Love is a Battlefield, as my good friend Pat Benatar likes to say. And never has this been truer than the Big Brother/Little Brother relationship depicted in Unlikely Brothers.

Told in tandem, the story follows the real life relationship of John Prendergast, political activist and co-founder of the Enough Project, and his 'Little Brother' Michael Mattocks. The plot roams from war-ravaged Africa to Washington streets awash with drugs in the early 1990's.

John is an emotionally scarred and impressionable young adult when he meets Michael who, at 12, is living out of plastic bags and moving between homeless shelters every night with his family. Angsty and attempting to solve all the world’s problems in one fell swoop rather than deal with his own issues, John begins a intense relationship with Michael and his younger siblings which spans more than 25 years.

Like all good biographies, Unlikely Brothers revisits the pivotal times in the authors' lives. The moments that have helped shaped their characters and individual roads to redemption. John's political activism and passion for eradicating poverty in Africa earns him a position in the White House advising the Clinton Administration. Meanwhile, Michael fights his own battles between wanting to provide for his family and a life of crime.

As the two drift in and out of each other's lives, Unlikely Brothers endeavors to create parallels between war-torn Africa and the violent streets of Washington DC, which it does with varying degrees of success. Though often separated by great distances, John and Michael always find they way back to one another during times of hardship. Michael candidly describes his life from homeless shelters to drug dealer and finally to family man, as not so much a story of 'rags to riches', but rather of 'rags to respect'.

While heart-warming in places, Unlikely Brothers lacks any real literary finesse and remains largely distant from either of the authors' actual lives. In fact, at times the book is just a poorly concealed plug for youth mentoring programs like Big Brothers Big Sisters and John's own Enough Project (although they are both great projects - you should totally check them out…). As a result, the true depth and meaning of the relationship they are trying to convey is often lost within the larger narrative of events and mundane day to day accounts.

Written as a memoir, there is a feeling that John and Michael only briefly touch the surface of their lives, loves and demons which, all in all, makes for a rather lacklustre read. The book ends by (don’t worry- no spoiler alert needed!) making sweeping summaries of the power of friendship and humanity without ever really exploring those traits within said relationship. Which is a bit of a disappointment, as the authors have evidently led extremely interesting lives, but the reader is left with only a small snapshot of, and therefore no real connection or commitment to, their individual (or collective) plights.

Despite that, their friendship has stood the test of time and their story and commitment to their, at times dysfunctional, relationship is a true testament to the power of friendship. There is hope for the rest of us yet. We are strong…

- Amy Jasper