Ace of Spades, David Matthews

Ace of Spades

David Matthews

Holt, Feb 2007, $24.00

ISBN: 0805081496

David Matthews provides an interesting memoir of growing up in racially-mixed America. He is the son of an African-American journalist and a schizophrenic, Jewish mother who deserted the two males just after David was born. Over the years, he passed for white at school and in the middle-class neighborhoods in which he and his dad lived. While his dad spent most of his time at work, David's grandmother took care of him, showering him with love until she died. Without her as an anchor, he turned to drugs, crime and not caring about anything or anyone. As he left his teens, he began to turn his life around, trying to come to grips with his mixed racial heritage that had no blocks on the EEOC classification.

This is an interesting autobiography of a mixed-race person struggling with his identity and a need to belong. Mr. Matthews provides fascinating anecdotal bios from his life, especially growing up in the 1970s and 1980s (pre Tiger Woods' opening the mindset of Americans). Though at times the language feels overly emotional and too flowery to invoke reader compassion, ACE OF SPADES is a well-written memoir of a zebraic man who is part Black Nationalist and part Jewish intellect in a country that prefers neater stereotyping.

Harriet Klausner