A fast read that will likely linger in your heart and mind long after you put the book down. The strengths and weaknesses of "Born a Crime" are in the subtitle: rather than a linear narrative, this is a series of stories from the early, often heartrending, life of a talented comedic storyteller of mixed race who lived through the end and early transition from apartheid. You can piece together the narrative if that's how your brain needs to work, but you'll probably get more out of it if you just sit with the stories. The voice is light and entertaining and filtered through the naturally accepting eyes of a child and the keen-witted but kind adult he became, but the material is often difficult, sometimes gut-wrenching. Content warnings abound: from corporal punishment to child endangerment to criminal activity to racism to alcoholism to domestic violence to attempted murder, and more. I read the ebook, but heard one chapter from the excellent audiobook narrated by the author and would highly recommend that version.