Same Kind of Different As Me - Ron Hall and Denver Moore with Lynn Vincent - BOOK REVIEW

Title:  Same Kind of Different As Me:  a modern-day slave, an international art dealer and the unlikely woman who bound them together
Author:  Rob Hall and Denver Moore with Lynn Vincent
Publisher:  Thomas Nelson
Publish Date:  March, 2008
Format:  Paperback, 256 pages
ISBN-10: 084991910X
ISBN-13: 978-0849919107


Book Sneeze description: 

A true, inspirational story that crosses the barriers of society.

Meet Denver, raised under plantation-style slavery in Louisiana until he escaped "da Man"—in the 1960s—by hopping a train. Then, after another 18 homeless years on the streets of Dallas, God moved . . . and a godly woman named Deborah prayed, listened, and obeyed. Mountains began to move, beginning with her husband, Ron, an international art dealer accustomed to the world of Armani suits and art-collecting millionaires.

The story takes a devastating twist when Deborah discovers she has cancer. Will Deborah live or die? Will Denver learn to trust a white man? Will Ron embrace his dying wife's vision to rescue Denver? Or will Denver be the one rescuing Ron?

There's pain and laughter, doubt and tears, and in the end a triumphal story that readers will never forget. 

My Take:   Some books just make you happy that you know how to read - this is one of them.  From the opening paragraph:

***Until Miss Debbie, I'd never spoke to no white woman before.  Just answered a few questions, maybe-it wadn't really speakin.  And to me, even that was mighty risky since the last time I was fool enough to open my mouth to a white woman, I wound up half-dead and nearly blind.***

the reader is drawn in to the story of Denver, who grew up to become a sharecropper in Louisiana, hopped the rails, then ended up homeless in the streets of Texas.

"Miss Debbie" is the wife of Ron Hall, an international art dealer who grew up somewhat middle-class, with rural roots of his own.  She is a good, Godly woman, married to her only love for almost 30 years, who does what she can to brighten the world around her.

Ron is just a normal guy (albeit pretty darn rich), who lets his wife 'drag' him into volunteering with her at a local food pantry/homeless shelter/mission.  HE thinks that all he'll have to do is show up once a week, ladle out some food, and go home, feeling that his good deeds are done.

HER mission, however, is somewhat more complex.  In the world of the homeless, she wants to bring friendship and light, not charity, and she is determined that her husband will do the same.

The two very different worlds of Denver Moore and the Halls intersect at this place, and the lessons in faith .. and friendship ... and loss .. and hardship .. all combine to create a story that will leave you emotionally drained at the end.

I must admit, however, that there is a section of this book where I found myself wiping away tears for many pages in order to continue reading.

This one is going on my keeper shelf.  If you see it in the store, pick it up - you won't regret it. 

QUOTES:

But secretly, I hoped that once she actually rubbed shoulders with the kind of scuzzy derelicts that had robbed my gallery, Deborah would find it too scary, too real, to volunteer on East Lancaster.  Then we could revert to doing our part by dropping off some old clothes or funiture - or, if she really found it tough to tear herself away, more money.

The campfires and camaraderie worked magic on Denver as he began to know what it was like to be accepted and loved by a group of white guys on horseback with ropes in their hands.  Exactly the kind of people he had feared all his life.

"You was the onlyest person that looked past my skin and past my meanness and saw that there was somebody on the inside worth savin. I don't know how, but you knowed that most a' the time when I acted like a bad fella, it was just so folks wouldn't get too close."      

Book Rating:  4.5 out of 5 stars

BUY IT:   You can purchase this book for yourself at Amazon 

Disclosure:  I received a complimentary copy of this title from Book Sneeze as part of their blogger program to objectively review.  No other form of compensation was received for this post, and I was  not required to post a positive review.