Part autobiography, part dramatic narrative, "The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates" (2011) is a book that defies genre, expectations and even — for the most part — cynicism.
The common reading book for Tufts' Class of 2018, "Wes Moore" follows two African-American boys born at approximately the same time, living streets apart in the same poor, Baltimore neighborhood and given identical names.
Both boys are born to families which experience turbulent change, both are exposed to the neighborhood drug trade — simply and ominously called "the game," it recruits players as young as grade school children — and both have more than one brush with the law.
However, as the non-fictional account of their lives progresses from youth to young adulthood, the parallels begin to disappear. The author becomes a military officer, a graduate of Johns Hopkins and a Rhodes Scholar. Meanwhile, the other Wes is involved in a jewelry heist, tried and convicted on numerous charges and sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.
Don't worry if you haven't read "Wes Moore" yet — these facts are not spoilers. In fact, one of several conversations between Wes and Wes — wherein the author travels to Jessup Correctional Institution to visit and conduct interviews — opens the first part of the story. These exchanges are often the most insightful parts of the book because they feature two distinct voices and perspectives.
One particularly memorable example delicately but directly addresses issues of race and class in determining the fate of individuals. The differing opinions and attitudes the two main characters form in regard to fate and circumstance make "The Other Wes Moore" particularly compelling.
"We will do what others expect of us," the other Wes Moore says in an interview with the author, "if they expect us to graduate, we will graduate...If they expect us to go to jail, then that's where we will end up too. At some point you lose control." The author openly struggles with his companion's words, and admits to feeling both sympathy and revulsion in response.
"It's easy to lose control when you were never looking for it in the first place," he says.
The exchange is messy, and as the author acknowledges, ends with more questions than simple responses. The book itself resists the easy, neat and insufficient answer, and this is a key strength. Wes disagrees with Wes, and the reader may not know what to think, causing a literary uncertainty that could send some running for the hills.
But not Moore. Instead of censuring the other Wes' feelings, or developing a case against him, he simply acknowledges the complexity of thought and emotion that arises when trying to separate the numerous internal and external factors that shape a human life.
"The expectations that others place on us help us form our expectations of ourselves," he writes.
Clearly, Moore is not afraid to delve deeply. And in a world that has witnessed both the premature deaths of Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown and altogether too much pain, hunger and violence, deep discussion is critical.
Perhaps in part because of its timeliness, "Wes Moore" is intensely engaging. At no point does the momentum of either story falter. Luckily, the feeling of urgency that drives these narratives comes from the author's condensed and concise writing style rather than a flair for sensationalism. The simplicity of the writing adds a power to the story, allowing the touching and tragic elements of each man's life to stand on their own. The book is a very quick read, one that catches the reader in its embrace and then lets go, almost too soon.
In fact, if there is one dissatisfactory element of "Wes Moore," it is the book's tendency to rush through later sections. The most problematic of these omissions, the book largely does not discuss the other Wes' life between the time he graduates from the Job Corps program and begins working, and the time of the robbery. Nor does it not uncover the reasons behind the other Wes' decision to commit such a crime.
These bold cuts leave the reader with a carefully selective portrayal of both lives, and presumably were made to afford both subjects a certain level of privacy. While that motive would be understandable, the same editorial decisions render "Wes Moore" somehow, though not unpleasantly, unfinished, much like the lives of its two main characters. A quick and worthy read, this book asks audiences to question the impact of choice and identity on the course of individual lives.
The author of "The Other Wes Moore" will be speaking at Tufts today at 8:00 p.m. in Cohen Auditorium.
