Reviews tagging 'Violence'

The Magic Fish by Trung Le Nguyen

53 reviews

koreanlinda's review

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adventurous hopeful inspiring reflective sad fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

The artwork in this book is amazingly beautiful, and the writer's alternating colors for reality and fantasy add to its aesthetic. 

The story falls short for adult readers though. This book is clearly for young adults, and the story lacked the depth to be believable to the level of my satisfaction. For example, Tien's mother is fully accepting of his queerness when he comes out to her; however, the story provides no context in which she might have learned about LGBTQ identities. After fleeing the war in Vietnam and working 24/7 with limited English in the US, it is hard to imagine that she had a chance to read much about the LGBTQ community. This resolution makes the book quite idealist and open to debate whether it is beneficial or not for queer YA readers. It can be beneficial by giving them hope about how parents' unconditional love can play out; however, many of them might have a hard time relating to Tien's experience. 

One aspect that I enjoyed of the story is the author's reimagination of classic fairy tales such as Cinderella and The Little Mermaid. In the new versions, the author integrates elements from Vietnamese culture and queer community.

Review by Linda (Any Pronouns) in September 2024
Personal essays on DefinitelyNotOkay.com
Artwork on Instagram @KoreanLinda 
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starrynox's review

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emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

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i_like_books123's review

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slow-paced

1.0

It was a looooooooot darker then I thought, see my contact warnings to see what I mean.
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chalchiuhtli's review

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emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

A masterful story woven with metaphor, a tale of how tales serve as their own language when the languages you speak don’t have the words you need. Very layered and beautiful narrative expressed in layered and beautiful artwork.
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tinkeringcheck's review

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challenging emotional reflective sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

Beautiful and surprisingly layered intergenerational story woven between fairy tales and a real family, but I personally should've minded the content warnings. All of the fairy tales have a more Grimm than Disney edge (and the author's note in the end about their influences was fascinating), but one in particular went pretty dark with animal death, cannibalism, abuse, and murder. Still, the art and story are gorgeously done even if it didn't end up being for me.
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the_world_is_quiet_here's review

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emotional hopeful inspiring sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

A beautiful read that I would highly recommend for tweens-young adults. I am 25 and I really enjoyed it
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sapphic_alpaca's review

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adventurous emotional hopeful
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

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readbykatherine's review

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emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

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cahypa's review

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emotional reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? N/A
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

Gorgeous art and storytelling. I took my time with this one. I’d love to read more of this author’s work.
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meganpbell's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Through luminous and enchanting fairy tale retellings, the young American-born Tiến connects with his mother, who emigrated from Vietnam, as he struggles to come out to her. What a thoroughly enchanting, quietly moving, and engagingly beautiful tale, touching on so many aspects of the queer and immigrant experiences in such powerful and transformative ways!
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