Same Kind of Different As Me: A Modern-Day Slave, an International Art Dealer, and the Unlikely Woman Who Bound Them Together
When we went camping with friends, Pam had this book & it looked pretty interesting read. I have been trying to read more fiction books & mistakenly thought this book, with it’s tales of modern-day share cropping & a fanciful international art dealer, was certainly in that category. The book reads quickly as each chapter is alternately told through the eyes of Ron & Denver, as they both grew up living very different lives in the south during the 1950′s.
Denver’s childhood was horrifying as I don’t think I fully realized how deplorable conditions were for blacks in the South just a few decades ago as many lived without electricity, running water, education, clothes, or even decent homes with windows or beds. Denver shares some poignant and tragic stories from his early years & it’s easy to see how he ended up hopping on a train to Fort Worth after years of living in abject poverty as a share cropper who had no future at all. Ron’s life is one of adventure and prosperity as he marries and has children while starting to deal high-end art to wealthy people around the world.
A crises in his marriage re-focuses Ron’s life & leads him to volunteer with his wife Debbie at a local homeless shelter where they encounter Denver. I won’t give away too much of the story, but it’s an incredibly touching tale of how the lives of two very different men were both changed for the better. It touches on how generational poverty still is a huge problem in our country & their volunteering with the homeless is eye-opening into the real people behind the stereotypes and awful circumstances that landed so many men on the streets. Unable to read, Denver has memorized extensive scriptures and turns into quite the spiritual leader for Ron & Debbie during a difficult period in their life and some very amazing things happen to the three of them.
Since I love books based on real-events, I thought this book was fantastic & really recommend that you DO NOT read it on a plane (I had to stop myself from crying so many times). It’s a story of faith, both how Ron & Debbie serve and evangelize to the less-fortunate in their community and how Denver’s faith has been the only thing he had living on the tough streets all those years. It’s a story of love, both the touching and heart-breaking marriage of Ron and Debbie and how Denver learns to let his guard down and is finally able to love again as Ron becomes his best friend.
GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY: John’s knee replacement was successful and he should be home from the hospital today.
I loved this book and now have it on our shelf of inspirational reading for visitors and volunteers.
I know what you mean about reading on a plane. Surprisingly, Anderson Cooper’s memoir made me cry and I’m not as good as you at holding back my tears. My fellow passengers must think I’m an odd sort of person as I sit there reading a book with tears streaming down my face.
How cool you have the same book!