Beauty on the Backroads

Stories of grace for life's unexpected turns

thomas nelson

A story of friendship: Review of Same Kind of Different As Me by Ron Hall & Denver Moore

I first heard about this book when I saw a preview for the movie. Not sure how I missed it the first time around, but I’m so glad I got to read this story of how an unlikely friendship changed not only the people in it but the community around them.

Same Kind of Different As Me by Ron Hall and Denver Moore with Lynn Vincent is a book I won’t soon forget. It challenges me to reconsider what I think I know about homelessness and those who sleep on the streets. Denver’s life experiences working on sharecropping plantations in Louisiana is a heartbreaking reality I wish was fiction. And Ron’s rise to success as an international art dealer and his recovery from a personal fall in his marriage is inspiring.

I loved the back-and-forth perspectives of this story, how Denver’s and Ron’s voices were unique and first-person. I appreciated the honesty both of them revealed through their stories about failures and feelings. This was not a sugar-coated, all-is-happy tale. I had goosebumps and tears throughout, and reading the book makes me all the more eager to see the movie.

Maybe my favorite part of the whole book is how the relationship between Denver and Ron is mutual. This is not a story of how Ron’s friendship with Denver saved Denver. The two men saved each other and offered each other wisdom and comfort and challenge in times of need. And even though her name isn’t on the cover, the story is also about Ron’s wife Debbie and how her sparkling attitude opened the way for this relationship in the first place.

Reading this book makes me want to take more seriously the idea that friendship with people I might not think of as friends can change things. But it’s a consistent relationship that matters. Denver’s question about catch-and-release fishing in relation to friendship was a hard check in my life. In Denver’s words:

If you is fishin for a friend you just gon catch and release, then I ain’t got no desire to be your friend. But if you is lookin for a real friend, then I’ll be one. Forever.”

Don’t let this book or movie pass you by. (And in this movie edition of the book, there are some bonus pages about how the book came to be a movie. That itself is a story!)

I received a copy of the book from the publisher through the Booklook Bloggers Program. Review reflects my personal opinion.

Pressing into the pain: Review of The Space Between Words by Michele Phoenix

I used to avoid books about tragedies because of the sadness I associated with them. But I’m learning that I miss something when I do: a beauty beyond compare.

This is what Michele Phoenix’s new book, The Space Between Words, offers. Centered on the 2015 terrorist attacks in Paris, the story follows Jessica, a young woman who survives the attacks and must learn how to go on living. The discovery of a faded document in an antique sewing box sets her on a path toward healing as she searches for the untold story of a Huguenot family driven from France for their practice of faith centuries before.

I have enjoyed Phoenix’s books in the past, and they keep getting better and better. If you’ve read any of her works before, I’d say this one is her best yet. Her heart for France is evident and her uncovering of deep truths in the midst of unimaginable suffering make this book a relevant read. (Disclosure: I received a copy of the book from the publisher through the Blogging for Books program.)

My favorite line: “For all its scars and strife, this world still speaks the beauty of its Maker.”

Though the subject matter and the events of the plot make it difficult to read at parts, it is a worthwhile story. More than simply enjoyable. Satisfying in a soul deep way.