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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
I'm in love with Siobhan Vivian :), April 5, 2009
How can you not love Siobhan Vivian? Seriously. I follow both her personal blog and The Longstockings (not to sound creeper-ish), and everything she writes is just so alive and enjoyable. That being said, Same Difference was pretty dang good.
So you know how Sarah Dessen has a kind of trademarked romantic style/plot concept that's present in all of her books? Well for Siobhan, she's got a friendship style. In A Little Friendly Advice, her first book, she focused on the dynamics of the relationships between a group of girls. They were going through a difficult stage in their lives and in their friendship, and they all grew from it and became better people because of their experiences. In Same Difference it's the same sort of troubled friendship plot line but it's different enough that it feels fresh and unique.
In this book, the main character is going through a huge stage of self-discovery. She has to decide whether she wants to become a crazy artsy girl with the help of her new "friend" Fiona or whether she wants to stick with her roots and live a plain dreary life in Cherry Hill. But the book was so much more than that one little decision.
In the beginning, Emily had no idea who she was or who she wanted to be. Throughout the book she learned how to make new friends, create beautiful art, and still stay true to who she was at her core. She even got to have a little forbidden romance.
And that's the part that didn't work for me - the romance. Yates was Emily's teacher's assistant. He was two years older than her and didn't have much of a personality. Truthfully, they didn't have much, if any chemistry at all. It was just so flat. They were able to sit and draw pictures of each other but they weren't able to have a meaningful, colorful conversation. And the fact that he didn't see through Emily and Fiona's fake friendship doesn't do much for him.
Also, I didn't really get why Emily was dumb enough to stick with Fiona for the whole entire story. Fiona made her feel like crap and she was so caught up in her own stupid views that she couldn't take a minute to look around at the rest of the world. Emily seemed like a very bright, and genuine girl and the fact that she was sucked into Fiona's antics for almost the whole story was sort of a let-down.
But other than that, the book was good. The setting was extremely vivid, the conversations were true to life, and all the art lingo seemed really well researched and thought out to me.
And Emily was a very teen-like girl. She made some of the same dumb decisions that I would have if I was in her shoes and yet she still followed her heart. I liked how in the end she learned how to get the best out of both worlds - art land and suburbia. Also, I was super happy that she didn't ditch Meg. Because Meg was sooo cute. As was the fact that Emily's little sister was starting to get all artsy and defiant at the end of the book; she was following in her sister's footsteps. Aw!
There were just so many cute and fun little moments in this book that made me smile. It's such a great feel-good read.
My only advice to Siobhan Vivian would be to steer away from the romance in the future and focus more on the friendships. That's her strong point, I think. Although I do hope that there are some romantic moments in her next book because I want to see what she cooks up next. :)
I love Siobhan and I loved this book. Read it.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
This is the book I've been waiting to find., July 18, 2009
Same Difference is one of those books I've been waiting to find. I've for years tried to find a book about the life of a young artist and what it's like to discover your creative potential. I think I've found that in Same Difference.
Same Difference really made me reflect on my life as an artist so far. It exhibits a lot of the struggles people can face. Living up to the potential you so desperately want to have or discovering that you even have the potential or the passion. It's all illustrated through the characters in Same Difference.
The main character Emily, is one of those girls that discovers almost by accident one day that they like art and might not be too bad at it. She is perfectly balanced out by fellow classmate Fiona who has always lived the life of an artist, she knows she's an artist and wants desperately to prove to everyone what a genius she is, there is no other way. I loved seeing the artistic journey through both Emily and Fiona.
I thought it was really honest and real to see Emily struggle over her friendship with best friend from home Meg. Emily changes so drastically while in summer school trying to find herself, she struggles to find any common ground with Meg who is at home spending her summer with her boyfriend. Will they still be able to be friends at the end of the summer?
Another really interesting character is Yates, the student teacher and Emily's crush. He's not only fun to read about because of Emily's longings for him but for his insight into the life of a artist a year or two into school. He has some really interesting ideas about making a name, literally for yourself as an artist.
Most of the action inside of the classroom takes place in the drawing class or during field trips. We see Emily a few times in her Mixed Media class(?) away from the other students like Fiona and her posse. I would have really enjoyed seeing Emily more in that environment to contrast it with when she was with those other students.
I think Same Difference is a wonderfully unique story of finding yourself as an artist and as a person. I would highly recommend it to anyone that is interested in the arts or self discovery in general.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Siobhan Vivian is a writer to watch..., July 9, 2009
Siobhan's books are amazing and always focus on Friendship instead of love. When I read A Little
Friendly Advice, last year, I knew this was an author to watch.
Same Difference is about a girl, Emily. She lives in Cherry Grove, New Jersey. Her best friend, Meg lives across the street and summers are spent with going to the pool and Starbucks. That is before, Emily gets accepted to a summer art program in Philadelphia.
Emily feels lost in these arty and hip teens. She soon becomes friends with Fiona, Adrian, Robyn. Fiona is obsessed with her "shadow art", Robyn's parents own a gallery, and Adrian is good with comics. There is also very helpful andcute, Yates that happens to be her teaching assistant. Emily still feels lost. They go to art show and concerts. On the other hand, Meg and Rick react wrong to Emily's art. Emily will have to figure out who her real friends are and does she want to be.
I loved Emily, she made the same desicion that I would have. The setting was also really well done. I liked that it was based on Siobhan's own expercence and I think that it made it more Realistic. I also though Meg was cute. Yates was awesome, but was a bit lacking in the personality. This is a novel of self discovery, friendship, and the choices that we make. I loved this book and I hope that you check it out for it's awesomeness.
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