Member Review
Review by
Sam M, Educator
My first interaction with Dash and Lily, creations of coauthors Rachel Cohn and David Levithan, came via Netflix’s new series, Dash and Lily, rather than the first novel in the series, 'Dash & Lily’s Book of Dares.' Though I prefer to read the original before seeing the adaptation, I experienced 'Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist,' another Cohn/Levithan collaboration, in the same manner. Since finishing the first season of the Netflix series, I’ve read 'The Twelve Days of Dash & Lily' (2016) and the newly released third book in the series, 'Mind the Gap, Dash & Lily.' This series is somewhat of a rarity since series in YA are usually the province of the speculative and supernatural; a YA romance is an altogether different beast. While this third entry treads some familiar ground at times, it is a welcome addition to Dash and Lily’s story.
Having graduated from high school the previous summer, Dash just finished sitting for his first set of exams at Oxford, and Lily has taken a gap year. Instead of matriculating as a legacy at Barnard, she has become a full-time dogfluencer—a combination of dog-walker, entrepreneur, and minor Instagram celebrity. Naturally, her family doesn’t approve. Dash, meanwhile, has finally found a family member who approves of him, his grandmother. Nothing else, however, has gone well so far during his time in England. Will that improve when Lily decides to surprise him for Christmas?
The decision to change the setting from New York to London is a good one; taking Dash and Lily out of the environment in which they are most comfortable forces them to grapple with the choices that they need to make. While the expected transition from high school to college allows many adolescents to delay grappling with big life choices, Cohn and Levithan don’t give Dash and Lily that opportunity. That’s what makes this third entry work; even though a lot of the same whimsy and potential relationship peril beats from the first two entries in the series reappear here, there’s enough new here for the story to be compelling. Plus, even though their quirkiness irks me at times, I still care about Dash and Lily.
What I like best about this novel—and the entire series—is that it is a wish-fulfillment romance with educative moments for adolescent readers interspersed throughout. Whereas Nick and Norah’s story was a bit heavy at times, the tone of Dash and Lily’s story is always light, even when it is fraught with angst. Is a gap year an acceptable choice for the college-bound adolescent? How much of a role should family play in determining an adolescent’s path in life? Though the concept is referred to somewhat derisively at one point, this series has something tangible to say about agency. The battle for agency isn’t only found in dystopian narratives; it’s found in everyday life. I appreciate how Cohn and Levithan present that struggle to their readers. Lily’s struggle to find her identity as well as Dash’s panic attacks, for example, will resonate with many adolescent readers.
What won’t likely resonate for many readers is the financial status of these characters. For some readers, I suspect the freedom that Dash and Lily have because of their finances is unrecognizable or even off-putting. If read as escapism, there’s no problem; if read as these choices are only available to those with means, then there’s a problem. For readers to see themselves in these novels, for that educative value to be realized, there have to be points of identification. I wonder if financial stakes will be addressed in possible future entries in the series.
Series have growing pains; while 'Mind the Gap, Dash & Lily' certainly has plenty, I’m hopeful that Cohn and Levithan aren’t finished with these characters yet. There’s more story here, I think. In the meantime, I enjoyed spending this Christmas season with Dash and Lily.
Having graduated from high school the previous summer, Dash just finished sitting for his first set of exams at Oxford, and Lily has taken a gap year. Instead of matriculating as a legacy at Barnard, she has become a full-time dogfluencer—a combination of dog-walker, entrepreneur, and minor Instagram celebrity. Naturally, her family doesn’t approve. Dash, meanwhile, has finally found a family member who approves of him, his grandmother. Nothing else, however, has gone well so far during his time in England. Will that improve when Lily decides to surprise him for Christmas?
The decision to change the setting from New York to London is a good one; taking Dash and Lily out of the environment in which they are most comfortable forces them to grapple with the choices that they need to make. While the expected transition from high school to college allows many adolescents to delay grappling with big life choices, Cohn and Levithan don’t give Dash and Lily that opportunity. That’s what makes this third entry work; even though a lot of the same whimsy and potential relationship peril beats from the first two entries in the series reappear here, there’s enough new here for the story to be compelling. Plus, even though their quirkiness irks me at times, I still care about Dash and Lily.
What I like best about this novel—and the entire series—is that it is a wish-fulfillment romance with educative moments for adolescent readers interspersed throughout. Whereas Nick and Norah’s story was a bit heavy at times, the tone of Dash and Lily’s story is always light, even when it is fraught with angst. Is a gap year an acceptable choice for the college-bound adolescent? How much of a role should family play in determining an adolescent’s path in life? Though the concept is referred to somewhat derisively at one point, this series has something tangible to say about agency. The battle for agency isn’t only found in dystopian narratives; it’s found in everyday life. I appreciate how Cohn and Levithan present that struggle to their readers. Lily’s struggle to find her identity as well as Dash’s panic attacks, for example, will resonate with many adolescent readers.
What won’t likely resonate for many readers is the financial status of these characters. For some readers, I suspect the freedom that Dash and Lily have because of their finances is unrecognizable or even off-putting. If read as escapism, there’s no problem; if read as these choices are only available to those with means, then there’s a problem. For readers to see themselves in these novels, for that educative value to be realized, there have to be points of identification. I wonder if financial stakes will be addressed in possible future entries in the series.
Series have growing pains; while 'Mind the Gap, Dash & Lily' certainly has plenty, I’m hopeful that Cohn and Levithan aren’t finished with these characters yet. There’s more story here, I think. In the meantime, I enjoyed spending this Christmas season with Dash and Lily.
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