My First Audio Book Ever: “Born A Crime” by Trevor Noah

Hello Everyone and Welcome to JGC Blog!

I know my fellow book nerds are currently editing their 2018 reading list with great delight. Self-help books, fantastic novels, autobiographies… The book universe might never fail to deliver what we need in terms of mind-stimulation but still, you need to know what’s worth your time.

Audible is the app I’m currently using to listen to some of the book that are on my own 2018 reading list and it’s been a wonderful surprise not only in terms of performances but also for the audio-books recommendations I’ve gotten through it.

I have the sad tendency to lose my books or forget them in the subway or at other people’s places. I realized that my reluctance to adhere to the audio-book trend was ridiculous and since one of my 2018 resolutions is to read more, subscribing to Audible and listening to the endless selections of novels it offers seemed like a great idea and more importantly, a good investment.

For someone like me, Audio-books are not time consuming at all, quiet the contrary. Instead of listening to my music when I go home from work, I listen to whatever book tickles my fancy and it’s seriously cool. It’s also an awesome way to educate yourself and stay woke 🙂

That being said, I couldn’t have chosen a better book than “Born A crime” by Trevor Noah to start with.

I don’t think I need to introduce Trevor Noah to y’all but for those who are unaware of his existence, he’s a comedian, writer, producer, political commentator, actor, and the host of the Daily Show on Comedy Central.

I respect him a lot and I’m a fan of the Daily show. I watch it as much as I watch the late night show with Stephen Colbert.

I appreciate Trevor’s blunt and unapologetic analysis of all political events, whether it’s in the US, Europe, Asia or Africa. His silver tongue never turns to lead and his sarcasm is always tinted with a much needed reality-check for the viewers, especially the bigots in  this world. I find Trevor hilarious, warm and I believe that he brings out a fresh and young perspective on social aspects and movements that seems to change our everyday lives.

To sum-up: I think Trevor Noah is awesome. 

And I was pleasantly surprised to see that his book validated that belief.

Trevor Noah was born in South-Africa during the Apartheid. He was born from a black woman and white man. He was a mix kid in a world that was denying such a thing could exist, worse he was a mix baby in a world that was forbidding such a thing from existing. Hence the title of the book “Born a Crime”

I’m not going to detail the book in this post because I really hope you will listen to it yourself on Audible or read the hard copy.

Listening to Trevor’s story, narrated by his own voice felt like absorbing a piece of his soul. It was raw, funny, heart-wrenching and beautiful. It is a testament of the man’s strength, a living proof of the hard and incredible journey he already went thought.

As a biracial kid, both black and white, Trevor explained how he identified himself as black, loved his white dad and was legally considered “colored”.

While most of the time his words were humorous, there was always an undercurrent of steel behind them.

Trevor narrated how his skin color and genetic background influenced the attitude of his own family towards him, how it set it apart in society and what restrictions were imposed on his life because of it.

He also told us how he managed to strive under it and how much his mother, his own personal hero was the drive and catalyst for his way to triumph.

It’s such a great and wonderful story, I cannot recommend it enough.

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