Have you ever found yourself at a place in life where you could look back and see how, in some inexplicable way, circumstances seemingly worked together for your good, often in-spite of your best efforts to the contrary? In Same Kind of Different as Me: A Modern-Day Slave, an International Art Dealer, and the Unlikely Woman Who Bound Them Together, Ron Hall and Denver Moore tell the gripping story of how two men, with nothing in common except both of them being children of the deep-south, find themselves drawn together by forces unseen and, as a result, their future’s are forever altered. Denver is an African-American homeless man whose early life on a Louisiana plantation has left him bitter and guarded. Ron is the self-made millionaire art dealer who sees little beyond the next deal. Brought together by Ron’s wife, the two forge a deep and lasting friendship that will eventually impact not only their lives, but those around them as well. Surprisingly for Ron, it doesn’t take long for him to realize that he has more to learn from Denver than he could ever have imagined. And for Denver, finding someone that genuinely cares about him, with no strings attached, awakens him to a world that had been closed to him for a very long time.
This is a well written, deeply moving book that had me both laughing and crying as I followed Ron and Denver on their remarkable journey. Ron and Denver both take their turn telling the story from their own perspective, allowing you to see through their eyes and relate more easily to their experiences. On the very first page, Denver draws you into his world and doesn’t let go. Ron soon follows with what you might hope is a brief rest from the tortured life of Denver, but you soon find that all is not well in the polished world that we often present as our own. I highly recommend this book and hope that it touches you as deeply as it did me.
I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”