Born a Crime

What it's about

Trevor Noah was born in apartheid South Africa to a Black Xhosa mother and a white Swiss father, at a time when their relationship was a crime, so for years he couldn't be seen in public with his father, or sometimes even his mother. These are the stories of growing up in Soweto as a boy who didn't fit any category: hustling pirated CDs, getting into trouble, surviving poverty and violence, and above all being raised by a fearless, devout, wildly stubborn mother.

Why it's worth reading

It's laugh-out-loud funny and genuinely moving, often on the same page, and it explains apartheid more vividly than any history book. At its heart it's a love letter to his mother, one of the great characters in modern memoir.

You'll love it if you liked

Educated, The Glass Castle or I'm Glad My Mom Died

Good to know

It includes domestic violence late in the book. The audiobook, read by Noah himself with all the accents and languages, is often called the best way to experience it.