Ace of Spades: A Memoir

by David Matthews

Book Overview

A take-no-prisoners tale of growing up without knowing who you are When David Matthews's mother abandoned him as an infant, she left him with white skin and the rumor that he might be half Jewish. For... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312426313
• ISBN13: 9780312426316
• Release Date: January 2008
• Publisher: Picador USA
• Length: 303 Pages
• Weight: 0.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.5" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

LOVING THIS

I'm only half way through the book and I'm absolutely loving it. Originally, I thought it was going to be a bit too heavy in subject matter and consist of things that are either over my head or that I can't relate to at all... but I don't want to put the book down! With the cleverness of Woody Allen and David Sedaris, and the earnestness of J.D. Salinger, Ace of Spades, is basically the perfect book.

A compelling literary memoir, a singular treasure!

I've written a lengthier review of the book on the hardcover link, but purchased the kindle version for my husband. There's little doubt that Matthews' story is harrowing, and indicative of life in 20th century america, in terms of race, but also class, and family. I would suggest to the reviewer above, who found it too difficult to look up words he/she didn't understand, to stick to less challenging material. This memoir is a challenging read, and the author seems to me to enjoy recruiting words from an earlier, more baroque era. A playful, "man out of time" feeling persists. And what, pardon my ignorance, determines a "fifty cent word?" Just because a word is unfamiliar, doesn't mean it doesn't have a specific meaning, and in Ace of Spades, words matter-- a lot. It is a book for those who love the written word and consider the english language a rich and varied treasure. Matthews employs words in a playful manner, confounding the readers' expectations. At least mine. Your mileage may vary. I for one, love to finish a book knowing more than I did when I began. Matthews asserts in the book that words, books, literally saved his life, so to my mind it's no sin if he chooses to use words from parts of the dictionary that others can't be bothered to mine. To dismiss a story as unique and heartbreaking as this one because it's an unabashedly literary--as opposed to movie of the week accessible--memoir, is intellectually lazy. By the "50 cent word to tell a five cent story" logic, if we extrapolate, then a chef who uses arucola instead of iceberg lettuce is making a nine dollar variation on what should be a 2.50 blue plate special. Words have value beyond their individual meanings. The way they sound, the way they look on the page, the way they create a sense of time, place, rhythm. They should not read like AP reports. David Matthews' story is important, and the telling is unforgettable. I could have done with two or three less footnotes, but Matthews is a writer who goes for it; and not many aspire to those heights these days. I highly recommend it to those who don't mind grabbing a thesaurus every once in a while. Words is good. Don't be afraid.

Turning the page...

Here's how I would describe Ace of Spades by David Matthews: Beautiful, funny, mean, aware, raging, poetic, ridiculous, redemptive, hateful, indignant...and not like anything else. It is elaborately constructed, in language and in narrative--no road leads where you think it will. It is part social criticism, criticisms many will disagree with, but he places the reader so deeply into his psyche that his criticisms have a legitimacy of their own-independent of his state of mind. It is part coming of age, and this is the most compassionate and successful element of the story. Watching Matthews' stumble from boy to man is an arduous, emotional, and rewarding journey, and there's much to be learned about perseverance by the time the end comes. Even though Matthews plays much for laughs, in order to dull (His? The reader's?) pain, when the end does come, it lands like a ton of bricks.

A refreshingly honest memoir about growing up biracial

Black men writing about their Jewish mothers seems to be a trend as of late (think James McBride's THE COLOR OF WATER). Nevertheless, this book reads fresh to me, perhaps because of the to-the-day decade between ACE OF SPADES and the parenthesized McBride account. My memory of THE COLOR OF WATER was beginning to fade, and David Matthews's memoir has stepped up to take its place as the biracial book most present in my mind. The story is set around Matthews's childhood and young adult years in Baltimore, trying to find his identity in a black/white world. His Jewish mother leaves him when he is just a baby, and he is raised by his submissive/activist father. "Black" to Matthews is a disease, a melanin destined for a life of pain and destruction. His young self takes a pessimistic stance against the black race's ability to become equal with their white counterparts in American society, and he therefore tries to separate himself from this second-class life and from the father he sees as weak and ineffectual. But things aren't that easy. The white side accepts him only when his blackness is beaten down so strongly that they don't catch the whiff of its scent. His exotic features raise questions and eyebrows, and he forever has to squelch one side of himself in order for the other side to live peaceably in his truculent world. In an area of town where the privileged whites are becoming the minority --- and where the blacks are taking over in number, force and resentment of their status --- his part of town does not allow for subtleties of color or of a mixed-race identity. Matthews's vocabulary is huge, and even the college-educated will find numerous words that they have never come across before. His breadth of the English language put me to shame to such a degree that I began jotting down the unfamiliar words, giving up after two pages because it distracted too much from the flow of the story. Luckily for me, and thus for the majority of readers, his incredible vocabulary won't render the story incomprehensible. For the most part, these terms are used in such a context that the individual can gather their meaning or at least understand the sentence even if the words were taken out. Matthews's honesty in this memoir is refreshing. He doesn't hide his prejudice; he only explains the logicality of why it existed in the first place. His plethora of self-contradictions rings true to a biracial teenager in the midst of finding himself. In fact, all the characters are presented as the well-rounded individuals they undoubtedly are, each on their own path to self-realization and each with their own views of the world. ACE OF SPADES has special significance for me because I, too, am biracial --- my father is black and my mother white. Reading this book is like reading about myself, and I'm sure the same will be true for every other biracial American, of which there is an increasingly large number. It will, however, resound the most strongly with those of

Fascinating Memoir

This memoir follows David Matthews as he grows up the child of a white Jewish mother (who abandoned him) and a black father. What I love about this memoir is the way Matthews examines his life with such openness and intensity. It isn't simply an memoir about identity, but one that brings the reader into the confusing emotional world of Matthews' childhood.