Viola in Reel Life

Viola in Reel Life
By Adriana Trigiani
HarperTeen, 2009. 282 pgs. Young Adult

Having read many of Trigiani’s adult novels, I was intrigued to see how she would do with a Teen fiction novel.

Viola is a single child living in Brooklyn, New York whose parents send her to boarding school in South Bend, Indiana after getting hired to work on a documentary film in Afghanistan. Viola, who has never been good with change, feels completely abandoned by her parents and has resolved that nothing will make her happy. She quickly writes off her new roommates until she realizes that she needs them in order to keep from being a total social pariah.

Through the help of her (too sensitive to be realistic) roommates and Viola’s own passion for filmmaking she is able to accept the loss of her beloved home town and parents, get her first boyfriend and first kiss, and really begin to feel at home in Indiana.

This is a sweet story about a young woman taking her first steps toward discovering who she is and who and what matters in her life. It does not have the depth of character that Trigiani’s other works contain, but still a fun, quick read.

AJ