Living With Viola - Rosena Fung - ★★★★.½

AUTHOR: Rosena Fung

GENRE: Middle-Grade Graphic Novel

PUBLICATION DATE: January 1, 2021

RATING: 4.5 stars.

In a Nutshell: A middle-grade graphic novel about a girl who is haunted by her inner demons while also dealing with the anxiety of starting at a new school. Explores many complex themes about mental health in this age group. Quite a nice book; no major complaints.

Plot Preview:

For quite some time, ten-year-old Olivia Tong has been ‘haunted’ by the shadowy Viola, who is a personification of Olivia’s anxiety. Now, with her joining a new school, Viola’s judgemental remarks are further messing up Olivia’s nerves. She finds relief only when she indulges in her favourite activities such as reading, sketching, and cooking with her mom. Even her new friendships at school are somewhat helpful. But when the pressure from home as well as school starts building up, Viola grows more menacing than ever. Will Olivia learn how to handle her?

Bookish Yays:

🌷 Olivia as the protagonist: Sensitive, sweet, smart. She knows what works for her and does her best to stay way from trouble and controversy. It is sad to see her struggling with stress, but because of her nature, it is easy to root for her. A very realistic portrayal of a ten-year-old.

🌷 Viola: From the title, I had assumed that Viola would be the protagonist. Instead, she is the antagonist, and a strong one at that! While all of us battle our demons, sometimes, we feed our own demons. This is one such example. As a realistic personification of mental anxiety, Viola demonstrates how our inner voice can affect not just our confidence but also our daily functioning.

🌷 The focus on how much pressure exists on today’s children, with stress coming not just from school curricular/extra-curricular requirements but also from peers, parents, and relatives. Olivia’s struggle to live up to the standard of being a “good daughter” leads her to compromise on what her heart wants, which is true of so many children.

🌷 The realistic ups-and-downs of middle-grader friendship: such a convincing depiction rather than the typical fictional peer relationships that are either supportive or condescending. Also love that Olivia was not shown to be a loner but with a strong friend circle. It disproves the myth that only introverts and/or those without friends suffer from mental health issues.

🌷 The various aspects of issues faced by immigrants (with Olivia’s family being Chinese immigrants in Canada): including the usual apprehension against immigrant families, the difference between first vs. second gen immigrants, and the concept of being “Chinese-Chinese”.

🌷 The story includes a little advice for tackling such issues, but not too much. Readers will find some basic stress-handling techniques herein, but will also realise that seeking professional help is important if the anxiety is too big to manage alone. I also appreciate how the book shows that you can’t get rid of anxiety but can only learn to manage it better.

🌷 The author’s note is honest and heartfelt, depicting her own experience at age 10 with anxiety disorder. Don’t miss it.

🌷 The speech bubbles are dual coloured, with red text for Cantonese and black for English. Love this idea of indicating the two languages distinctly without making the panels seem cluttered.

🌷 A glossary of Cantonese terms at the end – helpful!

Bookish Mixed Bags:

🌹 I would have loved to see the origin of “Viola”. As Viola is an anagram of Olivia, did Olivia purposely name her that way, as a twisted version of herself?

🌹 I appreciate how Olivia’s mom is portrayed as being supportive instead of the typical Asian ‘tiger mom’ stereotype. The other Asian characters are mostly typical. But some of their arguments do make sense to me. (Perhaps as I am an Asian parent myself?) What parent doesn’t want a stable career and happiness for their child? While I see how they are wrong in setting out only limited career options for their kids, I also see where they are coming from. The intent is good, the approach isn’t.

🌹 The flow of the resolution is too smooth. The class teacher is fabulous, friendships at the new school are almost instant, the doctor is understanding, the diagnosis is immediate,… Doesn’t happen this easily in real life. Then again, it is middle-grade (auto)fiction, so I suppose a little smoothening of bumps is warranted.

🌹 The art style is very good, but some pages are a bit too chaotic, especially when Viola is weaving her deviousness in Olivia’s mind. This does work wonderfully for the story, but if neat panels and clear text are your preference, you might find this disorganised.

All in all, I enjoyed the journey of reading this book. As an OwnVoices story focussing on immigrant and mental health issues, it tackles both serious topics with equal focus. This graphic novel delivers not just on plot but also in its life lessons, especially in how it highlights the importance of asking for help when needed.

Mental health is often undiagnosed at this age because adults can’t fathom the idea of children having mental devils. So while this book serves as a great way of spreading awareness, it might also be triggering if you suffer from anxiety. Viola is very menacing, so she can be tough with her judgements. Do ensure that you are in the right headspace if you intend to pick this up.

Definitely recommended to middle-graders and teens, whether they suffer from anxiety or not. It is a great story that goes much beyond the core theme. I read this along with my elder daughter, and it was an easy 5 star for her. We both had read this author’s latest graphic novel – ‘Age 16’ – together, but she found this one more impressive.