I made it my personal goal this summer to read as many books about queer girls as possible. I was so excited to pick up “The Difference Between You and Me” by Madeleine George, a book about Jesse, a self-proclaimed weirdo and out dyke, who cuts her own hair with a pocket knife and wears huge clunky fishing boots; and Emily, who wears sweaters with pearl buttons, works three different internships, and is the president of student council.
Here we get the title of the book. They are two very different girls with only one thing in common; they are crazy about each other. They meet in secret once a week. As Emily says, they seem to have a chemical connection. They both lose themselves in the kisses of the other in their secret hiding spot.
All Jesse wants is for Emily to be her girlfriend. But Emily is in a serious relationship with her long term boyfriend and refuses to break-up with him.
Things get even more complicated when Jesse meets Esther and the two decide to protest against the dance that Emily is putting on, a dance that is sponsored by StarMart, a store like Walmart that is infamous for coming into small towns and shutting down all the small businesses within a matter of months.
A rift goes up between the two of them and heartbreak ensues.
Although I enjoyed this book and it’s quirky cast of characters, I wasn’t impressed with how Jesse ends up being made the heroine and Emily the bad-guy. Jesse, certainly learns a valuable lesson. She is happier being out than hiding in the closet with a pretty girl too afraid to come out of it. But the story is told from both girls perspectives. And Emily doesn’t get a chance to finish telling her side of the story.
I, personally, found this annoying being bisexual myself and seeing myself more in Emily than in Jesse. Though Jesse gets to learn valuable life lessons, Emily is left with nothing.
This is my only real complaint about the book. Otherwise it was funny and honest; a wonderful picture of a young queer girl growing up in our confusing world.
Yet Another Starving Artist 