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The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates Hardcover – April 27, 2010
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The chilling truth is that his story could have been mine. The tragedy is that my story could have been his.
In December 2000, the Baltimore Sun ran a small piece about Wes Moore, a local student who had just received a Rhodes Scholarship. The same paper also ran a series of articles about four young men who had allegedly killed a police officer in a spectacularly botched armed robbery. The police were still hunting for two of the suspects who had gone on the lam, a pair of brothers. One was named Wes Moore.
Wes just couldn’t shake off the unsettling coincidence, or the inkling that the two shared much more than space in the same newspaper. After following the story of the robbery, the manhunt, and the trial to its conclusion, he wrote a letter to the other Wes, now a convicted murderer serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole. His letter tentatively asked the questions that had been haunting him: Who are you? How did this happen?
That letter led to a correspondence and relationship that have lasted for several years. Over dozens of letters and prison visits, Wes discovered that the other Wes had had a life not unlike his own: Both had had difficult childhoods, both were fatherless; they’d hung out on similar corners with similar crews, and both had run into trouble with the police. At each stage of their young lives they had come across similar moments of decision, yet their choices would lead them to astonishingly different destinies.
Told in alternating dramatic narratives that take readers from heart-wrenching losses to moments of surprising redemption, The Other Wes Moore tells the story of a generation of boys trying to find their way in a hostile world.
- Print length256 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherOne World
- Publication dateApril 27, 2010
- Dimensions6.4 x 0.88 x 9.5 inches
- ISBN-100385528191
- ISBN-13978-0385528191
- Lexile measure990L
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Editorial Reviews
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Review
“A tense, compelling story and an inspirational guide for all who care about helping young people.”—Juan Williams, author of Enough
“This should be required reading for anyone who is trying to understand what is happening to young men in our inner cities.”—Geoffrey Canada, author of Fist Stick Knife Gun
“The Other Wes Moore gets to the heart of the matter on faith, education, respect, the hard facts of incarceration, and the choices and challenges we all face. It’s educational and inspiring.”—Ben Carson, M.D., author of Gifted Hands
“Wes Moore is destined to become one of the most powerful and influential leaders of this century. You need only read this book to understand why.”—William S. Cohen, former U.S. senator and secretary of defense
“This intriguing narrative is enlightening, encouraging, and empowering. Read these words, absorb their meanings, and create your own plan to act and leave a legacy.”—Tavis Smiley, from the Afterword
About the Author
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Is Daddy Coming with Us?
1982
Nikki and I would play this game: I would sit on the living room chair while Nikki deeply inhaled and then blew directly in my face, eliciting hysterical laughs on both sides. This was our ritual. It always ended with me jabbing playfully at her face. She’d run away and bait me to give chase. Most times before today I never came close to catching her. But today, I caught her and realized, like a dog chasing a car, I had no idea what to do. So, in the spirit of three-year-old boys everywhere who’ve run out of better ideas, I decided to punch her. Of course my mother walked into the room right as I swung and connected.
The yell startled me, but her eyes are what I remember.
“Get up to your damn room” came my mother’s command from the doorway. “I told you, don’t you ever put your hands on a woman!”
I looked up, confused, as she quickly closed the distance between us.
My mother had what we called “Thomas hands,” a tag derived from her maiden name: hands that hit so hard you had to be hit only once to know you never wanted to be hit again. The nickname began generations ago, but each generation took on the mantle of justifying it. Those hands were now reaching for me. Her eyes told me it was time to get moving.
I darted up the stairs, still unsure about what I’d done so terribly wrong. I headed to the bedroom I shared with my baby sister, Shani. Our room was tiny, barely big enough for my small bed and her crib. There was no place to hide. I was running in circles, frantic to find a way to conceal myself. And still trying to comprehend why I was in so much trouble. I couldn’t even figure out the meaning of half the words my mother was using.
In a panic, I kicked the door shut behind me just as her voice reached the second floor. “And don’t let me hear you slam that—” Boom! I stared for a moment at the closed door, knowing it would soon be flying open again. I sat in the middle of the room, next to my sister’s empty crib, awaiting my fate.
Then, deliverance.
“Joy, you can’t get on him like that.” My father’s baritone voice drifted up through the thin floor. “He’s only three. He doesn’t even understand what he did wrong. Do you really think he knows what a woman beater is?”
My father was in the living room, ten feet from where the incident began. He was a very slender six foot two with a bushy mustache and a neatly shaped afro. It wasn’t his style to yell. When he heard my mother’s outburst, he rose from his chair, his eyes widening in confusion. My mother slowly reeled herself in. But she wasn’t completely mollified.
“Wes, he needs to learn what is acceptable and what is not!” My father agreed, but with a gentle laugh, reminded her that cursing at a young boy wasn’t the most effective way of making a point. I was saved, for the moment.
My first name, Westley, is my father’s. I have two middle names, a compromise between my parents. My father loved the sound and meaning of Watende, a Shona word that means “revenge will not be sought,” a concept that aligned with his gentle spirit. My mother objected. Watende sounded too big, too complicated for such a tiny baby. It wasn’t until later in life that she understood why it was so important to my father that Watende be a part of me. Instead, she lobbied for Omari, which means “the highest.” I’m not sure what was easier or less lofty about that name, but I was well into elementary school before I became comfortable spelling either.
My parents’ debate continued downstairs, but their words faded. I went to the room’s only window and looked out on the world. My older sister, Nikki, and I loved to look through the window as families arrived at the swap market across the street. Our home was on a busy street that sat right on the border of Maryland and Washington, D.C., stuck confusingly between two different municipal jurisdictions, a fact that would become very significant in the near future. I pulled back the thin diaphanous curtain that covered the windows and spotted my friend Ayana outside with her mother. She was half Iranian and half Italian, with long, dark hair and warm eyes that always fascinated me. They were light green, unlike the eyes of anyone else I knew, and they twinkled as if they held stars. I wanted to tap on the window to say hello as she walked past our house to the tenement building next door. But I was afraid of making more trouble for myself, so I just smiled.
On the dresser by the window sat a framed picture of me with Nikki. I sat on her lap with my arm wrapped around her neck, a goofy smile on my face. Nikki is seven years older, so in the picture she was nine and I was barely two. Colorful beads capped the braided tips of her hair, a style she shared with my mother, and large, black-framed eyeglasses covered half of her face.
Nikki’s real name was Joy, like my mom’s, but everyone called her Nikki. My mother was obsessed with the poet Nikki Giovanni, in love with her unabashed feminine strength and her reconciliation of love and revolution. I spent nearly every waking moment around Nikki, and I loved her dearly. But sibling relationships are often fraught with petty tortures. I hadn’t wanted to hurt her. But I had.
At the time, I couldn’t understand my mother’s anger. I mean this wasn’t really a woman I was punching. This was Nikki. She could take it. Years would pass before I understood how that blow connected to my mom’s past.
My mother came to the United States at the age of three. She was born in Lowe River in the tiny parish of Trelawny, Jamaica, hours away from the tourist traps that line the coast. Its swaths of deep brush and arable land made it great for farming but less appealing for honeymoons and hedonism. Lowe River was quiet, and remote, and it was home for my mother, her brothers, and my grandparents. My maternal great-grandfather Mas Fred, as he was known, would plant a coconut tree at his home in Mount Horeb, a neighboring area, for each of his kids and grandkids when they were born. My mom always bragged that hers was the tallest and strongest of the bunch. The land that Mas Fred and his wife, Miss Ros, tended had been cared for by our ancestors for generations. And it was home for my mom until her parents earned enough money to bring the family to the States to fulfill my grandfather’s dream of a theology degree from an American university.
When my mom first landed in the Bronx, she was just a small child, but she was a survivor and learned quickly. She studied the other kids at school like an anthropologist, trying desperately to fit in. She started with the way she spoke. She diligently listened to the radio from the time she was old enough to turn it on and mimicked what she heard. She’d always pull back enough in her interactions with her classmates to give herself room to quietly observe them, so that when she got home she could practice imitating their accents, their idiosyncrasies, their style. Words like irie became cool. Constable became policeman. Easy-nuh became chill out. The melodic, swooping movement of her Jamaican patois was quickly replaced by the more stable cadences of American English. She jumped into the melting pot with both feet.
Joy Thomas entered American University in Washington, D.C., in 1968, a year when she and her adopted homeland were both experiencing volatile change—Vietnam, a series of assassinations, campus unrest, rioting that tore through the nation’s cities, and an American president who no longer wanted the job. Joy herself was caught between loving the country that offered her and her family new opportunities and being frustrated with that country because it still made her feel like a second-class citizen.
At college, Joy quickly fell in with the OAASAU, the very long acronym for a very young group, the Organization of African and African-American Students at the American University. The OAASAU was rallying AU’s black students into engagement with the national, international, and campus issues roiling around them.The battling organization elevated her consciousness beyond her assimilationist dreams and sparked a passion for justice and the good fight.
A charismatic AU senior named Bill was the treasurer of OAASAU, and two months after they met early in the exciting whirlwind of her freshman year, Joy was engaged to marry him. Despite the quick engagement, they waited two years to get married, by which time Joy was a junior and Bill a recent graduate looking for work. Marriage brought the sobering realities of life into focus. The truth was, they were both still trying to find their feet as adults and feeling a little in over their heads as a married couple.
As the love haze wore off, Joy began to see that the same qualities that had made Bill so attractive as a college romance—his free and rebellious spirit, his nearly paralyzing contempt for “the Man”—made him a completely unreliable husband. And she discovered that what she had foolishly thought of as his typical low-level recreational drug use was really something much worse. In a time of drug experimentation and excess, Bill was starting to look like a casualty.
As the years passed, Joy kept hoping that Bill’s alcohol and drug use would fade. She was caught in a familiar trap for young women and girls—the fantasy that she alone could change her man. So she doubled down on the relationship. They had a child together. She hoped that would motivate Bill to make some changes. But his addiction just got worse, and the physical, mental, and emotional abuse he unleashed became more intense.
One night things came to a head. Bill came home and started to badger Joy about washing the dishes. His yelling threatened to wake up one-year-old Nikki, and Joy tried to shush him. He kept yelling. He moved in on her. The two of them stood face-to-face, him yelling, her pleading with him in hushed tones to lower his voice.
He grabbed her by the shoulders and threw her down. She sprawled on the floor in her white T-shirt and blue AU sweatpants, stunned but not completely surprised by his explosive reaction. He wasn’t done. He grabbed her by her T-shirt and hair, and started to drag her toward the kitchen. He hit her in the chest and stomach, trying to get her to move her arms, which were now defensively covering her head. Finally, she snapped. She screamed at him without fear of waking Nikki as he dragged her across the parquet floor. She kicked and scratched at his hands.
Bill was too strong, too determined, too high. Her head slammed against the doorframe as he finally dragged her body onto the kitchen’s linoleum floor. He released her hair and her now-ripped T-shirt and once again ordered her to wash the dishes. He stood over her with a contemptuous scowl on his face. It could’ve been that look. Or it could’ve been the escalating abuse and the accumulated frustration at the chaotic life he was creating for her and her daughter. But something gave Joy the strength to pull herself up from the floor. On top of the counter was a wooden block that held all of the large, sharp knives in the kitchen. She pulled the biggest knife from its sheath and pointed the blade at his throat. Her voice was collected as she made her promise: “If you try that shit again, I will kill you.”
Bill seemed to suddenly regain his sobriety. He backed out of the kitchen slowly, not taking his eyes from his wife’s tear-drenched face. Her unrelenting stare. They didn’t speak for the rest of the night. One month later, Joy and Nikki were packed up. Together, they left Bill for good.
My mom vowed to never let another man put his hands on her. She wouldn’t tolerate it in others either.
My parents finished their conversation, and it was obvious that one of them was heading up to speak to me. I turned from the window and stood in the middle of the room, mentally running through my nonexistent options for escape.
Soon I could tell by the sound of the steps it was my father. His walk was slower, heavier, more deliberate. My mother tended to move up the stairs in a sprint. He lightly knocked on the door and slowly turned the knob. The door opened slightly, and he peeked in. His easy half smile, almost a look of innocent curiosity, assured me that, at least for now, the beating would wait.
“Hey, Main Man, do you mind if I come in?” I’m told that he had many terms of endearment for me, but Main Man is the one I remember. I didn’t even look up but nodded slowly. He had to duck to clear the low doorway. He picked me up and, as he sat on the bed, placed me on his lap. As I sat there, all of my anxiety released. I could not have felt safer, more secure. He began to explain what I did wrong and why my mother was so angry. “Main Man, you just can’t hit people, and particularly women. You must defend them, not fight them. Do you understand?”
I nodded, then asked, “Is Mommy mad at me?”
“No, Mommy loves you, like I love you, she just wants you to do the right thing.”
My father and I sat talking for another five minutes before he led me downstairs to apologize to my sister, and my mother. With each tiny step I took with him, my whole hand wrapped tighter around his middle finger. I tried to copy his walk, his expressions. I was his main man. He was my protector.
That is one of only two memories I have of my father.
The other was when I watched him die.
My dad was his parents’ only son. Tall but not physically imposing, he dreamed of being on television—having a voice that made an impact. Armed with an insatiable desire to succeed—and aided by his natural gifts, which included a deeply resonant voice—he made his dream come true soon after finishing up at Bard College in 1971.
As a young reporter, he went to many corners of the country, following a story or, in many cases, following a job. After stints in North Carolina, New York, Florida, Virginia, California, and a handful of other states, he returned home to southern Maryland and started work at a job that would change his life. He finally had the chance to host his own public affairs show. And he’d hired a new writing assistant. Her name was Joy.
Product details
- Publisher : One World; First Edition (April 27, 2010)
- Language : English
- Hardcover : 256 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0385528191
- ISBN-13 : 978-0385528191
- Lexile measure : 990L
- Item Weight : 1.05 pounds
- Dimensions : 6.4 x 0.88 x 9.5 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #58,364 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #81 in PC-compatible Games
- Customer Reviews:
About the author
Wes Moore is an Army combat veteran, social entrepreneur, and national bestselling author. His first book, The Other Wes Moore, became an instant New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller as a story that conveys the importance of individual decisions alongside community support.
Wes graduated Phi Theta Kappa from Valley Forge Military College and Phi Beta Kappa from Johns Hopkins University. He completed an MLitt in International Relations from Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar. Wes served as a paratrooper among the elite 82nd Airborne Division in the United States Army and retired as a Captain after having participated in a combat tour of duty in Afghanistan.
Wes has been featured by USA Today, TIME Magazine, People Magazine, “Meet the Press,” “The Colbert Report”, “The View,” MSNBC, and NPR, among many others. He is a consistent news contributor to programs such as Morning Joe, Hardball with Chris Matthew, NOW with Alex Wagner, Andrea Mitchell Reports, and many others. He has also hosted programs such as “Beyond Belief” on the Oprah Winfrey Network, as well as two shows on PBS: “American Graduate Day 2014” and “Coming Back with Wes Moore”, for which he was the Executive Producer.
Today, Wes Moore’s mission is to help young people succeed and make the right choices through education and awareness alongside the support of their parents, teachers, and mentors. Moore is the Founder and CEO of BridgeEdU, an innovative college platform that addresses the college completion and job placement crisis. BridgeEdU reinvents the freshman year in a way that engages students in real-world internships and service-learning opportunities in addition to core academic classes.
Wes is also the author of a new book, The Work, which was released in January 2015. The Work picks up where The Other Wes Moore left off and follows Wes’s journey to the point where he discovered meaning in his work through service. While detailing his own path to purpose, The Work also profiles a dozen other inspiring people who have found their mission by uplifting their communities.
Currently, Wes lives in Baltimore with his wife and two children.
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Learn more how customers reviews work on AmazonCustomers say
Customers find the book compelling and thought-provoking. They describe the story as interesting and fascinating. Readers appreciate the engaging pacing and engrossing narrative. The book is considered a worthwhile purchase and an emotional read.
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Customers find the book engaging and thought-provoking. They say it's well-written and a good read for young adults. The story is told in an authentic manner, keeping the integrity of the story intact.
"...Now what was in the book was truly amazing. As a life long Marylander I wanted to know more about Governor Moores story and this didn’t disappoint...." Read more
"...Now I won't ruin the book, because it is so worth reading that you need to experience the deep stories and important narratives from reading it first..." Read more
"...It was written to prompt thought and discussion on how to keep children from falling between the cracks..." Read more
"...This book reads much like a story, but it provides a lot to think about as well, as we look at urban neighborhoods that are impoverished and lack..." Read more
Customers find the book thought-provoking and engaging. It provides them with an insight into living in the world. Readers say the book powerfully illustrates the impact of choices and is eye-opening. They find the stories dramatic and interesting, with a compelling premise that gets under their skin. Overall, customers say the book has made a positive impact on their lives.
"...So many lessons to learn from 2 lives. This is a book I’ll tell my future children to read. If you’re thinking about getting it, please do!" Read more
"...Throughout the entire book, I was consistently engaged in his thought-provoking anecdotes and moving stories of the crime and violence prevalent in..." Read more
"...to this is that the book also demonstrates how surrounding a child with positive role models can help to ensure that the child matures into a moral..." Read more
"...reading for anyone seeking a second chance, as it powerfully illustrates the impact of our choices...." Read more
Customers find the story interesting and engaging. They find it an insightful portrayal of two lives that differed at the same time. The book explores the background stories of two men with similar beginnings whose lives take different paths. It's a thought-provoking look at life choices and how they impact one's perspective.
"This is an unusual book...." Read more
"This book is very interesting and depicts the true story of two boys, both named Wes Moore, both father-less and similar backgrounds, and weaves a "..." Read more
"This book is both eye-opening and troubling. The reality of living in a crime and drug infested neighborhood is painted perfectly...." Read more
"...While reading it, I told everyone about it. It's just such a sad and fascinating story, and a true story...." Read more
Customers find the book engaging and interesting. They find it keeps their attention from the beginning and is a great story that keeps them busy in free time.
"...is well written, well organized, easy to read, and it holds your interest.....I could not "put it down."..." Read more
"...by the newly elected Maryland governor, I figured it was the perfect time to dive in...." Read more
"...Wes Moore, is a riveting and well thought out book that held my attention in entirety...." Read more
"...An interesting premise, albeit unrelatable to the average reader...." Read more
Customers find the book's pacing fast and engaging. They find it easy to follow along and full of action, adventure, and thought-provoking themes. The book is described as a quick and easy read that quickly immerses the reader in the story.
"...The book was well written and pulled me in. I was interested in learning more about the variables and life choices between these two young men...." Read more
"...The reflection and insight shown by the author is moving...." Read more
"...It was very easy to read and follow along. It had so many details that I felt like I was there...." Read more
"The Other Wes Moore, is a riveting and well thought out book that held my attention in entirety...." Read more
Customers find the book a good value. They say it's a great purchase and worth the effort. Readers mention it provides interesting insights and provokes thought.
"...If you haven't read this, it's well worth it...." Read more
"such a beautiful book and worth of money" Read more
"...It was well worth the effort, too...." Read more
"I needed this book for a criminal justice class, I got a cheaper price then the college was charging.. I thought it would be a boring book but when..." Read more
Customers find the book empathetic and thought-provoking. They appreciate the author's compassion and self-examination. The book is honest and real, with a spirit of forgiveness and acceptance.
"...It is stunning and shocking. Biography is well written featuring events, people, locations from multiple angles...." Read more
"...This book brought so much humility, while it reminded me of all those who do not have the freedom to do as they please during this time, but also..." Read more
"...The novel brings out emotions that makes you feel like it is you who is going through the adversities that are faced...." Read more
"...The author is obviously a talented, passionate person and this book is an easy, quick read....it will force you to be reflective about a lot of..." Read more
Customers find the book useful for group reading, book clubs, and class discussions. They find it appealing to young people and parents. Readers also mention it's a good resource for teachers, young leaders, and parents.
"...A great book to read with a book club! I have so many side notes that I want to discuss written in my book's margins...." Read more
"The Other Wes Moore will be a great discussion book for Everybody Reads...." Read more
"...This book should be a "must read" for teachers, youth workers and suggested reading for middle school students." Read more
"...It's fine - don't get me wrong. And it was aimed at college students (I'm 35). It just feels like I've heard it all before...." Read more
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Top reviews from the United States
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- Reviewed in the United States on November 27, 2024Book came in perfect shape and good packaging. Now what was in the book was truly amazing. As a life long Marylander I wanted to know more about Governor Moores story and this didn’t disappoint. I read it in less than 24 hours, from the time I picked it up I couldn’t put it down. So many lessons to learn from 2 lives. This is a book I’ll tell my future children to read. If you’re thinking about getting it, please do!
- Reviewed in the United States on December 29, 2011About five weeks ago, I attended a "Building Leaders" conference in Richmond, where I was able to hear Wes Moore speak about his book and the major lessons he has learned in his lifetime. Wes was one of the most charismatic and intriguing speakers I have ever seen, so it was not surprising that I was simply unable to put his book down. Throughout the entire book, I was consistently engaged in his thought-provoking anecdotes and moving stories of the crime and violence prevalent in inner-city neighborhoods. Most importantly, though, he caused me to step back and re-evaluate the way I view the privileges I have and opportunities I am presented with every day.
The way that "The Other Wes Moore" is set up is for the purpose of slowly building up to the final and crucial points he wishes to make, which I will mention later on. He opens up in his introduction discussing the basis for his book: how he came from a poor, rough background living on the streets of Baltimore and the Bronx, but with the support of his mother and others advocating for a brighter future for him, he eventually graduated from Valley Forge military academy, John Hopkins University and graduate school at Oxford University with the prestigious acknowledgement as a Rhodes Scholar and became a second lieutenant in the Army in Afghanistan. In contrast, there was another Wes Moore who similarly grew up not far from where he used to live in Baltimore and lived a troubled teenage life, but ended up getting in deeper trouble and serving a life sentence in prison for robbery and first-degree murder charges. The rest of the book was spent switching back and forth between both Weses, telling stories about their childhoods and the major determining events that led up to their fates--one as a prisoner, and one as a successful journalist, father, and social figure. He ended the book with discussing how to pinpoint where both Weses split in their fork in the road and managed to end up in completely different places--this part is what troubled me the most--and closed with a "Call to Action" section, with lists of organizations and ways to help better the future of our country's youth.
Moore's conclusion on what exactly split both Weses' fates was not what the reader wants to hear, and he probably realizes that. He gave a similar answer at both the conference and in his book: that he just doesn't know. At that point, I had to pause and set down my Kindle out of utter shock. How is it that we can't figure out a single driving force that leads to success or failure? And how can we sit back and allow this world of drug, crime, and violence to continue without knowing how to guide it in the right direction? Now, I will give the author this: he breaks down the complex system of the drug activity in cities for us from the runners, hitters, and suppliers, to the game of hiding from parents and "jakes" (police), to the big money and high-profile, violent deals. It becomes obvious how easy it is to get sucked into, and seemingly impossible to get out of. But the author did, so why couldn't the other Wes Moore?
Now I won't ruin the book, because it is so worth reading that you need to experience the deep stories and important narratives from reading it first-hand. However, I need to make sure that you realize the true point to his book before delving into it, which I have noticed many other reviews have confused. It is not to tell us exactly how to move the youth towards success, point out the single deciding moment in which both men's paths diverged, or for the author to indulge on his success and scorn the other Wes Moore's decisions/ultimate failure. Instead, Wes Moore longs to make readers thankful for our privileges as Americans, learn to seize onto every opportunity we are presented with and not let one pass by because it could be the biggest improvement of our future, and to highlight ways that we can control ours and others' fates as self-motivators and mentors. Wes talks again and again about mentors, family, and friends he had in life that helped guided him in the right direction. He also notes the way he regained control over his future, instead of letting his low expectations or his environment determine it. As a reader, all you have to do is remember these important themes Wes includes in this book so that you enter with an open mindset and a heart ready to accept a powerful message.
- Reviewed in the United States on April 2, 2014This book brought me to tears in the first hundred pages. The author was talking about the Wes Moore who ended up in jail, and how one of Wes’s friends had a father, and how it was so unusual for a little boy in that neighborhood to have a father. That’s just so sad to think about, how there are whole communities where being from a broken family is the norm.
Throughout this book, we see how this lack of family support helped the “Rhodes Scholar Wes Moore” to succeed, and how absent this family support, “criminal Wes Moore” started down the wrong path. Although it’s not entirely accurate to say the “criminal Wes Moore” didn’t have family support, his big brother was present in his life and encouraged him to stay in school and not get involved with the drugs business. Unfortunately, the older brother sold drugs himself, and as the most positive influence in Wes’s life, Wes emulated his brother and wound up following in his footsteps.
Coming from a background of relative wealth, growing up in a safe neighborhood with an in-tact family and every academic advantage, it’s unnerving to think that perhaps what separates me from the criminals in jail is partially beyond my control. Yes, it was his choice to pursue a life of crime, but if a life of drugs, violence, and poverty was all I had been exposed to, who knows if I would still have chosen to pursue a life of academia rather than a life of crime?
The corollary to this is that the book also demonstrates how surrounding a child with positive role models can help to ensure that the child matures into a moral and successful adult. (Of course, there’s no guarantee that a good upbringing will yield a morally upstanding adult, just as a bad upbringing doesn’t guarantee a life of crime.) But the book definitely emphasizes the influence that a parent can have on a child’s life, and the difference that a good role model can make in a troubled child’s life.
I guess this review ended up being more about my reaction to the book than the actual book. The book is engaging, though I can certainly think of nonfiction books that are more engaging. What sets this apart from a lot of books is that it was written with a larger purpose than to entertain. It was written to prompt thought and discussion on how to keep children from falling between the cracks (the author says this himself at the beginning of the book, though admittedly I’m paraphrasing). Given that motive, I’d say this book was a success, because he’s certainly prompted me to take a deeper look at things.
- Reviewed in the United States on December 6, 2024I read this in high school and I wanted to get it for my fiancé
Top reviews from other countries
- C.D.Reviewed in Canada on September 26, 2021
5.0 out of 5 stars An amazing story of perseverance!
I introduced this novel to my grade 12 class several years ago. Even my most reluctant readers devoured it!
- Amazon CustomerReviewed in Australia on February 11, 2017
5.0 out of 5 stars This book was amazing. I really enjoyed reading it and told all ...
This book was amazing. I really enjoyed reading it and told all my family what I'd read each time I saw them.
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D. PelzReviewed in Germany on May 21, 2013
5.0 out of 5 stars Sehr lesenswert
Eine bewegende Geschichte, die gute Einblicke in die traurige Realität vieler Afroamerikaner ermöglicht. Erfolg und Misserfolg liegen oft nah bei einander. Nicht jeder hat dieselben Voraussetzungen um ein glückliches Leben zu führen.
- Amazon CustomerReviewed in Canada on April 15, 2018
5.0 out of 5 stars Love it but find the print a little smaller than ...
Reading it now! Love it but find the print a little smaller than usual!
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BarbaraReviewed in Germany on January 27, 2013
5.0 out of 5 stars Sehr empfehlenswert!
Sehr gut erzählte Geschichte - fesselnd von der ersten Seite an! Das Buch regt einen auf jeden Fall zum nachdenken an....