Ace of Spades is an memoir of David Matthews’s search for racial identity in an America that is obsessed with skin color. David Matthews was born on November 8, 1967 to a black nationalist father and a white Jewish mother. His mother was mentally unstable. Matthews’s father had to rescue him from his mother. His mother then moved to Israel. David lived with his father and sometimes with his father’s abusive girlfriends near Washington, D.C. for many years. David and his father then moved in with David’s grandmother in Baltimore, Maryland. When David entered the fourth grade at his new school in Baltimore, he had to choose between being “black” or “white”. Only one student offered him the choice of being “mixed.” David chose “white” because he always imagined that his white mother had a life of luxury. David pretended he was Jewish; he got away with it because there were very few Jews in Baltimore. David became a white supremacist in response to the fact that in Baltimore black children targeted white children for fun. He and one of his friends even burned a cross in the style of the Ku Klux Klan. When David entered high school, he was caught trying to be Jewish by some Jewish students. When David was older, he became a black nationalist. David started lecturing his white friends about their prejudices of black people. David finally reached a peace between his “white” side and his “black” side in the atmosphere of equality in New York City. The memoir ends in the spring of 2002 when David Matthews’s father was dying and David decided to do some last minute research on his mother. David found out that his mother had suffered from severe schizophrenia. Both of her parents had severe schizophrenia, which did not help her. David discovered that she really loved David’s father and never gave up her married name of Matthews. After she left David’s father, she had a daughter with the mayor of Jerusalem that she put up for adoption. The daughter, Mari, was severely abused by her adopted family and her life was a wreck. David’s mother died in New York City on May 1, 1977 from choking. David realized that his mother had really loved him and that his parents had truly loved each other. David realized that he had had a good life and that things could have been a lot worse for him. At the end of the book, David Matthews saw a picture of his mother for the very first time.
Ace of Spaces by David Matthews reflects the nightmare that really exists, as opposed to the dream that Martin Luther King, Jr. had, for a color blind America. As David Matthews crudely illustrates in his book, America is anything but color blind. I could have done without the crude language and the brief sex scenes. Despite that, the end of Ace of Spades is very touching and it was worth reading the entire book for that one part. David Matthews writes with true honesty and a bit of anger about the state of race relations in the United States. As a white person, this book gave me insight on how it must be to be a “mixed” person, because they don’t belong to either white or black culture. Some people may find his writing style and life choices crude. I found it a must read for anyone who wants to find out about race relations in the United States.
Content:2
I suggest that adult guidance be recommended for the Ace of Spades by David Matthews. This book has sexual content, crude language, child abuse, and a disturbing scene about Matthews and his friend where they burned a cross in the style of the Ku Klux Klan.
Rating (0 - 10 scale): 9
Reviewer Age: 16
Reviewer City, State and Country: Urbana, Illinois United States of America
