61 pages • 2 hours read
Nicola YoonInstructions for Dancing
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2021A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 1-5Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 1 Summary: “A Better Version of Me”
High school senior Yvette “Evie” Thomas takes her many romance novels and packs them in her backpack to give away. These novels used to offer her escapism, but she doesn’t believe in love anymore. Ever since her parents’ recent divorce due to her father’s infidelity, Evie hasn’t spoken to her father, and avoids another of his calls. Evie’s mother, Grace, asks if she’d like to help bake brownies with her sister Danica. Baking has become her mother’s new obsession since the divorce. Evie declines, knowing Danica will be talking about her latest boyfriend and acting like their new lives are fine. She wishes she could be unaffected by the divorce, as she misses the version of herself who used to believe in true love.
Chapter 2 Summary: “Former Favorite Romance Genres”
In a list format, Evie shares her favorite types of romance. Her previous favorite was contemporary romance, with specific sub-genre pleasures. Evie loved the “enemies to lovers” trope the most, followed by “love triangles” and “second chances.” She thinks the “second chances” trope is the most ridiculous now. When it comes to paranormal romance, she loves vampires, angels, and shapeshifters; in particular, she enjoys vampires for being “sexy” and “loving you forever” (7).
Chapter 3 Summary: “Give a Book, Take a Book”
Evie goes downstairs to freshly-baked brownies, thinking that although her family has lived in their apartment for six months, it feels temporary. Her mother left for her nursing shift, and Danica is taking photos of the brownies.
Evie cynically thinks that, if she does the math, Danica averages “0.667 boyfriends per month” (9). When Danica’s latest boyfriend, Ben, shows up, her sister invites her to join them for a movie. Evie knows “going to the movies” is code for them wanting to make out, so she leaves with her backpack of books.
Evie rides her bike through her Los Angeles neighborhood and notices a wooden Little Free Library. When Evie starts putting her books inside it, a mysterious woman appears. The woman says she built the library in the hopes of connecting people. She flips through Evie’s books and states they’re “well-loved,” and then questions why she’s donating them.
Evie has a flashback to the day her father moved out. Thinking she could convince him to stay, she skipped school and rushed on a bus to his college. When she opened the door to his office, her father was kissing another woman, a kiss that signaled they had history. Evie ran away, horrified; that night, her mother explained the divorce, stating she and her husband simply grew apart. Later, Evie admitted she saw the other woman, but her mother asked her to not tell Danica the truth.
Evie doesn’t tell the mysterious woman her troubles. Still, the woman insists she take the only other book in the Little Free Library, titled Instructions for Dancing. It details dances like the waltz and bachata, with images of the steps. To be polite, Evie takes the book. When she bikes off, she looks back, but the woman has disappeared. When she reaches home, Evie spots Danica and Ben on their front steps. The two kiss, and at that moment, Evie has a vision.
Chapter 4 Summary: “Danica and Ben”
Evie witnesses her sister Danica and Ben’s story like a movie in her head. She sees how their relationship started, in the school cafeteria with Ben asking her out. When Danica asked if he had a girlfriend, he replied, “Not anymore” (17). Then, Evie sees the current moment of them kissing on the stoop. Then, she sees Danica on a beach, around bonfires, checking lifeguard stations by the ocean. At one lifeguard stand, Danica sees Ben kissing his so-called ex-girlfriend, who wasn’t ever his ex. Lastly, Danica is seen crying in bed, deleting her photos of Ben, and changing her status to “single.”
Chapter 5 Summary: “The Bonfire”
Evie’s vision ends. Danica barks at Evie to stop watching her and Ben kiss, but Evie feels dizzy. Danica becomes concerned, but Evie says she simply needs to eat. The former thinks they should call their mother, but Evie deflects again. Evie reflects on her sister’s beauty and how they’ve never been particularly close; however, she used to share her romance novels with Danica, and they even went on some double dates back when Evie dated her one boyfriend Dwayne.
Ben says goodbye, and Evie flares up thinking he might already be cheating on Danica, if her vision is real. However, she doesn’t speak up. That night, Evie looks through her New York University college catalog in preparation for the fall. Danica comes home upset; when Evie comforts her, Danica admits she caught Ben cheating on her with his ex. Evie is shocked that her vision came true, but keeps it a secret.
Chapters 1-5 Analysis
Instructions for Dancing’s beginning chapters introduce layers of internal and external conflict. Evie’s confusion and frustration build from Chapter 1 onward, creating tension that propels readers forward. Internally, Evie struggles with her rage toward her father for his affair, her loss over the girl she was (one who believed in love and read romance novels with glee), and trying to make sense of her changed perspective (why people bother with love if it ends in pain). Externally, she has conflict with her father, but pushes him away rather than work through her pain. Evie also experiences conflict with her sister Danica, whom she thinks is ridiculous for dating so often, and her mother, who doesn’t seem upset by her divorce. After Danica breaks up with Ben, she says there are other boys out there; Evie comforts her but asks, “Why even bother with guys at all?” (23). Danica snaps that she has “actual human feelings,” clarifying that the “only thing” Evie currently feels is “mad at Dad” (23). This dialogue reveals Evie’s character flaw of suppressing her feelings. She avoids conflict and later suppresses her feelings for love interest X.
Evie’s mysterious visions are another obstacle, one that highlights the central theme of whether or not love is worth experiencing pain. Because Evie focuses on the visions’ endings rather than their sweet beginnings and middles, she mistakenly uses this evidence as proof that love isn’t worthwhile. As per the magical realism genre, the power Evie is given is the only strange occurrence in the novel, the magical element that allows her to learn a valuable lesson—that the visions show love, not loss. Evie’s cynical attitude only allows her to view her visions as prophecies of love ending, the opposite of the happily-ever-afters she once believed in. The visions create tension, intrigue, and a starting point for Evie to change as a character, challenge her beliefs, and learn that love is worthwhile.
To further establish conflict and characterization, Yoon gives Evie, Danica, and their mother Grace different coping mechanisms for the divorce. Since the novel takes place in a realistic, modern setting, discussions of mental and emotional health are commonplace. Evie’s mental-emotional state is one of anger, avoidance, and pessimism. She witnessed her father, whom she once considered her hero, kiss another woman, triggering her pessimism; appropriately, kissing becomes the trigger for her visions. The traumatic event reshapes Evie’s perspective on love, which she copes with by avoiding romance in general.
Unlike Evie, Danica doesn’t know about the affair, so she thinks her parents simply fell out of love; she doesn’t harbor any rage or resentment like Evie. Instead, she works through the divorce by turning to love, which again contrasts with Evie. Beautiful and extroverted, Danica dates many boys, steadily trying to find the love her parents once shared. The girls’ mother Grace copes with her divorce by moving her daughters from their home, filled with memories of their happy lives with her husband, and becoming obsessed with baking. She tries new recipes, buys cookbooks, and watches cooking shows to develop her hobby and forget about her husband. Little does Evie know that Grace is also angry and hurt, but remains strong for her daughters. Grace refuses to voice her feelings about the divorce, avoiding them like Evie, until her daughter needs insight on love. By withholding Grace’s feelings about her ex-husband until later in the novel, Yoon expertly keeps the tension high and reinforces Grace’s emotional strength.
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