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A review by alabooktique
Instructions for Dancing by Nicola Yoon
2.0
This wasn't bad, but it definitely wasn't for me.
I'm not a very optimistic person myself, but the amount of intense and aggressive (although sometimes passive) pessimism the almost-18 year old FMC Yvette was exuding, was really too gloomy for me to handle.
From the synopsis I already know that she's someone who no longer believes in love. And that's okay. But I really didn't appreciate the way she tried to generalize it for everyone, though I don't think she was old enough to realize what she was doing.
For a book with such a pretty cover, it was such a gloomy parade in here. There was more on how Yvette was heartbroken over her broken family, than about dancing. Her not believing in love and happy ending was the center of everything. It all always came back to it. Actually no— I wouldn't haven't minded if it always came back to that, instead it never left that. The whole book was very monotonous for me.
The author did capture the emotional struggles of a girl of about 17-18 whose parents are going through a divorce. The anger, the resentment, the bitternessz the confused-state-of-mind... everything was really well written. The author did include a few sweet moments here in there amidst all the heartbreak and gloom, and I think I can appreciate that. Yvette had a friend group, and I think they were cool. Each friend brought something new to the hook— Cassidy with her fun persona, Sophie with her calm persona, and Martin with his sensitive but stable presence. I absolutely loved the dance instructor— Fifi (Fiona). That woman had all the personality and essence and I was looking forward to more of her page time.
The book, in overall wasn't very fun for me though, and I found it boring. Again, this is a very very personal opinion and just because I don't like it doesn't mean you won't. I appreciate what the author's done here, but it really really really wasn't for me. More often than not, I was reading just to get to the end of the story so I can cross it off my list. The story could've been a lot more colourful, and Yvette could've had more to her than just her cautious, pessimistic self. Xavier was cool, he really complemented Yvette, but he's your typical carefree, charming MMC with his own backstory and that's just it.
I'm not a very optimistic person myself, but the amount of intense and aggressive (although sometimes passive) pessimism the almost-18 year old FMC Yvette was exuding, was really too gloomy for me to handle.
From the synopsis I already know that she's someone who no longer believes in love. And that's okay. But I really didn't appreciate the way she tried to generalize it for everyone, though I don't think she was old enough to realize what she was doing.
For a book with such a pretty cover, it was such a gloomy parade in here. There was more on how Yvette was heartbroken over her broken family, than about dancing. Her not believing in love and happy ending was the center of everything. It all always came back to it. Actually no— I wouldn't haven't minded if it always came back to that, instead it never left that. The whole book was very monotonous for me.
The author did capture the emotional struggles of a girl of about 17-18 whose parents are going through a divorce. The anger, the resentment, the bitternessz the confused-state-of-mind... everything was really well written. The author did include a few sweet moments here in there amidst all the heartbreak and gloom, and I think I can appreciate that. Yvette had a friend group, and I think they were cool. Each friend brought something new to the hook— Cassidy with her fun persona, Sophie with her calm persona, and Martin with his sensitive but stable presence. I absolutely loved the dance instructor— Fifi (Fiona). That woman had all the personality and essence and I was looking forward to more of her page time.
The book, in overall wasn't very fun for me though, and I found it boring. Again, this is a very very personal opinion and just because I don't like it doesn't mean you won't. I appreciate what the author's done here, but it really really really wasn't for me. More often than not, I was reading just to get to the end of the story so I can cross it off my list. The story could've been a lot more colourful, and Yvette could've had more to her than just her cautious, pessimistic self. Xavier was cool, he really complemented Yvette, but he's your typical carefree, charming MMC with his own backstory and that's just it.