The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell, by Robert Dugoni (2018)
Sam Hill was born with a rare genetic condition known as ocular albinism, which makes his eyes red. His mother enrolled him into a Catholic Elementary School, Our Lady of Mercy, but the school initially rejected his application due to his eye condition. The school feared that the other children would make fun of him. They did. They called him the Devil Boy, and Sam Hell. It didn’t help that the school’s principal, Sister Beatrice, had it in for him and made him miserable.
Sam’s only school friends wer Ernie Cantwell, the only Black student at the school, and Michaela “Mickie” Kennedy, a rebel in her own right.
Sam’s mother is extremely devout and tells Sam that each of his trials and tribulations is a result of “God’s will.” Sam endures the bullying from a classmate who comes from a home where violence rules. Forty years later, he is confronted by the bully again and learns time has not taken the edge off his foe.
This is a novel about faith. Although Sam loses the faith of his mother, his mother’s teachings comfort him throughout is life.
I thoroughly enjoyed this novel.
Read: August 25, 2023
4.5 Stars
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