Noah's roller-coaster ride
GETTING to know the story of the boyturned-man or rather, who the face of the host of New York’s The Daily Show belongs to – is an emotional roller-coaster ride of huge proportions.
Noah has written his memoir in a kind of novella format of individual but linked short stories of his boyhood, teen and young adult years.
Its wild pace, the erratic derring-do he gets involved in, and some of his crazy antics, literally had me laughing out loud, before deeply sympathising with his racial aloneness, and then crying out in pain at the kind of glowering domestic abuse both he and his mother had to endure at the hands of his step-father.
There are surprises at every turn. But it is Noah’s innate mischief, naughty nature and downright stubbornness – not to give in or up – which wins and literally comes back to smack you in the face. Born to a Xhosa mother and a white (Swiss German) father during the latter years of the rigid apartheid state in South Africa, and therefore literally born a crime, (of which we are made strikingly aware with the imprint of the Immorality Act on page 1), a young Trevor is propelled into the crazy-paving lifestyle of one whose future is shaped not only by his family, school and environment but also, and more insidiously, by a seriously warped political and social system which, by its very nature, makes it a crime for him to be, as a result of his mixed race, literally anywhere.
Noah offers a gritty look at what apartheid meant with a tragi-comic pen which imparts humour, irony and satire while not flinching from the actual horrors of the system.
As we travel from Sandton to Alex and Soweto, from the richest mansions to the poorest townships of the country, we travel alongside friends, uncles, neighbours and workers, who exist in dire poverty yet who also thrive on their humour and a community spirit rarely seen in the wealthier ’burbs.
Noah, however, struggles to exist in his politicised universe where he is forever on the outside looking in.
As the saying goes, “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger”, and certainly what redeems him is his canny sixth sense, living by his wits and with an incredibly nurturing but no-nonsense mother, who literally pours herself into giving him a “correct” upbringing.
This she feels will save her son from the cycle of “black poverty” and the “pay back system” in which whatever is achieved goes back to support the family and not towards creating a better life for the individual.
Mom is steely, self-assured and fervently religious. Some of the best humour comes from those parts of the book where Trevor comes up against her faith and questions it. There are scenes which could not be made up if you tried – such as being pushed out of a taxi, trying to set up a high school date which goes from bad to worse and finally, ending up on the wrong side of the law. This is a book where nothing is sacrosanct.
Courageous and self-sufficient, Noah is also blessed with a fantastic command of English and several African languages as well as Afrikaans – and he is saved by these as much as by his character traits. Read the book and learn why for yourself.