Reviews

The Magical Imperfect by Chris Baron

arp363's review against another edition

hopeful inspiring 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

4.0

Novel-In-Verse

bookdragon_library's review against another edition

5.0

This book was an amazing surprise and a 5 star read for me. I couldn’t put it down. I’ve read a lot of Novels in Verse recently and often find them written in normal sounding sentences but just laid out like a poem on the page with short lines. However, the language of this book was captivating and felt like poetry to me. I’m torn on if it is pure historical fiction because there are some potentially “magical” twists. This is a true own voices book with the author being Jewish like the main character Etan and his wife being Filipino with eczema like the other main character Malia. Etan’s mom had severe depression and went to a psychiatric hospital and Etan suffered from mutism as a result. It was such a layered story with relationships and dynamics and themes of immigration and underlying bias. All set against the backdrop of the 1989 Earthquake in the San Francisco area. There is a wonderful Author's note at the back describing the inspiration for the story and characters.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the free eARC in exchange for an honest review.

neffcannon's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring 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? Yes

4.25

jennifer1001's review against another edition

emotional reflective

4.0

mandajoyful's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative inspiring fast-paced

4.0

zoya7's review against another edition

Wait
It's written in VERSE????
_________________________

DNF @ 40%
I just don't enjoy novels written in verse...

How I Rate -
5 stars - Unputdownable, and it was perfection
4 stars - Brilliant, but a little something was missing
3 stars - Decent
2 stars - Mediocre at best
1 star - Terrible
DNF - Won't rate unless I've read more than half the book

barberchicago_books's review against another edition

5.0

A historical fiction novel written in verse, Chris Baron’s The Magical Imperfect is a lovely story of friendship, acceptance, and community.

Etan, the protagonist, meets Malia. While both have different background and different things with which they struggle, they have a common thread of their family histories. Baron does a beautiful job of tying together the histories of immigrant who arrived in San Francisco from all over the world for a variety of reasons.

I also loved the setting of the story. I vividly remember 1989 (how can that be *historical*?!

librarianaaryn's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful medium-paced

3.75