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  • Born a Crime

  • Stories from a South African Childhood
  • By: Trevor Noah
  • Narrated by: Trevor Noah
  • Length: 8 hrs and 44 mins
  • 4.9 out of 5 stars (4,652 ratings)

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Born a Crime

By: Trevor Noah
Narrated by: Trevor Noah
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Editorial reviews

A number one New York Times best seller, Trevor Noah’s critically acclaimed autobiography will open your mind to the brutality of systemic racism and touch your heart with its testaments to a mother’s fierce love and the remarkable resilience of the human spirit.

Born a Crime is a deeply affecting and engaging memoir with a powerful commentary on the end of apartheid and its aftermath. Award-winning comic and host of The Daily Show, Trevor Noah tells the at-once moving, serious and outrageously funny story of his rebellious birth and his often chaotic coming of age in South Africa in the 1990s.

Set against a backdrop of radical social reform and reconciliation, Noah’s memoir explores themes of belonging and community, what it means to be a family, the racism that has shaped South Africa’s history and the absurdity of growing up within that as a mixed-race child. At its heart, Born a Crime is the story of a mother who will go to extraordinary lengths to protect her son.

Listen to Trevor Noah’s life story in his own words, as he narrates the Born a Crime audiobook with the humour and warmth for which he is renowned. Given the author’s knack for impersonations, the audiobook has been called 'even more splendid than an already terrific memoir'. Through his performance, Noah brings his childhood world to life and traces his escape from poverty using his quick thinking, linguistic abilities and wit. He also captures the vision and stubbornness of his mother.

Publisher's Summary

The compelling, inspiring (often comic) coming-of-age story of Trevor Noah, set during the twilight of apartheid and the tumultuous days of freedom that followed.

One of the comedy world's brightest new voices, Trevor Noah is a light-footed but sharp-minded observer of the absurdities of politics, race and identity, sharing jokes and insights drawn from the wealth of experience acquired in his relatively young life. As host of the US hit show The Daily Show with Trevor Noah, he provides viewers around the globe with their nightly dose of biting satire, but here Noah turns his focus inward, giving listeners a deeply personal, heartfelt and humorous look at the world that shaped him.

Noah was born a crime, son of a white Swiss father and a black Xhosa mother, at a time when such a union was punishable by five years in prison. Living proof of his parents' indiscretion, Trevor was kept mostly indoors for the first years of his life, bound by the extreme and often absurd measures his mother took to hide him from a government that could, at any moment, take him away.

A collection of 18 personal stories, Born a Crime tells the story of a mischievous young boy growing into a restless young man as he struggles to find his place in a world where he was never supposed to exist. Born a Crime is equally the story of that young man's fearless, rebellious and fervently religious mother - a woman determined to save her son from the cycle of poverty, violence and abuse that ultimately threatens her own life.

Whether subsisting on caterpillars for dinner during hard times, being thrown from a moving car during an attempted kidnapping, or just trying to survive the life-and-death pitfalls of dating in high school, Noah illuminates his curious world with incisive wit and unflinching honesty. His stories weave together to form a personal portrait of an unlikely childhood in a dangerous time, as moving and unforgettable as the very best memoirs and as funny as Noah's own hilarious stand-up.

Born a Crime is a must-listen.

©2016 Trevor Noah (P)2016 Audible Ltd.

What listeners say about Born a Crime

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Amazing!

Eye opening and hillarious. Trevor reading it brings it so much life with the accents too. Highly recommend.

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Amazing book

looking forward to hearing the next stage of his life. Trevor is the only person who could read this book with all the language's it continues.

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Thoroughly enjoyed it

Gave me a good understanding of life in South Africa under apartheid. Highly recommend it.

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outstanding autobiography and homage to his mother

what a life. what great insight Noah has. It reads like a South African epic. No surprise they're making a movie.

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  • Ru
  • 02-09-2020

An upbrining full of surprises

So glad Trevor Noah narrates his own story which is so unique... got a great feeling for what it was like for him, a mixed race kid, whose humour and mischief cuts through social barriers and humble beginnings.

Having followed Trevor since Daybreaker, and seen him perform live in SA, NYC and Australia, I was still genuinely shocked at how much I didn't know about his life and how incredible his story is.

That he survived some of the events and circumstances is amazing. The story ends before he becomes a celebrity, which is for the better, leaving the focus on his experiences dealing with a time of tremendous change in South Africa.

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The best audiobook by far

Trevor explains his tough childhood with pure articulation. His intelligence rubs off on you and his personal view on South African life is a history lesson like no other. History, humour and what a life. Will make you feel humbled about your own upbringing. This has to be listened to, Trevors accents and his bilingual speaking is perfect for audio

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Absolutely Brilliant

Trevor Noah this critical and introspective masterpiece with humour and humility. Patricia is an inspiration whose story is a privilege to hear.

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Couldn’t fault it

Incredible narration, incredible story. What an insight into growing up in South Africa coloured, and in such a time. I keep thinking about this book, even months after I’ve finished it.

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Entertaining

The story brought back memories of mine, i found myself laughing and crying out loud. Well done Trevor, I felt like I was there.

love the running battle with you're mum and her 'beliefs'. hahahaah

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An absolute ‘must-read’

The biography is very well written/narrated. The fact that it is narrated by Trevor Noah, who is one of my favourite comedians is just a cherry on top. The content and narration will make you feel like you are actually witnessing the story first hand.

What I also want to mention is how brilliantly one is taken through the apartheid times of South Africa and the impact it had on people’s, especially mixed children’s lives. And while I’m not a religious person, I truly admire Patricia Noah for he kind of woman she has been her whole life, way ahead of her times.

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