Book Review: Same Kind of Different As Me by Ron Hall and Denver Moore with Lynn Vincent

2009 at 8pm     Posted by Rebecca Schinsky

Available in paperback from Thomas Nelson

Before I say anything else, let me tell you how I came to read this book…

In September 2008, just as the school year began, I got a call at work from a man who taught shop class at a local middle school.  His school required students to participate in sustained silent reading (SSR) for twenty minutes every Tuesday and Thursday morning—the time was built into a certain period of the day, and all teachers who had students in their classrooms during that period supervised—and he was tired of watching them read magazines and manga and comic books. He wanted to introduce them to a book with real substance.

So he ordered twenty copies of Same Kind of Different As Me, a book about which he was deeply passionate, and he gave a short book talk at the beginning of his SSR period, and he offered a free copy of the book to anyone who wanted it.

All twenty copies were gone by the end of the day. He couldn’t believe it….but he was still nervous. What if they didn’t like the book? What if they didn’t get it? How would he regain his credibility and get his students to take future recommendations seriously?

But he had nothing to worry about because something amazing was about to happen.

Those twenty students took the book home and read it from cover to cover—many in just a matter of a few days—and started talking about it. So the teacher ordered twenty more and gave away twenty more, and all of a sudden, these kids who hadn’t really had any interest in reading real books were getting fired up. Here was something they could relate to. Here was a story told with candor and humor and genuine emotion. Here was something real.

This September the teacher called again, but this time he started with a hundred copies. He told me that this was the first book he had stayed up late into the night to finish in a very long time, the first book that had really made him cry, and the first book he felt like everyone should read. Including me.

How can you say no to that?

So I read it. And I sobbed big giant crocodile tears. And I started telling people about this wonderful book.

Here’s how the publisher describes Same Kind of Different As Me: A Modern-Day Slave, An International Art Dealer, and the Unlikely Woman Who Bound Them Together:

A dangerous, homeless drifter who grew up picking cotton in virtual slavery.

An upscale art dealer accustomed to the world of Armani and Chanel.

A gutsy woman with a stubborn dream.

A story so incredible no novelist would dare dream it.

It begins outside a burning plantation hut in Louisiana . . . and an East Texas honky-tonk . . . and, without a doubt, in the heart of God. It unfolds in a Hollywood hacienda . . . an upscale New York gallery . . . a downtown dumpster . . . a Texas ranch.

Gritty with pain and betrayal and brutality, this true story also shines with an unexpected, life-changing love.

The “dangerous, homeless drifter” is Denver Moore; the “upscale art dealer” is Ron Hall;  and the “gutsy woman” is Hall’s wife Debbie. The three meet when Ron and Debbie begin volunteering at a Fort Worth, Texas homeless shelter and food kitchen. Denver, having lived a life on the streets, is generally wary of strangers and distrusting of those who say they just want to help, but Debbie is determined to get through to him. She sees something special there, and she encourages Ron to forge a friendship with this seemingly unreachable man.

Same Kind of Different As Me chronicles the unlikely friendship that grows up between Ron and Denver and explores the many ways in which it was life-saving for both men. A story like this could easily be told too sweetly, but Hall and Moore go with a warts-and-all approach that makes the story gritty, gripping, and unexpectedly moving. Christianity and faith play a large role in the book, as both Hall and Moore discuss their personal journeys of belief and the ways their faith affected their life decisions. While I didn’t completely relate to, agree with, or understand all of their experiences, I was won over by their sincerity and found their stories compelling and deeply touching.

Despite the heavy religious elements in this book, where you fall on the religious and political spectrums—I’m a liberal, feminist, non-practicing Methodist—really doesn’t matter because this is a book about two people who come together to do something amazing. They happen to believe they were brought together and bonded by God’s plan, but you don’t have to believe that in order to believe in the transformative power of their friendship (though I suspect that if you do share their beliefs, you’ll find this book even more powerful).

Near the end of the book, people outside of Ron and Denver’s community start to hear about their story and ask them to give talks at churches and religious and community organizations. When asked how he should be introduced, Denver instructs someone,

Just tell em I’m a nobody that’s tryin to tell everybody ’bout Somebody that can save anybody.

Now that’s the kind of preacher I might be willing to listen to.

I’m so grateful to the amazing teacher who shared this book with me and who continues to share it with his students to ignite a love of reading in their lives. Same Kind of Different As Me is an unforgettable read that I would recommend for just about anyone. 4.75 out of 5.