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Wes Moore's mother had come form Jamaica.  Young Wes grew up in Washington, DC, in modest circumstances.  His mother's father was a pastor and had come to New York to study.  The family became American and Wes' grandfather ministered to a congregation in the Bronx.

The focus shifted to Washington when Wes' mother Joy went to study at the American University.  She met Bill, who became her first husband, but turned out to be an alcoholic and wife-beater.  After getting out of that, a better life was established with Wes Moore, also a college graduate.  The author was their firstborn, named after his father.  The elder Wes was a radio commentator who died when young Wes was only three.

Wes went to Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, where his life intersected with another family named Moore.  The week of his graduation, a news story brought to his attention another man named Wes Moore, a member of a local family.  The other Wes Moore was now in prison for robbery and the shooting death of a police officer.

Our Wes became intrigued with this other Wes, made contact and explored the life story of the second Wes Moore.  This book details the two disparate lives that share so many similarities yet turned out so differently.

Our Wes spins out the details he gathers as he visits the other Wes Moore in prison, as well as family and neighbors, to understand the life of the other Wes Moore.  The story is well told as author Wes interweaves the different stages of the lives of the two Wes Moores.

I found the story interesting largely because it is true.  Being written in first-person testimonial format that provides power and presence.  The topic itself, however, did not grab me, and I found it hard to maintain focus as the story developed.

Moore focuses on the irony of the so similar lives of the two Wes Moores that turned out so differently, as he contrasts the family lifestyle, attitude and response to circumstance.

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OBJ

Reviewed on Amazon and Thoughts and Resources 17 August 2010

Orville Boyd Jenkins, EdD, PhD
Copyright © 2010 Orville Boyd Jenkins
Permission granted for free download and transmission for personal or educational use.  Other rights reserved.

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