Quiet Girl in a Noisy World

January 1, 2018
Growing up, Tung felt shy and socially awkward and alienated because of it. Her coming-of-age graphic memoir shares her evolving understanding of her introvertedness as well as the methods she, now a well-adjusted and still-introverted adult, has developed to cope in a world that seems to more readily reward socially gracious extroverts. In this format, watery black-ink comics fairly typically divided into frames and occasional whole-page illustrations, Tung tells her story relatably and with an easy good humor. When an uncomfortable date ends earlier than anticipated, for instance, Tung trades halting speech for visible wisps of relief. Her cartoons introduce with clarity the concept of her social battery: what depletes it, how to recharge it, how much harder everything is when it's nearing empty. Though there is plenty for introverts and people with social anxiety to identify with here, this is above all Tung's personal story. This is a perfect way to learn more about personality traits that, by their very nature, can be difficult to publicly articulate.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)