Book: “Born A Crime”
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Photo courtesy of goodreads.
WHAT TO LEARN
“Born A Crime” by comedian and former talk show host Trevor Noah is an eye-opening memoir that details the life of a South African boy growing up during the apartheid with his single mother before immigrating to the United States. The book covers vocabulary and grammatical elements related to: South African English and culture, American English and culture, relationships (family, parent-child, friendship, crushes, dating, etc.), philosophy, politics, apartheid, race, colourism, bullying, violence, trauma, memory, childhood, humour, and so much more…!
QUOTATIONS
“We tell people to follow their dreams, but you can only dream of what you can imagine, and, depending on where you come from, your imagination can be quite limited.”
“Language, even more than colour, defines who you are to people[...] Language brings with it an identity and a culture, or at least the perception of it. A shared language says, “We’re the same.” A language barrier says, “We’re different.” [...] [So,] I became a chameleon. My colour didn’t change, but I could change your perception of my colour. If you spoke Zulu, I replied to you in Zulu. If you spoke to me in Tswana, I replied to you in Tswana. Maybe I didn’t look like you, but if I spoke like you, I was you.”
Are you a fan of Trevor Noah’s? What do you know about him? Are you interested in reading his book? Tell me in the comments below.
For more books by Black authors and/or about Black characters, check out this great list on goodreads.
