This trade paperback (c. 2016) came in two boxes of books donated to the Little Free Library of Twinbrook (#7720) by BookCrosser 6of8 in May, 2022, following a successful give-away of 2,000+ other books at the Gaithersburg Book Festival in Gaithersburg, Maryland, USA, last weekend. Thank you for sharing these books with me, Six.

ETA: 07/19/22 : NOW a bookray!
Three of my friends want to read this book.
1. Glorie M - Silver Spring, Maryland <--The Book is here as of 03/18/23.
2. Judy D. - Rockville, Maryland
3. Sue U. - Silver Spring, Maryland

This autobiography of South African comedian Trevor Noah is mostly an enjoyable reading experience. With the background of apartheid South Africa, Noah pointed out those things which made him into the personality he is today. His mom had the biggest influence on his life, first of all just by being a black South African woman concieving a child with a white Swiss-German man because such a cross-race sexual relationship at that time it occurred was a crime. As a child, Noah’s mom made him believe that he could be whatever he wanted, despite the color of his skin. He was often thought of as “white” among his black relatives until he lived among other “colored” people later in his life.

I loved reading about Noah at age twenty-four finding his dad again. It made me cry. Noah wrote this about his feelings at that time, “Being chosen is the greatest gift you can give to another human being”.

Reading about apartheid, particularly about the arbitrary classification of individuals as either white, colored, Indians, or black...and where they could live, whom they could marry, and what rights and jobs and privileges individuals they could have...was shocking. Some families, as Trevor Noah’s was, were torn completely apart in that system.

I was surprised at how much trouble Noah got into as a child and how he was always setting himself up in borderline criminal activities. Life was a struggle for him, but he was a happy kid and later a happy young man.

Only one part of the book made me feel uncomfortable. It was when he told a story about a friend of his named Hitler who danced at a party for which Noah was DJing for a Jewish organization. Noah explained how his friend got the name Hitler and the uproar that his friend’s name caused at the party, but the entire story was told in a way I personally found offensive. Other than that, I enjoyed learning about Noah’s youth and liked his manner of story-telling very much.

The ending of the book blew me away. There Noah recalled the story of his stepfather Abel trying, but not succeeding, in killing Noah’s mom. She was the unsung hero of Noah’s life. After reading about all of the trials and tribulations of Noah’s childhood, I feel relieved that he is now in a successful career as a comedian, but I also love that he’s an author.

I'm releasing this book to my friend in Leisure World, Silver Spring, Maryland, USA.

--------------------------------------------

I'm releasing this book for...

***The The January 2023 Clean Start Release Challenge hosted by NancyNova. The book title contains the word BORN .

---------------

Hello and welcome to BookCrossing ... where we make the whole world a library!

Now that you've "caught" this book, it is yours to do with as you like. Read it, keep it, or give it away. It's your choice!

I'd love if you'd enter a note here on BookCrossing about this book -- where you found it, how you like it, and/or where you release it. If you join BookCrossing (free and fun), kindly list me, SqueakyChu, or any other journaler on this thread as your referring person. Thank you so much.

Enjoy the book!