It was a load of "shit" - at
least judging by the number of times the author used the word. It was
about being born a crime but also about living like a criminal.
Knowing the author - for his comedy
exploits - perhaps played a significant role in breezing through the
book in a record eight days. And as I admitted to a colleague, that
Trevor writes as he speaks made reading easier.
The author weaves a labyrinth of his
life and living it under a political system that thrived on racial
segregation - the famed apartheid, remnants of which lingers in South
Africa.
Trevor is a product of this very
society and the survival tactics he'd employed along the way with a
core presence of his mother made matters worse or better - depending
on circumstances.
His billboards in New York refer to him
as "Son of Patricia." Patricia Noyimbuselo Noah, was the
very magician that got him to believe that he needed to fight for
relief if he wanted to live - and fight he did.
To start from the end, Trevor tells the
story of damning the cost and telling doctors to go-ahead and treat
his mom after she'd been shot at close-range by his stepdad.
Along with his stepbrother Andrew, they
consoled each other at the tragedy that likely loomed - Mom lived and
Trevor wrapped up the story with her situation.
"For my mother, my first fan.
Thank you for making me a man," were Trevor's last words of the
story. Then he adds after acknowledgements: "And, finally, for
bringing me into this world and making me the man I am today, I owe
the greatest debt, a debt I can never repay, to my mother."
Roll back to the beginning, after
reproducing the apartheid-era Immorality Act of 1927, Trevor kick
starts with the story of how his mother threw him outta a moving
vehicle in order to save their lives - him, mom and stepbrother,
Andrew.
Chapter One is titled: "Run"
and the last chapter: "My Mother's Life" as if to protect
his story in between the two chapters with the hard training and life
of his beloved mother.
But mom's mom, Frances and cousin
Mlungisi played equally central roles in his journey through life.
Granny perhaps because of her "coloured" reverence for him
and love to protect him from being "stolen."
Mlungisi was family but also a business
associate of the highest degree. It was with him Trevor perpetrated
what today could be classified digital crimes of duplicating pirated
copies of music and selling.
Ten points to wrap up what I gleaned
from the pages:
1 - Trevor lays bare the reality of
Apartheid South Africa and the days after its abolition.
2 - Religion it turned out played a neutral role amid the system's restrictions. Mom caused them to attend three different church services in a weekend. He reveals sparring with mom over faith-based issues.
3 - Highlights the patriarchal nature of society and attendant gender-based violence as unleashed by his stepdad.
4 - A week in jail exposed him to the grim realities of South Africa's justice system - Mom to the rescue.
5 - Failure of political leadership? Kind of, as the problems he highlights about slums like Alexandra and Soweto still persist and are the cause of protests even as of March 2019.
6 - As he speaks, Trevor uses, even abuses use of (the) word "shit" and embedded in there is a truckload of "f*ck."
7 - Beyond being born a crime, Trevor lived a crime with the pirated CDs business, with the shoplifting that got a colleague expelled from school.
8 - The bumpy relationships with the opposite sex, perhaps reveals what most young people went through before social media and mobile technology.
9 - Leveraging on being multilingual, so that he spoke English, native Xhosa, Afrikaans among others. Bailing himself out due to his language prowess.
10 - Clearly phase one of the Trevor Noah story. Made a passing comment about his comedy gigs. With it all full-blown now, fingers crossed waiting for the journey up the comic ladder.
Very sincerely yours,
Hajia Fati’s son.
Hajia Fati’s son.
Sha'ban 18, 1440 = April 23, 2019
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