Instructions for Dancing by Nicola Yoon | Did Not Finish

DNF

0 Stars | Young Adult | Fiction | Romance

This is the first book I've never finished.

The included racist rhetoric and the author simply ticking the 'LGBTQ' box, just became too much.

Racist Rhetoric:
Within the first couple of chapters, the main character is hoping since she was a child that her mother would eventually have a talk with her "of how she came from a great line of witches", but instead when her mother eventually has "the talk" with her it includes how racism is in the world. Then a few chapters later when she is talking to her best friend from about 2nd grade, a white, "open-minded" boy about an issue she is having, she makes sure to include in the narrative that she loved how "open-minded" he was and how when she had to "correct him once about his (white) privilege, he wasn't offended, he just listened and learned."

Simply ticking the box:
The issue she is discussing with her friend is that she can suddenly see the past, present and future of a couple's relationship, a vision essentially. To test it, her friend tells her to look around the cafeteria at couples and see if it happens again. The author focuses on a couple named Shelley and Sheldon, nothing happens. Then she focuses on another couple, Damien and Joel (don't quote me on the names), nothing happens. Then she just browses the rest of the couples in the cafeteria, not mentioning any other couples names. Then she looks at Shelley and Sheldon again and she has a vision. She tells her friend the vision and he goes to them to test if what she saw was true.

Now, the problem I have with this is the author could have simply mentioned Shelley and Sheldon and then swept over the other couples in the room like she did, without even mentioning the gay couple Damien and Joel, but she doesn't. The author made sure to pander to society and tick that 'LGBTQ' box without them having any relevance to the story whatsoever. If she had looked at just Damien and Joel, browsed the room, then looked at them again and had the vision, THEN it wouldn't have been just 'ticking the box' and they would have actually been relevant to the story, confirming her visions! But the author didn't do that, she only mentioned the gay couple simply to tick that box. If you are going to take the time to point out a particular character(s) then they should be relevant to the story.

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