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

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Product Description

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.

Customer Reviews: Read 183 more reviews...

5 out of 5 stars

Better Than Fiction May 3, 2007
77 out of 83 found this review helpful

At a recent conference I met a gentleman who happens to edit one of those airline magazines that always competes with your legroom in an airplane. A short time ago he sent me an email and asked if I had heard of a book called Same Kind of Different as Me and recommended that I read it. He seemed like a good enough guy and the book had a great cover, so I went ahead and ordered it sight unseen (or nearly so). And what a book it turned out to be.

Same Kind of Different as Me, a book that is factual but could just as easily be fiction, tells the unlikely story of the unlikeliest of friends--Ron Hall and Denver Moore. Told in two voices, the book alternates between telling the story from the perspective of Ron and Denver.

Ron Hall is a wealthy international art dealer who travels the world buying and selling rare and expensive works of art. He has grown rich but has also grown selfish and has grown away from his family. When Ron Hall reluctantly volunteers at a homeless shelter (at the insistence of his wife) he soon comes into contact with Denver, a man his wife is convinced is going to change the city. Denver grew up as a sharecropper in Louisiana, living a life that seemed little different from the life of his ancestors one hundreds years before. He eventually walked away from the cotton fields and found that, while life on the streets of Fort Worth was difficult, it was easier than being a sharecropper. It was here, in a homeless shelter, that the two men met, one serving food and the other being a reluctant recipient of this charity.

Chef Jim and Deborah chatted easily while I mentally balanced the ledger between pleasing my wife and contracting a terminal disease. I had to admit that his idea seemed like an easy way to start--serve the evening meal once a week, and we'd be in and out in three, four hours max. We could minister from behind the rusty steel serving counter, safely separated from the customers. And we could enter and leave through the rear kitchen door, thereby minimizing contact with those likely to hit us up for money. The whole arrangement seemed like a good way for us to fulfill Deborah's desire to help the homeless without our touching them or letting them touch us.

Her bright laugh pulled my attention back into the room. "I think that sounds great, Jim!" she was saying. "I don't see any reason why we can't start tomorrow. In fact, let's just say you can count on us to serve every Tuesday until you hear otherwise."

"Praise the Lord!" Chef Jim said, this time giving Deborah a great big Baptist hug. It did not sound great to me, but Deborah had not asked me what I thought. She never did do much by committee.

At first unable to crack Denver's stony personality, Hall eventually prevails and strikes up a friendship with a man worlds apart. They become fast friends who endure a tragedy together and who soon grow in their love, respect and admiration of each other. Each man teaches the other about life and faith. Somehow the story of the relationship between these two men is fascinating and inspiring. It offers a glimpse into two worlds that are nearly opposite and shows what happens when these worlds come into contact with each other. I can still hardly believe this was not a novel.

While the book showcases a fun sense of humor, there is also plenty of heart.

And yet for all the courage I knew she had, she had shown this glimmer of fear. Oh, how I loved her then. Fiercely. The passion you feel down in your guts where no one else can see and only you know its frightening force. I could remember that there were times in our nearly three decades of marriage that I had loved her less than at that moment, and guilt pierced me like a spike. Though she had always given unconditionally, I had often not been willing to do so in return, She has deserved better than she's gotten from me, I thought, and nearly drowned in a wave of regret thirty years deep.

Between the heart and the humor is some good theology, but, unfortunately, also some that would require believing the word of the author rather than finding any basis in Scripture. For example, there is talk of a "visitation" where a dead person returns to earth, however briefly, to offer comfort and encouragement. This is not something the Bible tells us we can or should expect. There was also some theology that was suspicious and seemed to reveal an understanding of the gospel that was somewhat incomplete. I found these distracting and disappointing, but not fatal to the book.

So while Same Kind of Different as Me is not necessarily a book I'd recommend for its theology, it is a book that I'd recommend for a stirring and unforgettable story, and for the pure joy of reading it. This one caught me by surprise and I enjoyed every minute of it. I can pretty well guarantee that someone will buy the movie rights to this story, so why not buy it now so you can say that you read the book before you ever heard of the movie!

5 out of 5 stars

Amazing August 2, 2006
37 out of 38 found this review helpful

I finished this book in less than 3 days. I was taken in by chapter 2 and laughed, cried, pondered, and repented the whole way through. It is well written and easy to digest yet full of hidden treasures.

I like that this book challenges those of us who consider ourselves Christian - that we usually aren't as real as we say and certainly rarely have actions that are as revolutionary as Jesus paved the way for.

Both authors are honest in their struggles with themselves, their histories, weaknesses and the strength found in their purpose together.

I most admire that they consider making a difference in one life, and the difference one life can make, important.

5 out of 5 stars

Stirring August 9, 2007
15 out of 19 found this review helpful

"Same Kind of Different" reminds me of "Letters Across the Divide" by David Anderson and Brent Zuercher which shares white/black perspectives on race. In "Same Kind of Difference," Hall and Moore write the amazing story of their cross-cultural relationship. Though the theology at times will not resonate with every reader, the narrative of rubber-meets-the-road faith will resonate with everyone.

Reviewer: Bob Kellemen, Ph.D., is the author of Beyond the Suffering: Embracing the Legacy of African American Soul Care and Spiritual Direction , Soul Physicians, and Spiritual Friends.

5 out of 5 stars

This one deserves six stars! July 14, 2006
14 out of 16 found this review helpful

Same Kind of Different as Me by Ron Hall and Denver Moore with Lynn Vincent is just too good for a five-star rating. This book is in a class by itself. In fact, I would say it's one of the ten best books I've read in my lifetime--and that's a lot of books! This poignant, gripping, heartrending story of the most unlikely of brothers is beyond amazing, and Vincent's writing is superb. From twentieth-century slavery to multi-million-dollar art sales and everything in between, the authors pull no punches when it comes to "telling it like it is." This is faith-in-the-trenches, love-in-the-gutters writing, and it will forever change the life of anyone who reads it with an honest, seeking heart.

1 out of 5 stars

Pretty shallow, but it may have its place February 24, 2008
11 out of 50 found this review helpful

I read this book because it was chosen as the ONE CITY/ONE BOOK choice for my city. Literature, it is not. Thoughtful? No way! This book reminds me of when I was a teenager lying on the couch fantasizing about climbing Mount Everest as I read the National Geographic with my feet propped up. I expect its readers will fantasize about developing a meaningful cross-cultural relationship and go on to something else in a few weeks. Ron Hall is a very rich art dealer whose wife Debbie befriended an illiterate street man and more or less involved Ron before dying of cancer. Apparently Ron wrote the story while dealing with his grief, added Denver's words (partly in dialect) using a tape recorder or something, got a third person to fix it up somewhat, and published it as a vanity publication. How, why, or on what terms Thomas Nelson later picked it up is not clear. I personally was uninspired by the way it glossed over all the hard and meaningful social questions and by the apparent ego-trip for Ron. I also found it poorly written and really fuzzy when it came to details about things like whether Denver ever learned to read and what can be done about today's deprived children. On the other hand, I did eventually climb mountains in Nepal. Maybe this book can plant the first seeds of some worthwhile questions for young people who would not have otherwise thought outside of their bubble.

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