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Book Reviewed by:A powerful coming-of-age graphic novel about how mothers and daughters pass down—and rebel against—standards of size, gender, race, beauty, and worth.
Guangdong, 1954 Sixteen-year-old Mei Laan longs for a future of freedom, and her beauty may be the key to getting it. Can an arranged marriage in Hong Kong be the answer to all her problems?
Hong Kong, 1972 Sixteen-year-old Lydia wants nothing more than to dance and to gain approval from her mother, who is largely absent and sharply critical, especially about the way she looks. Maybe her way to happiness is starting over in Toronto?
Toronto, 2000 Sixteen-year-old Roz is grappling with who she wants to be in the world. The only thing she is certain of is that if she were thinner, things would be better. How can she start living her life, instead of just photographing it?
When Roz's estranged por por abruptly arrives for a seemingly indefinite visit, three generations are now under one roof. Delicate relationships are suddenly upended, and long suppressed family secrets begin to surface.
Award-winning creator of Living with Viola Rosena Fung pulls from her own family history in her YA debut to give us an emotional and poignant story about how every generation is affected by those that came before, and affect those that come after.
We see similar themes of self-discovery and resilience play out across the characters' stories. Mei Laan bravely travels to Hong Kong on her own as a teenager, and when her husband turns out to be abusive, she leaves and works to lift herself and her baby daughter out of poverty. Lydia makes plans for a life overseas, in a country she's never even visited, despite knowing that it will anger her mother. And Rosalind decides to live fully as herself and embrace her own quirky, artistic hobbies, even if her overachieving friends don't understand this. The illustrations make clever use of color. Scenes set in Rosalind's sixteenth year are in different shades of purple, Lydia's in orange, and Mei Laan's in teal. As the family slowly comes to better understand one another, we see pops of orange and teal appear in Rosalind's world, signaling a newfound sense of connection...continued
Full Review
(624 words)
(Reviewed by Jillian Bell).
In Age 16 by Rosena Fung, we see body image issues play out across generations. Characters make disapproving comments about their daughters' bodies or encourage them to diet because they think they are being helpful. Lydia models diet culture for her daughter by criticizing her own body and openly counting calories.
As is apparent in the novel's depiction of these issues in multiple eras and settings, from Guangdong to Hong Kong to Toronto, body dissatisfaction can exist across cultures. However, research shows it is especially persistent in wealthy countries with a more consumption-focused lifestyle. A study found that African immigrants to Europe took a more negative view of their bodies than Africans in Africa did. In Western...
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Idealism increases in direct proportion to one's distance from the problem.
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Deb JJ Lee, creator of In Limbo
Age 16 is a needed reminder that we are all echoes from wartimes and generations past, a crucial addition to the AAPI graphic memoir collective. Painful but kind, holistic without stretching too thin, this book will live in my head for a long time.
