'We spend so much time being afraid of failure, afraid of rejection.
But regret is the thing we should fear most.'
Born A Crime is a biography by Trevor Noah published in 2016.
Born to a Xhosa mother and a Swiss-German father in Johannesburg, Trevor Noah’s very existence as a mixed-race person was technically illegal until the end of South Africa’s white supremacist apartheid regime in 1994.
Born a Crime covers his life until the beginning of his career in the early 2000s, following his close relationship with his beloved mother, his attempts to articulate his complex identity in a nation that still clung tightly to racial hierarchy, and his struggle to overcome the poverty and violence that surrounded him.
This study guide by Litcharts gives an overview of the plot of the novel, delves into the characters and themes, and looks at the key quotes from Born A Crime.
