Book Summary: The Other Wes Moore

The Other Wes Moore by Wes Moore is a book about two Wes Moores who grew up similarly with the same name, but chose two different destinies as time went on. Both of them endured a life without a father figure, got into serious trouble with the police, and grew up in a poor household. The author of the book, Wes, is at first a trouble maker, doesn’t have a healthy relationship with his mother, and struggles in school. Since Wes skipped classes and let his grades slip, his mother made a tough and expensive decision to send him to Valley Forge Military Academy where he learned behavioral skills and became an overall better person. He then went off to attend Johns Hopkins and became a White House Fellow, a Rhodes Scholar, a veteran, and other honorary titles. On the other hand, the other Wes Moore got tied up with selling drugs and occasionally consuming drugs. At the age of eighteen years old, he, his brother, and two other men robbed a jewelry store. They were all caught and Wes’ was charged with first-degree felony murder since his brother shot an innocent security guard in the store. Now, Wes will spend his
entire life in jail. He urged Wes, the author, to write the book so people can learn from his mistakes and make wise decisions.

The memoir is compelling because Wes Moore does not sugarcoat details, he tells the truth and does not pity his life or the other Moore’s life. Also, everyone can relate to this sincere and realistic book. It does not matter if the reader has experienced the same situations as the Moores, one can grow up in a comfortable household and still notice similarities with his or her life. The book highlights how important choices are and how smart or unthought out decisions have an enormous impact on one’s life. However, Wes shows that if people realize those decisions are not beneficial to his or her life, he or she can change. The way the Moores treat people and their actions could be problematic. Both Moores did not treat their mothers, siblings, and other people well; they would often take them for granted. It’s cringeworthy and shocking reading the misguided decisions they have made, so people may dislike reading those parts. Being a nonfiction book, Wes describes his life with honesty, the memoir is not a fantasy book where everything plays out right. Comparing Wes’ own life to another person could raise problems for people reading the book. One could infer he is creating a bad image for the other Wes Moore and it is wrong to compare someone else’s life by implying one life is better than the other; however, I think Wes is a genuine man and both Moores agreed to the content of the book.

I thoroughly enjoyed the memoir, it was interesting to follow the story of two boys having two completely different lives because of the choices they made.
Wes Moore continually reminds us in the beginning of the book, “the chilling truth is that his story could have been mine. The tragedy is that my story could have been his” (xi). I think most of their choices involved sacrifice. The other Wes Moore never made sacrifices. Selfishly, he constantly wanted money, he earned his earnings by selling drugs and by participating in shady jobs and activities. Wes Moore’s mom sacrificed her comfort to help her son and Wes followed through and sacrificed not visiting his family. It was a marvelous idea to show both lives, instead of Wes writing a book about only his accomplished life. I would definitely recommend this story to everyone, it’s eye opening and
gravitating.