#social queue

Review: Social Queue by Kay Kerr Rating: 4/5        #LoveOzYA

“Living each day in survival mode doesn’t leave a lot of space for contemplation.”

Zoe Kelly is tired of only experiencing romance second-hand but dating is hard when you combine a complete lack of experience with autism and anxiety. Writing about this struggle at her internship for an online magazine, Zoe discovers that there have been times in the past when people have been interested in her, she just didn't quite notice. So she's taking a stroll down memory lane to figure out how she missed the signs and what she can do to make sure love doesn't pass her by again.

All aboard the Kay Kerr train! This was leagues ahead of her debut, Please Don't Hug Me, with a much tighter plot, a wonderfully well-developed protagonist and a much more confident stance on how disabled people deserve to be treated by the people around them.

What struck me most about Social Queue is that it’s a perfect reminder of how much extra effort and work disabled people have to put in just to meet the (usually pointless) standards of able-bodied people. To navigate social situations, to meet expectations about how to present yourself, to cope with negative emotions and experiences. The world weighs so much more heavily when you experience it differently and Kerr does an excellent job of portraying that with Zoe.

But having said that, I did wonder why Zoe never figures out - on her own or with guidance from her supposedly supportive friends and family - that she doesn’t have to live up to the standards of able-bodied, neurotypical society. She doesn’t have to have the perfect dates and meet “the one”. She doesn’t need to shower and do her make-up and dress perfectly for every single occasion. She’s allowed to say when something or someone bothers her. She’s allowed to be daunted by the idea of conflict or arguing. She’s allowed to get things wrong and not be made to feel foolish or ashamed. I was waiting for her to realise that but the turning point never came.

Another turning point that never came was that Maia, Zoe's colleague who keeps writing ableist articles, never acknowledges and apologises for the articles she wrote and then made Zoe read and fix. If I was in Zoe's position, being forced to read and edit ableist news stories for a colleague, I would expect my corrections to lead to some sort of actual change but we never hear Maia's thoughts on Zoe's notes and attempts to educate her. I really would've loved a scene where Maia even just thanks Zoe for her help and apologises for her mistakes but instead, Zoe is loaded up with this emotional labour and never gets to debrief about it.

Luckily, the romance is pretty cute even if Zoe and her beau getting together is a little rushed and convoluted. I also loved that Zoe questions her sexuality for the first time during the course of the book! I really related to the whole "I just said I liked boys because I thought I was supposed to" situation she experienced as a teenager and I loved seeing her open herself up to the idea of being something other than straight (even though that little story thread kind of got lost in the dust as well).

An engaging, thoughtful novel about navigating the world of romance with some important disability rep and a lovely romance. I just wish all the storylines had been tied up a bit more neatly.

If you liked To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before by Jenny Han, try Social Queue by Kay Kerr

They both include:

revisiting and revitalising past crushes

romance fanatics finally experiencing romance firsthand

diverse writers writing diverse characters

Social Queue by Kay Kerr

(2021)

From the Publisher:

Commended, Book of the Year for Older Readers, Children's Book Council of Australia Notables List, 2022

I thought I was nobody’s teen crush, but turns out I was just missing the signs.

Zoe Kelly is starting a new phase of her life. High school was a mess of bullying and autistic masking that left her burnt out and shut down. Now, with an internship at an online media company—the first step on the road to her dream writing career—she is ready to reinvent herself. But she didn’t count on returning to her awkward and all-too-recent high-school experiences for her first writing assignment.

When her piece, about her non-existent dating life, goes viral, eighteen-year-old Zoe is overwhelmed and more than a little surprised by the response. But, with a deadline and a list of romantic contenders from the past to reconnect with for her piece on dating, she is hoping one of her old sparks will turn into a new flame.

Social Queue is a funny and heart-warming autistic story about deciphering the confusing signals of attraction and navigating a path to love.