Name: The Other Wes Moore
Rating: 3.854838709677419 (31 reviews)
ISBN: 9780385528207

Wes Moore

Traces the parallel lives of two youths with the same name in the same community, describing how the author grew up to be a Rhodes Scholar and promising business leader while his counterpart suffered a life of violence and imprisonment.

One Name, Two Fates

The Other Wes Moore

Jennifer

I see what the other reviewers are saying about this book. Things like, "the only thing they actually had in common was their name, and that's it". But I feel that this book is less about the two men being <i>identical</i> and more about how one's decisions, opportunities, and even luck can make all the difference in one's life. The two men did have similar neighborhoods, so if a reader was to take into consideration the "nuture" aspect of upbringing, I think there is room for comparison between the two men. Moore even discusses this saying, <blockquote>“...I found myself surrounded by people--starting with my mom, grandparents, uncles, and aunts, and leading to a string of wonderful role models and mentors--who kept pushing me to see more than what was directly in front of me, to see the boundless possibilities of the wider world and the unexplored possibilities within myself. People who taught me that no accident of birth--not being black or relatively poor, being from Baltimore or the Bronx or fatherless--would ever define or limit me.”</blockquote> <br />What really made me rate this book with 5 stars vs. 4 stars was the the chapter where author Wes Moore goes to South Africa and learns of "real" poverty. It is with this experience that he truly learns of his humanity and the fragility of life and the decisions that can lead to life changing consequences. I think he made his point and others who rated this lower missed the point completely.

I think this book is really good because it seemed to open my eyes to quite a few things in life.

breanna faul

Nicole Dykeman

We had to read this for school. It was a decent book, and it was written for a good reason, but I was annoyed by it sometimes. I wish that the other Wes had written his own point of view because I feel like it wasn't as truthful. Every aspect of his life was portrayed in a negative light while the author Wes wrote about all the good things that happened to him. I just felt that it was imbalanced and some of the things that were discussed I didn't understand the significance of.

Jeni Enjaian

I enjoyed this read but after "Evicted," I was disappointed at its lack of depth of the seeming inability of Moore to dig deep into the root causes of the differences between himself and "the other Wes Moore." He sets up a unique premise, a premise that those who engage in comparative history know well and one that can elucidate thought-provoking hypotheses. Moore, however, stays only at the surface, adopting a cop-out strategy in the epilogue/afterword where he stated that he never addressed this point because he did not know.

I cannot recommend this book but I also do not recommend against the book.

Two kids with the same name were born blocks apart in the same decaying city within a few years of each other. One grew up to be a Rhodes Scholar, army officer, White House Fellow, and business leader. The other is serving a life sentence in prison. Here is the story of two boys and the journey of a generation.

The Other Wes Moore One Name, Two Fates

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