About The Book
A memoir on the trials and tribulations of Trevor Noah’s life while growing up, this was an A+++++ book.
My Review: 10/10 Would Recommend
I don’t really watch Trevor Noah, but I have watched clips of him here and there and always found him frank and funny. I really loved this book and the insight he gave about growing up as a mixed child and how displaced he always felt. Colourful and hilarious, I think most people would really enjoy this.
Favourite Quotes
“Trevor is so naughty. He’s the naughtiest child I’ve ever come across in my life.”
“Then you should hit him.”
“I can’t hit him.”
“Why not?”
“Because I don’t know how to hit a while child,” she said. “A black child, I understand. A black child, you hit them and they stay black. Trevor, when you hit him he turns blue and green and yellow and red. I’ve never seen those colours before. I’m scared I’m going to break him. I don’t want to kill a white person. I’m so afraid. I’m not going to touch him.” And she never did.
My grandmother treated me like I was white. My grandfather did, too, only he was even more extreme. He called me “Mastah.” In the car, he insisted on driving me as if he were my chauffeur. “Mastah must always sit in the backseat.” I never challenged him on it. What I was going to say? “I believe your perception of race is flawed, Grandfather.” No. I was five. I sat in the back.
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The difference between British racism and Afrikaner racism was that at least the British gave the natives something to aspire to. If they could learn to speak correct English and dress in proper clothes, if they could Anglicize and civilize themselves, one day they might be welcome in society. The Afrikaners never gave us that option. British racism said, “If the monkey can walk like a man and talk like a man, then perhaps he is a man.” Afrikaner racism said, “Why give a book to a monkey?”
Trevor Noah
Why You Should Read It
Because I say so, that’s why.