Book Review: Same Kind of Different as Me

I had heard about this book and when Thomas Nelson opened it up for more reviews I jumped at the opportunity! In exchange for my honest opinion Thomas Nelson Publisher sent me a copy of Ron Hall and Denver Moore's book, Same Kind of Different as Me. I was not compensated in any other way.

This book starts out telling the stories of two men growing up in the 1950's. They seem very different, but similarities pop up along the way. The book switches between the lives of Ronnie and Denver, called 'lil Buddy. You learn that Denver grew up in Louisiana as a sharecropper who never learned to read or drive a car. He spent year after year working for 'the Man'. After 30 years he decides he's had enough and hops on a train, ending up in Fort Worth, TX. He is homeless and in and out of jail. He is unreachable.

Ron Hall has come a long ways from his lower-middle class roots. He married a sorority girl and became an investment banker. On the side he began buying and selling expensive art. That business soon became full-time. Ron played the part of benevolent Christian family man. But the pieces of his facade started falling.

When the two men meet, because Ron's wife talks him in to volunteering at an inner city mission, they both change and many more people change as well. As both men see life in a different way they draw closer to God.

I was in tears by the end of the book. I told several people about it the day I finished. I would recommend this memoir! I like how the story builds, bouncing from one chapter to the next. I love how these two men see that there is now distinction between those who are in Christ. And when these men follow God, their community is impacted and lives are changed.