the difference between you and me by madeleine george

Generally speaking, it was a little bit funny, a little bit awkward, and all of the characters were trying so hard that I couldn't help but root for them. I like YA, so that's okay, but I suspect that someone who doesn't would very quickly get tired of the awkward parental discussions and such. This is very much focused around two (or three) high school sophomores and a freshman. That aspect, of trying and grasping for something but never quite reaching it, felt very sincere to me, and in my opinion carried the novel.

They were all obviously trying very hard, in the really slow, painful way that we all try really hard and don't always succeed when we're fifteen or raising a fifteen-year-old. The characters were actually my favorite thing about the story. The characters were sometimes obnoxious, but in a very honest way. On a superficial level, the novel answered most of my expectations very well. The premise - that a closeted, preppy student council girl and the resident school lesbian freak have been making out for ages - was cute, and enough like my high school fantasy life that I was happy to play along. Jesse's chapters are told exclusively in third person (albeit a very close third person, so close that I sometimes forgot it was third at all) and Emily's chapters are exclusively first person. The book is told in alternating chapters, mostly from the main character's points of view. There were some things that struck me as a little bit strange from the beginning. I really did mostly like The Difference Between You and Me.

The difference between you and me by madeleine george