3 . When the author opens his memoir with a scene of his mother pushing him from a moving vehicle, you know you’re in for a fascinating read. Born a Crime by Trevor Noah, who is now a daily show host, is an autobiography about Trevor’s life in Africa.

Trevor, the son of a Xhosa (科萨人) mother and a Swiss-German father, was born a crime as it was illegal for different races to marry and have children in Africa. Growing up biracial in the post-apartheid era (后种族隔离时代), his mother is an influential partner at every step along his journey. She worked diligently to stay out of poverty and keep Noah in good schools. Trevor’s mom stressed independence and free thought as well as all the values of Judaism (犹太教). Even before they knew apartheid would end, she wanted him to live freely. She took him to places that black South Africans considered “white things,” like ice rinks and the suburbs, because even if he never left the ghetto (贫民区), he would know that the ghetto was not the world. It was her mother’s aim to keep him from internalizing his oppression, and to convince him that he was greater than social labels. His mom would take him to the library and museums, and local college campuses. For his mother, being a black woman didn’t mean he couldn’t achieve greatness. She gave him permission to dream beyond his circumstances.

In Trevor’s whole early life, being mixed-race, he often wasn’t allowed to go outside during apartheid because the police could have taken him away; he couldn’t be seen with his parents and his mother had to pretend to be his maid when they were in public. So, Trevor had to have his mother’s friends pose as his mother. Trevor struggled to fit in at school as he didn’t know which group to play with. Later in high school, Trevor had to start a lunch delivery business to move up and be accepted by his fellow classmates. After high school, he started getting into comedy in 2002 and has been on TV ever since. Trevor had a rough, but loving relationship with his mother as he was always getting in trouble. Trevor didn’t see his dad much and could only meet in secret. In the end, Born a Crime is not just an unnerving account of growing up in South Africa under apartheid, but a love letter to the author’s remarkable mother. Noah writes: “I understood even from an early age that we weren’t just mother and son. We were a team.”

Born a Crime tells a really personal and yet universal story in many respects. It is undoubtedly a life-changing story which is powerful, honest, funny and dark at the same time, still it never turns to despair, self-pity or hopelessness. It’s a story of survival against the odds and the human ability to transcend the limits of their origin. At the end of the book, he explains this miracle that happened to his mother, where she survives a bullet to the head. These stories uncover new feelings towards loved-ones, and may influence you to sincerely reconsider connections to your family and their priorities.