The audio version bumped this from a 3.5 to 4 star book. Actually hearing Trevor talk about his own complicated and sometimes scary life growing up during apartheid in South Africa made the story come alive in a way that the written word may not have accomplished. You could tell these were vivid retellings from the heart, and the commentary he weaves in about racism, domestic violence, poverty, and many other social justice issues really worked. By the time Trevor was 9 or 10, apartheid had ended, but repercussions still remained throughout the country as its citizens grappled with the systemic racism that had torn their country apart. As a "colored" boy (the South African word for mixed - he had a white father and black mother) Trevor faced particularly complicated obstacles as he figured out where exactly he belonged in the world. 
 Born a Crime was different from a lot of other comedian memoirs, mostly because it wasn't totally meant to be funny. Trevor brings comedy to the darkness of his childhood, but often times I just found myself laughing at the absurdity of what was happening or at Trevor's lighthearted twist on really messed up situations. The subtle voices he uses for his mother and his younger self had me constantly smiling - you can tell he is retelling his stories with a huge fondness and respect for the woman who raised him. The final couple chapters recounting a particularly violent event within his family had my heart breaking all over the place. After spending 8-plus hours listening to Trevor, I really really cared about what would happen to him and his family. I highly recommend this one.