It is a very rare occasion when you can say the book you read for your English class actually impacted your life.

From the subtitle on the front, “Same Kind of Different as Me” draws in readers at the very beginning as a nearly unbelievable true story of “a modern-day slave, an international art dealer, and the unlikely woman who bound them together.”

But “Same Kind of Different as Me” is, in fact, a memoir of Ron Hall and Denver Moore, Ron, an affluent art dealer who came from a poor background and Denver, a homeless man who grew up in virtual slavery. Denver and Ron switch off narration between chapters, each telling his own side of the story. Denver is very down-to-earth and writes as if he were having a conversation with you, and Ron has a more eloquent way of writing that was slightly less accessible, but just as interesting.

The woman behind the friendship, Deborah Hall, volunteers herself and her husband Ron at a homeless shelter, where they meet Denver. She believed that Ron needed to befriend this rough man from the streets, and so slowly but surely, the friendship began. It develops over time, through racial and financial differences, through a battle with cancer, through loss and grief, Denver and Ron become very close friends.

This book was very easy to read, and though the story takes place over many years, the plot is very fast-paced. It is a very rare occasion when you can say the book you read for your English class actually impacted your life, but “A Same Kind of Different as Me” definitely impacted mine.