Born a Crime - Stories from a South African Childhood

Trevor Noah

Spiegel & Grau

2016

288 páginas

9h 36m

ISBN-13: 9780399588181

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.

Resenhas (41)

4.5 (Muito bom)

Um tributo à infância e à juventude

O autor usou episódios da infância e adolescência que o marcaram e mostraram como foi seu crescimento na África do Sul.

Destaque para a relação com a mãe, o pai distante e o padastro. Uma cena que me fez pensar foi quando ele fez uma série de perguntas a seu pai, tendo como retorno a indignação do interrogatório. Sua justificativa era que a proximidade dizia mais do que entrevistas.

O ritmo da leitura é bem fluido, com narrativas engraçadas e típicas de adolescente. No entanto, ultrapassa o que seria uma leitura juvenil, se é que existe. Pois, há reflexões interessantes sobre cada peripécia.

Uma característica positiva foi inserir no fim dos capítulos explicações curtas de como foi o regime do apartheid.

Aposto em novo livro do autor em breve, contando como foi a escalada para a fama mundial.

Obs: A versão em inglês é boa pra treinar o idioma. Pelo celular, o kindle ainda sugere o significado de algumas palavras.