Born A Crime is a book by Trevor Noah, that guy in the daily show on Comedy Central (I recommend you check it out.) So anyways, Born A Crime takes place in South Africa, where it revolves around his mother. She was black but then married a white man from Switzerland. His mother eventually gave birth to a 1/2 white, 1/2 black boy who happens to be Trevor. During those times in the 1980s, it was thought very weird for people of different races to have married, so Trevor's parents weren't allowed to be together. Not that they couldn't be seen in the same place at the same time, but more next to each other. Trevor, at those times was very oblivious to what was being done and kept saying "Daddy!" in public, almost blowing their cover. Furthermore, they had to live in different houses, seeing each other in secret.
I'm not going to explain the whole book, just some of the funniest, important, or most interesting parts.
So it was just Trevor and his mother for the next few years, every Sunday, they would attend church for the whole day. It was extremely exhausting, and their car would break down every so often. One day, they were running late, and their car just would not go. Trevor, seeking an opportunity to get out of church, suggested they just stay home, but his mother claimed it was Satan's influence. Therefore, they walked. On the way, they ran into someone who offered them a ride in his car, but was approached by furious minibus drivers who demanded they ride with them. Wanting them to spare the car driver, Trevor's mother agreed. However, the minibus driver had intended to kidnap them and they had to jump out, Trevor, his mother, and Andrew (his baby brother, who is born later).
Another part that was something I really enjoyed was the advantages being colored was. At one point, Trevor ran into another colored kid named Teddy, who turned out to be his only friend in the neighborhood. Their house was an extremely long walk away, but without any affordable or reliable form of transport at the time, walking was the only option. Prior to his encounter with Teddy, Trevor often took walks around his neighborhood, discovering secret shortcuts, or other ways to get around. After befriending Teddy, both boys tended to steal alcohol-filled candies from the mall when it started closing, however one night, a guard caught them and the chase was on! Trevor managed to escape, however, Teddy was arrested and expelled. Later on, Trevor was called to the principal's office to be asked some questions, but when they reviewed the security camera's footage, he looked like a white kid! Given how he was mixed race, and the camera being unable to mix black and white at the same time, he was let off.
And finally, being the most ridiculous part of them all, was when Trevor started playing Dj music for parties and had a group of dancers following him. Though one of the guys was named Hitler (quite ****ing literally) and things went well until they performed at a school. Once Hitler started dancing, the other guys started shouting stuff like "Go Hitler!" until the teacher pulled Trevor aside and started grilling him about doing such stuff. Trevor regarded her disgust as an insult towards Hitler's dance moves (which makes him look like he's having sex), when in reality she thought they were worshipping Hitler. Turns out, it was a Jewish school!
Overall, I thought this book was quite funny, yet unbelievable, did Trevor Noah, the host of the Daily show really have this kind of a childhood?
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