The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell by Robert Dugoni– 448 pages
Book Blurb:
Sam Hill always saw the world through different eyes. Born with red pupils, he was called “Devil Boy” by his classmates; “God’s will” is what his mother called his ocular albinism. Her words were of little comfort, but Sam persevered, buoyed by his mother’s devout faith, his father’s practical wisdom, and his two other misfit friends. Sam believed it was God who sent Ernie Cantwell, the only African American kid in his class, to be the friend he so desperately needed. And that it was God’s idea for Mickie Kennedy to storm into Our Lady of Mercy like a tornado, uprooting every rule Sam had been taught about boys and girls.
Forty years later, Sam, a small-town eye doctor, is no longer certain anything was by design—especially not the tragedy that caused him to turn his back on his friends, his hometown, and the life he’d always known.
My Review: 5 stars
The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell was an unexpected coming of age story that stole my heart. Sam Hell is the underdog and one that you’ll be rooting for from start to finish.
This is the first novel I’ve read by this author yet I’ve learned this is a huge departure from his usual work. Dugani is best known for his Tracy Crosswhite detective mystery series of which I have never read. This stand-alone put him on my list of authors that can write characterizations and dialogue so on point that the entire novel rings true. It’s as if I was watching it play out right in front of me.
Sam Hell will no doubt be picked on, repetitively teased and physically attacked due to his ocular albinism, but how he, his parents and his friends deal with it are what makes this story soar. Their unrelenting faith in G-d and impenetrable dedication to each other is sometimes smothering, often fanatical yet always loving. This book covers so much: marriage, faith, race, revenge, abuse, romance, puberty, motherhood, Christianity, bullying, feminism, alcoholism and rectitude.
Finally, this book is a completely original story and very different than what usually comes my way. The short chapters made the length of no matter. This is a fast reading, well written novel that I’d consider a MUST READ!
Quotes I liked:
There comes a day in every man’s life when he stops looking forward and starts looking back.”
-“Time is wicked. It comes and goes like a thief in the night, stealing our youth, our beauty, and our bodies.”
-“Our skin, our hair, and our eyes are simply the shell that surrounds our soul, and our soul is who we are. What counts is on the inside.”
– “We live for the quiet, intimate moments that mark not our calendars, but our hearts: The day we marry. The days our children are born. Their first step. Their first word. Their first day of school. And when our children grow, we remember those moments with a touch of melancholy: the day they get their driver’s license, the day we drive them to college, the day they marry, and the day they have their children. And the cycle begins anew. We realize it is in those quiet moments that each of us has the ability to make our lives extraordinary.”
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