Likes

“Likes” is told in a series of 30 vignettes, where longer sections narrated in the third person from Dave’s perspective are interspersed with brief descriptions of his daughter Ivy’s Instagram posts. This structure sets the parameters for the story’s major conflict: Dave’s struggle to understand his adolescent daughter is an ever-present part of his life, not something defined by one specific incident or that improves linearly. The vignettes highlight everyday moments of tension or connection between the two, paralleling the ups and downs of teenage mood swings. This structure also helps connect background elements to the story’s main action, such as the ongoing anxiety the characters feel regarding the 2016 presidential election. Without making the story explicitly political—this election or its candidates are never directly named—scenes that mention the debate, Donald Trump’s cadence, or voting stickers are interspersed with conversations between Dave and Ivy in the car, Ivy at physical therapy, or Ivy dancing. The blending of these elements—the personal and the political—expands Dave and Ivy’s relationship. He and Ivy don’t have a particularly bad relationship; rather, it reflects the universal dynamic between parents and teens, establishing the theme of