Ace of Spades

October 23, 2006
The son of an African-American father and a Jewish mother, Matthews tells of growing up racially mixed in Baltimore, Md., during the 1970s and '80s. Soon after his birth, Matthews's mother, a victim of schizophrenia, disappears from his life, and his father, "a prominent black journalist," moves through a series of jobs and relationships as Matthews begins a lifelong struggle with the circumstances of his ambiguous racial heritage. Adults in various states of mental and emotional disarray pass through Matthews's life. Some of his father's girlfriends are abusive ("She passed her cigarette from her clipping hand to her mouth, and... plunged a dinner fork into the bony flesh between my shoulder blades"); some are kind. As his father spends more and more of his time at work, Matthews comes into the care of his beloved grandmother. Until her death, this kindly woman will be at the eye of the storm that is his life. Unsurprisingly, Matthews drifts—into drugs, petty crime and a general slackness—which is the central problem here. While Matthews piles up nicely crafted anecdotes and a list of intriguing characters, there is a lack of tension, leaving a flat narrative. This memoir is long on adolescent male observation ("Julie, an Art Institute coed with apple cheeks and honeydew breasts...") and rather short on resonant revelation. Matthews builds a lot of momentum through the course of his tale, but with little genuine payoff.