Wish I could summon more enthusiasm for story in current New Yorker

I wish I could summon more enthusiam for Sarah Shun-Lien Bynum's story in the current NYer, Likes, as it has a good premise and it's the kind of piece I generally like to read: a series of short takes on a troubled relationship between dad and daughter. The 12-year-old daughter,Ivy, is perceived by dad (late in story we learn his name: David) as difficult to communicate w/ - but whether this is a sign of trouble or neurosis or whether she's just a typical teen, absorbed in her world of apps and screentime, caught in the torrents of middle-school friendships and bullying, plagued by self-doubt like most preteens - who can say? It's never made entirely clear. Bynum steps aside from the many opportunities to make this story melodramatic; for ex., the daughter is seeing a physical therapist because of injuries suffered in ballet class - this could have been more powerful and significant, I would think, if she were seeing a psychotherapist or counselor. Similarly, though the dad has difficulty communicating w/ his daughter, it's far from evident that she's completely w/drawn; there are several scenes in which she converses quite well w/ her parents. Is she facing serious trouble at school? At one point she indicates (an example of her communication) to her dad that kids at school say she cries too much. That's disturbing. But then she has a very active weekend w/ a # of girlfriends, so she's by no means a loner or isolate. Much depends on the ballet lessons; she auditions for a role in, I think, Swan Lake - doesn't get the lead but gets an OK part. The PT shows up at the performance and offers words of praise. Story ends as way too many do w/ a "frozen image," a kind of epiphany I guess, in which daughter presses her face against a window pane while dad, outside, presses his hand against the pane. OK, so I ask myself: What has happened in this story? How have we, or any of the characters, progressed? Was there any change, revelation, crisis? All the writing is good but it's a story that needs more energy and power: not enough to write a series of scenes; you have to put your foot on the gas at some point and get this story moving. 
 
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