"Step on a crack, break your mother's back, touch another person's skin, and Dad's gone for good..."
Don't Touch is 2014 novel by Rachel M. Wilson. It focuses on Cadence "Caddie" Finn, a sixteen year old actress with OCD. When her father moves away after her parents separate, she can finally go to an art school, reunite with her friends, and take steps toward her dream role: Ophelia in the theater's production of Hamlet. Unfortunately, her magical thinking throws a wrench into her hopes. She develops a new compulsion: if she touches another person, skin to skin, her father will leave forever.Rachel M. Wilson writes from her own experience growing up as a theater kid with OCD in Alabama. Her site is located here
. Book trailer here.
Don't Touch includes examples of:
- Actor-Inspired Element: In-Universe. Caddie talks the director into incorporating the gloves and lack of touch into her portrayal of Ophelia.
- Arc Words: Fittingly, "don't touch."
- Conspicuous Gloves: Caddie always wears these for her compulsion.
- Daddy Didn't Show: Caddie’s father misses her birthday and breaks multiple promises to come to important events. He doesn't show up to the Shakespeare festival.
- Eccentric Artist: Birmingham Arts Academy rules this trope. Caddie worries that her gloves and compulsions will make her not fit in. On her first day, she finds that she's not the least bit odd compared to the rest of the school.Caddie: I've gotten into an on-command-crying, impulse-following, Shakespeare-joke-making, puppet-sex-watching cult of theater nerds, and I'm actually pretty happy about it.
- Hates Being Touched: A core part of the plot is Caddie’s fear that touching other people will doom her family.
- Madness Mantra: Don't touch. It's both a symptom of Caddie's OCD and a temporary relief. OCD is complicated like that.
- Mask of Sanity: Caddie tries to hide her compulsions behind this. Her success varies.
- No Sense of Personal Space: All of Mandy and Caddie’s circle of friends, especially with Caddie so sensitive to it. Peter and Oscar in particular—Peter casually shows affection by wrestling, and Oscar has no inhibitions about rubbing himself against Caddie before he really knows her.
- Pool Scene: The party at which everyone practices their lines is one. Caddie is, of course, fully clothed, but Peter and Mandy wear swimsuits and Oscar is
naked. - Shout-Out: To Improv Everywhere’s Grand Central Station freeze performance.
- Stage Mom: Mandy has one, who pressures her to do pageants and become a Triple Threat. She disparages the kids who don’t mind it.
- Tomboy and Girly Girl: Mandy and Caddie’s moms were apparently good high school friends.Caddie’s narration: Mom says it’s an archaic, patriarchal ritual that I don’t have to submit myself to. Mandy’s mom says it’s the best time of a girl’s life. And that’s the biggest difference between Mandy’s mom and mine.
- Transparent Closet: Literally everybody thinks Hank is gay, although he never outright states it or publicly dates a guy.
- Visit by Divorced Dad: He cancels several times and never actually shows up. One of Caddie's immediate worries is that he won't show up if she touches someone.
