during darker times in the book.

Trevor Noah is a comedian and is currently hosting The Daily Show. Below is a video of of him talking about his experience with his mom being shot by his stepfather found on Trevor Noah’s channel on YouTube.    There are many more videos on his channel if you would like to see more.

One on the themes in this book came up many times and was present throughout the book: Even when life is hard you should stick together. This was always an important part of the book and applied to many different occasions’ across the story as well as relationships between many characters. Below are some of the examples I found in the story:

Below is a page that shows causes and effects of Trevor hanging out and working in the ‘hood’. Because this wasn’t a large part of the story, it was amazing how many things pushed him there and how being there largely influenced his future. The page shows some examples present throughout the story:

Apartheid was always a present problem throughout the book, even after it ended it influenced what happened to Trevor and his friends and family. A lot of events were affected by Apartheid, and it created conflict and hard-living conditions which is a central idea represented below with examples that were there throughout the course of the book.

Throughout the story there were many pressures put on Trevor Noah. From the very beginning to the ending of the story Trevor faced many expectations and difficult situations put on him. On my pressure map, I tried to incorporate most of the examples I came across in the book.

The book was entertaining as well as informational. I learned a lot about Apartheid and what South Africa was like during this time as well as Trevor’s life and what he personally experienced. Trevor did such a good job with this book that it was hard to put down.  If you are looking for your next book, I recommend Trevor Noah: Born a Crime over any book out there.