Unlikely Brothers

March 7, 2011
Two intertwining first-person accounts cover a 25-year span in this double narrative: Mattocks writes about growing up in homeless shelters and heading into a heavy drug scene as a teenager, while human rights activist Prendergast, a director of African affairs at the National Security Council and a special adviser at the Department of State during the Clinton administration, narrates from his point of view. In 1983, while visiting a friend who ran a D.C. homeless shelter, Prendergast met seven-year-old Mattocks and his six-year-old brother, James: "These boys had nothing and yet radiated with life and sunshine." As recalled by Mattocks, "J.P. got into it. He became a kid when he was with us." Mattocks was taken fishing, and he met Prendergast's parents, who lived in a "big-ass house" in Philadelphia. Their bond continued as Prendergast returned from trips to Africa, confronting the bureaucracy of foreign aid, while Mattocks, in D.C., became involved with alcohol, weed, weapons, and crack. While Mattocks was suffering arrests, shoot-outs, and Russian roulette, Prendergast was shot at in Somalia and had a gun stuck in his mouth on the Rwanda/Congo border; he eventually landed on the White House staff at age 33. In the end, this is a fascinating account of a long-standing friendship.

May 1, 2011

Unusual split memoir of the intertwined lives of a reformed drug dealer and a misfit turned Africa diplomat.

In alternating chapters, Prendergast (co-author: The Enough Moment: Fighting to End Africa's Worst Human Rights Crimes, 2010) and Mattocks describe the bond that began many years ago, when Prendergast started an informal "Big Brother" relationship with Mattocks when he was seven years old and homeless. Prendergast depicts his own adolescence as deeply unhappy. Scarred by acne and familial estrangement, he retreated into athletics and fantasies of becoming a "do-gooder." He'd already discovered a preoccupation with Africa, specifically the suffering which the West ignored, that would eventually lead to his life's work, but also impulsively befriended Michael and his younger brother, James, while visiting a Washington D.C., shelter in 1983: "These boys had nothing and yet radiated with life and sunshine." Over time, Prendergast provided a vital emotional lifeline to the Mattocks boys while trying to assuage his interest in Africa, moving from internship to lobbying on behalf of a small philanthropy, Bread for the World, and visiting the continent's trouble spots. Eventually, the author'ss dedication to this lonely cause led him to the Clinton White House, where he was Director for African Affairs at the NSC, and to involvement with celebrities like Don Cheadle and Angelina Jolie. The chapters that capture Mattocks' perspective are written in an unadorned, colloquial style that is nonetheless effective in capturing the forgotten realities of black urban America during the '80s, when gun violence and crack hellishly transformed daily life in places like D.C. Mattocks' depiction of his and James' gradual immersion in the drug trade is chilling, and he considers himself fortunate to have escaped, but also acknowledges that Prendergast's mentoring made a crucial difference: "Even though my dad left, we had J.P.... he cared about us in a way even my mom and my aunts didn't know how to."

A feel-good narrative that underscores the brutal effects of poverty at home and injustice abroad.

(COPYRIGHT (2011) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

April 15, 2011
As a young man stung by his fathers incomprehensible anger, Prendergast channeled his abiding sadness over that rejection into a heightened sense of compassion for other similarly abandoned boys, but it would take a chance encounter at a Washington, D.C., shelter to put his philosophy into practice. Fatherless, often homeless, Michael Mattocks was a charismatic seven-year-old who was carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders. Eagerly assuming the role of Big Brother mentor, Prendergast embarked on a tumultuous relationship that had an immediate impact on Michaels life, bestowing a buoyant sense of joy and acceptance that would later be challenged by inner-city teenage temptations. Told from their alternating points of view, both men chronicle their individual and combined journeys, from Prendergasts altruistic role in global humanitarian efforts to Mattocks equally meteoric rise from crack-dealing gangbanger to committed father and responsible breadwinner. Despite their contrasting perspectives, Prendergast and Mattocks illustrate that when it comes to the human condition, attitudes trump platitudes and actions outweigh promises.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)