Review: “Same Difference”
She left 5 minutes ago.
Getting caught lying is an experience I dread – forehead sweating, tongue stumbling, eyes darting every which way searching for some sort of reprieve. Even with the proliferating success of recent television programs acclimating audiences to the association between cringe-worthy situations and comedy, I still find it difficult to see anyone under that unique pressure. Same Difference revels in this, so you can imagine how hard it was for me to read, doing all I could to avert my eyes knowing the story wouldn’t progress unless I did look.
Same Difference is almost entirely about character development, so it’s difficult to discuss the story without spoiling anything. Generally, life, love, and teenage idiocy are touched upon, with perhaps the most powerful themes being reflection and regret.
Right at the outset, you’re thrust into the amiable characters’ lives, joining them for an everyday meal. The plentiful pop-culture-based dialogues set the timeframe for the story. (Tellingly, not one reference was lost on me.) Similar to meeting someone new in real life, a great way to comfortably get to know someone is through conversational middle ground, and these skillfully used references serve to easily bridge that gap between the reader and the characters. The repartee is clever and the knack for which they glean some wisdom from the random discussions never feels unnatural. Rather, that they can quickly weave through bouts of hilarity and seriousness without batting an eye establishes how good of friends these main characters are.
