[How it Works](https://boundless.binderybooks.com/how-it-works/) [Bookshop](https://boundless.binderybooks.com/books/bindery/) [Publishing](https://boundless.binderybooks.com/publishing/) [Team](https://boundless.binderybooks.com/team/) [Contact](https://boundless.binderybooks.com/contact/) Log in or Sign up Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood Trevor Noah Save to Your Books [Bookshop](https://bookshop.org/a/10458/9780399588198) [Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0399588191?tag=thisstoryai04-20) 100% of affiliate revenue supports Boundless Press #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 Times, 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. Show more Get the Bindery app * * * Posts about this title from Boundless Press [Boundless Press\\ \\ Jananie\\ \\ • Jul 4 2023](https://boundless.binderybooks.com/) [the 7 books i read in june 2023 ☀️ (+ may, april, march)](https://boundless.binderybooks.com/item/pGm0o17lEnfcnATAMXUx/) Check out Pair Eyewear here https://tinyurl.com/THISSTORYAINTOVER15 and get 15% off your first order! Thank you Pair for my new everyday glasses and for sponsoring this video! 🤍 timestamps ↳ 0:00 hello! ↳ 0:48 Born a Crime by Trevor Noah ↳ 4:10 Pair Eyewear ↳ 5:50 The Daughter of Doctor Moreau by Silvia Moreno-Garcia ↳ 10:39 An Unquiet Mind by Kay Redfield Jamison ↳ 16:25 Another Now by Yanis Varoufakis ↳ 19:15 Happy Place by Emily Henry ↳ 21:50 Finding Me by Viola Davis ↳ 25:33 I Want to Eat Tteokbokki by Baek Sehee ↳ 28:04 final thoughts! 🤍 videos mentioned life update video: https://youtu.be/Dt9EFPW2brI memoirs video: https://youtu.be/L8BSqNAQRYQ socials 🤍 instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thisstoryaintover/ 🤍 twitter: https://twitter.com/jananiekvelu 🤍 tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thisstoryaintover?lang=en 🤍 storygraph: https://app.thestorygraph.com/profile/thisstoryaintover 🤍 goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/thisstoryaintover 💌 for business/sponsorship inquiries please contact eric@smallscreenmarketing.com 💌 for all other inquiries please contact me at thisstoryaintover@gmail.com faqs 🤍 how do you pronounce your name? \- my name is Jananie—pronounced JEN-nuh-nee (like a knee!) 🤍 what's your background/ethnicity/etc? \- both my parents are Sri Lankan Tamil, and I was born and raised in Canada! 🤍 what is your job? \- aside from youtube I also work in product marketing! * * * 7 books [Boundless Press\\ \\ Jananie\\ \\ • May 27 2023](https://boundless.binderybooks.com/) [10 Memoirs You NEED to Read! \| the non-fiction books you need in your life 💗](https://boundless.binderybooks.com/item/2n7apr3Xy3T7GCCVoZCg/) Go to our sponsor https://betterhelp.com/thisstoryaintover for 10% off your first month of therapy with BetterHelp and get matched with a therapist who will listen and help 💗 💌 for business/sponsorship inquiries please contact eric@smallscreenmarketing.com 💌 for all other inquiries please contact me at thisstoryaintover@gmail.com faqs 🤍 how do you pronounce your name? \- my name is Jananie—pronounced JEN-nah-nee (like a knee!) 🤍 what's your background/ethnicity/etc? \- both my parents are Sri Lankan Tamil, and I was born and raised in Canada! 🤍 what is your job? \- aside from youtube I also work in product marketing! * * * 9 books [Boundless Press\\ \\ Jananie\\ \\ • May 10 2023](https://boundless.binderybooks.com/) [I'M BACK.... & I bought more books for a haul 📚](https://boundless.binderybooks.com/item/lonPbYMZXr3cdw7S1jyC/) Get your first Book of the Month box for only $5 with the code FLOWERS in the U.S. https://www.bookofthemonth.com/?utm\_source=Social&utm\_medium=YouTube&utm\_campaign=Partner In Canada, get your first box for $14.99 CAD with the code DAISY. socials 🤍 instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thisstoryaintover/ 🤍 twitter: https://twitter.com/jananiekvelu 🤍 tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thisstoryaintover?lang=en 🤍 goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/thisstoryaintover 💌 for business/sponsorship inquiries please contact eric@smallscreenmarketing.com 💌 for all other inquiries please contact me at thisstoryaintover@gmail.com faqs 🤍 how do you pronounce your name? \- my name is Jananie—pronounced JEN-nah-nee (like a knee!) 🤍 what's your background/ethnicity/etc? \- both my parents are Sri Lankan Tamil, and I was born and raised in Canada! 🤍 what is your job? \- aside from youtube I also work in product marketing! * * * 13 books Posts about this book from across Bindery [Children of Diaspora\\ \\ Rae the Reviewer\\ \\ • Jun 8](https://children-of-diaspora.binderybooks.com/) Join for free [40+ Books to Celebrate the World Cup!](https://children-of-diaspora.binderybooks.com/item/9RGZMc5j98qeHDaTXw0K/) What team are you rooting for? Thank you so much @librosmeansbooks for helping me put this list together. We’ve been gushing about the friendlies and upcoming matches and the World Cup overall since @booknetfest and I’m super excited for the real action to begin ⚽️ 🥅 Please let me know any other books from these countries that you loved in the comments, there are so many on this list that I hadn’t even heard of before that have peaked my interest #worldcup #booklist #readingrecommendations #bookstagram #readtheworld * * * 18 books 3 [Boundless Press\\ \\ Jananie\\ \\ • Mar 16 2025](https://boundless.binderybooks.com/) [books set around the WORLD that you need to read asap 🌍](https://boundless.binderybooks.com/item/0GjM7DSGLCiKYn4Wv1xW/) book recs for this month's reading challenge to read books set outside of north america!! * * * 23 books 4 [Boundless Press\\ \\ Jananie\\ \\ • Nov 13 2023](https://boundless.binderybooks.com/) [tier ranking every book i've rated five stars ⭐️ in the past three years](https://boundless.binderybooks.com/item/qaXcL5zcabdswsAHAEr9/) we love a good tier-ranking video! let me know your faves! * * * 39 books [Boundless Press\\ \\ Jananie\\ \\ • Jul 4 2023](https://boundless.binderybooks.com/) [the 7 books i read in june 2023 ☀️ (+ may, april, march)](https://boundless.binderybooks.com/item/pGm0o17lEnfcnATAMXUx/) 🤍 videos mentioned life update video: https://youtu.be/Dt9EFPW2brI memoirs video: https://youtu.be/L8BSqNAQRYQ 💌 for business/sponsorship inquiries please contact eric@smallscreenmarketing.com 💌 for all other inquiries please contact me at thisstoryaintover@gmail.com faqs 🤍 how do you pronounce your name? \- my name is Jananie—pronounced JEN-nuh-nee (like a knee!) 🤍 what's your background/ethnicity/etc? \- both my parents are Sri Lankan Tamil, and I was born and raised in Canada! 🤍 what is your job? \- aside from youtube I also work in product marketing! * * * 7 books [Boundless Press\\ \\ Jananie\\ \\ • May 27 2023](https://boundless.binderybooks.com/) [10 Memoirs You NEED to Read! \| the non-fiction books you need in your life 💗](https://boundless.binderybooks.com/item/2n7apr3Xy3T7GCCVoZCg/) 💌 for business/sponsorship inquiries please contact eric@smallscreenmarketing.com 💌 for all other inquiries please contact me at thisstoryaintover@gmail.com faqs 🤍 how do you pronounce your name? \- my name is Jananie—pronounced JEN-nah-nee (like a knee!) 🤍 what's your background/ethnicity/etc? \- both my parents are Sri Lankan Tamil, and I was born and raised in Canada! 🤍 what is your job? \- aside from youtube I also work in product marketing! * * * 9 books [Boundless Press\\ \\ Jananie\\ \\ • May 10 2023](https://boundless.binderybooks.com/) [I'M BACK.... & I bought more books for a haul 📚](https://boundless.binderybooks.com/item/lonPbYMZXr3cdw7S1jyC/) 💌 for business/sponsorship inquiries please contact eric@smallscreenmarketing.com 💌 for all other inquiries please contact me at thisstoryaintover@gmail.com faqs 🤍 how do you pronounce your name? \- my name is Jananie—pronounced JEN-nah-nee (like a knee!) 🤍 what's your background/ethnicity/etc? \- both my parents are Sri Lankan Tamil, and I was born and raised in Canada! 🤍 what is your job? \- aside from youtube I also work in product marketing! * * * 13 books