When the young Sam is distraught over his eye color, his mother reassures him, “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” (39). It can take a person a lifetime to gain enough perspective to see and accept who they truly are meant to be. For the protagonist, the journey to self-acceptance comes only through a series of failures and successes, moments of profound joy, and seasons of prolonged pain and suffering. In The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell, author Dugoni traces one man’s life and portrays how living a normal, quotidian existence can still create an exceptional individual. For Sam, perspective brings peace, and he can view his life as extraordinary only once he has lived it.

As a child, Sam found his security and belonging in his family, under the charismatic shield of his mother’s advocacy and his father’s quiet compassion. Their unconditional love and acceptance define his identity. Outside the home, he is open to the judgmental stares and bigoted pronouncements of others, making him doubt his self-worth: “I had a strong sense that I was different, and not in the extraordinary way my mother wanted me to believe” (47).