"The book details Trevor Noah growing up in his native South Africa during the apartheid era. As the mixed-race son of a white father and a black mother, Noah himself was classified as a "coloured" in accordance to the apartheid system of racial classification. According to Noah, he stated that even under apartheid, he felt trouble fitting in because it was a crime "for [him] to be born as a mixed-race baby", hence the title of his book." (Wikipedia)

John Murray paperback, 2017. 288 pages. (1. hardback edition 2016)

I saw a review of Trevor Noah's memoir somewhere, and it immediately captured my interest. Today I received a copy of the book, thanks to Chania, in whose BC anniversary lottery I got lucky: Chania picked this book from my wishlist as my price. Thank you, Chania. I look forward to reading this.

I have not read much about South Africa and the apartheid system, so this book was quite an eye-opener for me. The incidents from the writer's childhood and youth were sometimes sad and tragic, sometimes funny, but always written with wit and humour. I also liked the short information bit about South Africa that were placed between chapters.

Tänään kirja matkaa seuraavalle lukijalle, jonka toivelistalta se löytyy.

Thank you for this wishlist book of mine and the fun afternoon in the Folk Park of Saari! It's one of my favourite places in Tammela and obviously I'm not the only one who likes it as the parking areas tend to be always full on good weather 😊

Reserved for Piiku as a wishlist tag which means that I have to lift the book higher in the TBR pile :)

I started reading the book this morning, just a few pages while having breakfast :) I hope to see bookcrossers from Turku later this autumn at the BC meet-up in Tammela ;)

About the subject, I have also Nelson Mandela's book Long Walk to Freedom, in Finnish Pitkä tie vapauteen, which probably will stay in my PC.

I'm planning to visit the BC meet-up in Turku on Wednesday and after finishing two other novels situated in Africa – Alexander McCall Smith's Precious and Grace, in Finnish Kelpo rouva johtajat, and Viola Wallenius' Koti Keniassa – I started reading this, from the beginning again, of course :) I'm now on page 64/288 so it's possible that Piiku will get the book at the meet-up..

I've read now 218/288 and I must say that Noah knows how to tell a story :D Her mom is awesome – so unprejudiced, inventive and brave, without her skills and effort Noah's life would have turned out very different.

There's a lot of useful information on the apartheid system between the chapters. For me there hasn't been that much new as in Finland these things are taught at school, or at least they were taught in my childhood and youth which still was time of apartheid of course, and in those days there were often articles on the subject in newspapers and magazines, but among readers elsewhere, especially outside Europe, the situation and the level of knowledge might be different.

Just some quick notes:
– I loved the way Noah's mom made him write letters, his letter on p. 82–83 made me laugh :D What a professional response!
– The toffee apple case was fun, yet cruel..
– It felt weird how deeply South African black people internalized the apartheid system and their place in it. They admired lighter skin and because of his skin colour Noah was given more food and less spanking than other kids :O
– Weren't mopane worms someone's favourite food in some Mma Ramotswe novel? I guess it was Mma Ramotswe herself.. ;)

This is an impressive story about Noah and her mom. The ending didn't come as a surprise as before starting to read this I had googled Noah.

BC Helmet -lukuhaaste: 18: kirja on julkaistu alun perin kiinan, hindin, englannin, espanjan tai arabian kielellä (maailman viisi puhutuinta kieltä).

To Piiku at the BC meet-up in Turku tomorrow!

Thank you for this wishlist book.