Same Kind of Different As Me: A Modern-Day Slave, an International Art Dealer, and the Unlikely Woman Who Bound Them Together

This review first appeared on my blog Knitting and Sundries

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 show more 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." show less

So I found this book in a little free library. I thought the premise was interesting, and while it did have a Christian Vibe to it, it wouldn't be super preachy. And, for the first part, it wasn't. I found the story of Ron and Debra interesting, Denver is a person who had a hard life, finally finding something that gives him hope/respect.

Unfortunately, the last half of the book is nothing but preaching, not necessarily at you, the reader, but at all the praise to the Lord/God is Good/God is mysterious, etc etc.

I was hoping for more of why Denver was a Modern-Day Slave, as it is subtitled on the book cover. There's a bit pertaining to his life as a shareholder, but it isn't much of a story. The majority of the first part is how Debra show more insisted on making Denver an acquaintance, a man who very much didn't want to be friends with a white women do-gooder. I found her approach a bit patronizing, but maybe thats just me. Not everyone needs to be a friend, and I believe that when rejected, you should honor that.

However, I do think that Debra was actually very respectful to those she wanted to help - she understood that they were at the bottom due to a combination of bad luck, bad family, and bad choices. She didn't judge, she just listened.

And, I'd like to know more about the white evangelistic church that accepted Denver.... was he considered a true member? or just a token "see, we aren't racist because we have a black person in our congregation". I suspect the latter, but the book was only surface level, showing the outside.

Now the book was written in 2006. And times have changed. I'd like to know if the Antique Dealer actually voted to make life better for poor people. There was no conversation about it in this book, and when Denver and Ron visited the shotgun houses near the end, there was no questions asked about how the social safety net has still not helped those most at risk.

Its not my place to ask.... but there are too many people who think that the only thing that is needed is charity to help those at the lowest rungs.... without understanding that poverty goes hand in hand with poor paying jobs, lack of education, and persisting stereotypes.

I was really hoping for a book about change, whether Christian based or not, and it is there in a way, but its about the change of two men who formed an unlikely friendship. But the book is more about bringing God to those at the bottom, rather than actually helping. Did good things come about? I don't know. It did for Denver and Ron, who found a strong friendship. But I don't see anybody else actually being helped. Just fed and preached at. show less

I really wanted to love this book that was supposed to be about helping a homeless man make something of his life. In reality, Denver Moore, the man who grew up as a Louisiana sharecropper and ended up on the streets of Ft. Worth, gave far more than he received. His story is inspirational and believable. He has retained his humility despite the success that his transformation earned him.

Unfortunately, his liberator doesn't come off as well in the book, at least in the beginning. I would have stopped reading this if it hadn't been for a book group because it's difficult for me to trust a narrator with a puffed-up ego as big as the state of Texas! I hate to say it, but Ron Hall's transformation came at the expense of his wife, who was show more portrayed as an angel on earth. It's hard to know if this is true because she doesn't get to tell her story. She did get to deliver one of the book's best lines when Ron was rambling on about his Armani suits and his new Rolls-Royce. She asked him if that Rolls had a rearview mirror - and did he see a rock star when he looked in it. Loved it.

This did turn out to be an inspiring story about prejudice, homelessness, forgiveness, suffering, and faith. With all of these worthy topics, it is understandable that the book is a little heavyhanded on the spiritual overtones. I wish the writing had been better and that it didn't focus so much on the tragedy that cemented the friendship. Still, it left me with a feeling of hope and that is certainly worth the price of a book. show less

A quick inspiring read about two men with nothing in common, finding, they do in fact have things in common. Denver is an illiterate, black, homeless man who grew up as a modern day slave working for the man in Louisiana. Ron is a famed international art dealer with more money then he knows what to do with. When Ron's wife feels called by God to start helping others, Ron goes along for the ride. He begrudgingly starts handing out meals at a local mission. While there he encounters Denver, but Denver wants nothing to do with him. The streets have made him hard and he doesn't have time for rich people trying to make themselves feel better by helping the homeless. Slowly though, Ron's wife pushes the two of them together and they realize show more that they have more in common then they ever thought possible and start to genuinely appreciate each other's perspectives on life. A little hokey, but I'm probably just a jaded cynic. show less

I read the Same Kind of Different as Me a while ago but am just now reviewing it. It is the story of an art dealer with a zealous wife that had her life dramatically altered by helping out with the homeless through their church. Along the way, he meets Denver who was a former slave but was now a runaway after various issues he encountered earlier in life. Ron's wife Deborah was the one to really initiate the beginning of the family's relationship with Denver and it ended up being one where they were able to bless each other in different ways. Eventually, Deborah gets extremely sick and ends up dying yet the relationship with Ron and Denver goes on.

In general, the book tended to carry with it a fairly sappy tone that was fairly hard to show more shake throughout reading it which was unfortunate because this truly was an incredible story of two polar opposites(seemingly in every way) forming an incredible friendship. I think part of this stems from it being responsive to the death of Deborah because she is made out to be a little too perfect, which is understandable given the relationship they each had with her, but it detracts from the title(and hence, purpose) of the book. I think the biggest thing to take from this was that we have the ability to learn so much from our interactions with people of all different kinds. Our shared humanity with others is enough to not simply write them off or assume who/what they are but to fully seek to reach out to others. This is a crucial takeaway from this book that hopefully encourages many people to look into strangers eyes and look beyond their exterior.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. show less

This book has really touched me with its faithfulness to approach with integrity what it meant in the lives of three people (who touched many more) as they listened to God's voice and acted on His instructions, even when it wasn't easy or didn't make sense. What does it mean to have faith and trust that God not only loves you and wants to bless you, but that He also wants to work through you to bless others -- even those it would appear God could never reach? What does it mean to rise above terrible circumstances and learn to love yourself and others even when everyone seems to consider you a lost cause? The power of God in our lives can move us to cross boundaries we never thought we would breach, between the wealthy and the show more impoverished, between the influential and the powerless, between the accepted and the outcast.

This is not a book that seeks to exhort others to follow exactly the same path as Ron and Debbie Hall and Denver Moore, or to condemn people who do not. Rather, it is a thoughtful retelling of God's work in these people's lives, ordinary people who happened to fall on two very different sides of the tracks and yet were brought together through God's love, and were used mightily in His plan because of it. show less

Denver Moore was African American, poor, could not read and came to believe the no one, not even God, cared about him. But Ron and Debbie Hall did care. The true story of how Ron and Debbie met Denver on the streets of Ft. Worth is a testament to God's amazing ways of using people to share God's love. With simple language and Ron Hall's illustrations, this story is a good read-aloud for young children and easily read by 2nd grade and up.