The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell by Robert Dugoni

 

My thoughts

This is my first Dugoni book but will not be my last. I absolutely loved this book. It was worth every tear. Every chuckle. It was beautiful and so sad in places but what an ending. I'm not a person who has much faith and am not Catholic but this book touched my heart. It almost made me believe in the afterlife. I still don't believe it's right to say some things because if it's God's will then why does he not make all children perfect. Stop all the horrible things that happen to good and faithful people. Especially little helpless children. That being said, this is a hard review to write. Only because I just don't have the words. I would not want to give anything away. Not one thing.

This is a book everyone should read. A story that is so touching and so sad and so uplifting, all at once. There are a few characters that I highly disliked but most I adored. Sam being the main one and his two friends, Mickie and Ernie, being the two best. Mickie was the love of Sam's life and Ernie was the one who made Sam complete. Made him not give up when things got bad. Sister Beatrice and David Bateman where horrors. Both treated Sam horribly. David was a kid also, but a horrible bully. Sister Beatrice was a bully too in so many ways. She was not kind to Sam.

The kids called Sam a devil boy because he had red eyes. He was born with a rare eye condition called ocular albinism, leaving him with red eyes. Kids can be cruel and most of this I believe they learn from parents. Then each other. 

Sam goes through a lot in his life, but the one constant is his mother. She never loses faith. She never gives up on things. She always said that it's God's will when things happened that can't be totally explained. Or if it was something bad. Throughout Sam's life he is faced with lots of things but his ability to help others is foremost in his life. He does face a tragedy that leaves him reeling and takes him to so many other places. He is helping children and even adults around the world with eye problems. 

This book will take your heart and give it a good squeeze. It will leave you holding your breath. Wondering if things will ever work out for Sam. For Sam and Mickie. And you always root for Sam. He's a very likable young man. Both as a child and an adult. 

This is told from when Sam is a child and when he is an adult. You learn everything you need to know about him and his family. About his friends and enemies. Sam definitely has an extraordinary life.

A great story. From start to finish.

About

Sam Hill always saw the world through different eyes. Born with red pupils, he was called “Devil Boy” or Sam “Hell” 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. Running from the pain, eyes closed, served little purpose. Now, as he looks back on his life, Sam embarks on a journey that will take him halfway around the world. This time, his eyes are wide open—bringing into clear view what changed him, defined him, and made him so afraid, until he can finally see what truly matters.