Born a Crime

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - More than one million copies sold! A "brilliant" (Lupita Nyong'o, Time), "poignant" (Entertainment Weekly), "soul-nourishing" (USA Today) memoir about coming of age during the twilight of apartheid

"Noah's childhood stories are told with all the hilarity and intellect that characterizes his comedy, while illuminating a dark and brutal period in South Africa's history that must never be forgotten."--Esquire

Winner of the Thurber Prize for American Humor and an NAACP Image Award - Named one of the best books of the year by The New York Time, USA Today, San Francisco Chronicle, NPR, Esquire, Newsday, and Booklist

Trevor Noah's unlikely path from apartheid South Africa to the desk of The Daily Show began with a criminal act: his birth. Trevor was born to 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 earliest 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, steal him away. Finally liberated by the end of South Africa's tyrannical white rule, Trevor and his mother set forth on a grand adventure, living openly and freely and embracing the opportunities won by a centuries-long struggle.

Born a Crime is the story of a mischievous young boy who grows into a restless young man as he struggles to find himself in a world where he was never supposed to exist. It is also the story of that young man's relationship with his fearless, rebellious, and fervently religious mother--his teammate, a woman determined to save her son from the cycle of poverty, violence, and abuse that would ultimately threaten her own life.

The stories collected here are by turns hilarious, dramatic, and deeply affecting. 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, Trevor illuminates his curious world with an incisive wit and unflinching honesty. His stories weave together to form a moving and searingly funny portrait of a boy making his way through a damaged world in a dangerous time, armed only with a keen sense of humor and a mother's unconventional, unconditional love.

These book club questions are from the publisher, Penguin Random House. A full book club kit can be found here.

Book club questions for Born a Crime by Trevor Noah

Use these discussion questions to guide your next book club meeting.

What brought you to Trevor Noah’s Born a Crime? What were your favorite parts of the memoir—the voice, the story, the characters— and why?

“The genius of apartheid was convincing people who were the overwhelming majority to turn on each other.” How much did you know about South African apartheid before reading Born a Crime? What shocked you most about this racist system of control? Do you see parallels of this divisive “divide and conquer” strategy in other countries, either now or in the past? Explain.

“My relationship with my mom was like the relationship between a cop and a criminal in the movies—the relentless detective and the devious mastermind she’s determined to catch.” Noah’s bond with his mother is prominent throughout Born a Crime. What was the strongest part of their mother-son connection for you?

“My mom was wild and impulsive. My father was reserved and rational. She was fire, he was ice. They were opposites that attracted, and I am a mix of them both.” Describe your parents. Do you think you’re a mix of them both—or are you more like one than the other? Explain.

Noah writes, “I grew up in a world run by women.” How do you think Noah’s upbringing was influenced by the generations of women in his life?

Noah shares many funny stories in Born a Crime—the demon turd, the friend named Hitler. Which were your favorite ones and why?

Despite his primary school teacher’s recommendation that he remain in the advanced, white-dominated classes, Noah opts to take lower-level classes with black students instead. He writes, “With the black kids, I wasn’t constantly trying to be. With the black kids, I just was.” What does this suggest about identity and belonging, especially considering Noah’s interracial identity?

“Since I belonged to no group I learned to move seamlessly between groups.” Noah writes, “I floated. I was a chameleon, still, a cultural chameleon. I learned how to blend.” Where in your life have you felt the need to fit in, to blend in, and how did you achieve it? What are the benefits of being a chameleon, and what are the costs?

Growing up, Noah read voraciously. “My books were my prized possessions.” What were your favorite books growing up, and why?

Noah writes movingly about regret. “We spend so much time being afraid of failure, afraid of rejection. But regret is the thing we should fear most. Failure is an answer. Rejection is an answer. Regret is an eternal question you will never have an answer to. ‘What if . . . ‘If only . . .’ ‘I wonder what would have . . .’” How do you feel when you read these words? Do you have any regrets?

Noah remembers his first kiss under the golden arches of McDonalds. If you’re comfortable sharing, where was your first kiss and what was it like? Romantic, rushed, meh?

Noah discusses his participation in the underground economy of Alexandra, from pirating music to selling CDs and DJing parties. He writes: “The hood made me realize that crime succeeds because crime does the one thing the government doesn’t do: crime cares. Crime is grassroots. Crime looks for the young kids who need support and a lifting hand. Crime offers internship programs and summer jobs and opportunities for advancement. Crime gets involved in the community. Crime doesn’t discriminate.” What do you think of Noah’s assessment of crime? If the government plays a role in punishing crime, what role should the government play in its prevention?

On how history is taught, Noah writes: “In Germany, no child finishes high school without learning about the Holocaust. Not just the facts of it but the how and the why and the gravity of it—what it means. . . . In South Africa, the atrocities of apartheid have never been taught that way. . . . We were taught history the way it’s taught in America. In America, the history of racism is taught like this: ‘There was slavery and then there was Jim Crow and then there was Martin Luther King Jr. and now it’s done.’ It was the same for us. ‘Apartheid was bad. Nelson Mandela was freed. Let’s move on.’” What happens to a people who don’t learn their history, the context of events, and what are the ramifications for future generations? How can reckonings be made?

After reading Born a Crime, where do you think Noah’s comedic talent comes from? And how did comedy help Noah growing up?

Born a Crime Book Club Questions PDF

Click here for a printable PDF of the Born a Crime discussion questions