Born a Crime: Stories from African Childhood by Trevor Noah

This is a book worth devouring in a week. It is such an amazing memoir. It generally talks about the struggles faced by Trevor Noah when he was growing up in South Africa. It is a comic memoir combining very emotional encounters as well as segregations caused by the apartheid. Trevor was a very nought boy growing in a very confusing environment. His father is white (Swiss/German) and his mother is black, which makes Trevor a mixed person, during apartheid it was a crime for a black/white person to have sex or a relationship with an opposite race. That made Trevor a crime child.

Despite the hardships and suppression caused by the racist system, Trevor's mother succeeded to rear her son. There was a point where she had to hide her son, not let him seen by people because they could have informed the government and Trevor could have been sent to a coloured foster care. His mother was defiant, she didn't live by the rules, she left home/parents and went to Johannesburg to hustle. She met a white man and had a baby contrary to the law.

Trevor had a stepfather at some point in his growing life, His name was Abel a very sinister man according to Trevor. He once assaulted Trevor as well as numerously assaulting Trevor's mother. Abel tried to kill Trevor's mother with a gun. Trevor explains that the gun (9mm) missed several times to kill his mother "it was a miracle". This happened when Trevor's mother divorced Abel due to his mischievous. Abel was a heavy drinker and he didn't take care of the family.

Trevor left home when he was 18, one day he received a call from his younger brother Andrew informing him that their mother was shot by Abel. Patricia (Trevor's mother) suffered bullet injuries on her ass and one which passed through her head from back to the front side. Miraculously the bullet missed important delicate nerves. Patricia did not die. Alas, Abel was not convicted, there were not prior reports of assaults despite being happening sporadically. The South African police system was very immoral, every time Patricia complained they sent her back saying those are family affairs.