Reviews tagging 'Colonisation'

The Magic Fish by Trung Le Nguyen

9 reviews

tinyjude's review against another edition

dark emotional lighthearted reflective fast-paced

• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

A really beautiful book that focuses on the relationship between a mother and her son, language barriers, feeling isolated and not truly belonging to one place due to forceful migration and colonisation; and how they are able to understand and support each other through fairy tails such as Cinderella and The Little Mermaid. It was beautiful and fascinating to see the different depictions of the same tale depending on the cultural context. The colour palette was used with such creativity, helping the reader identify the past (yellow), the present (red) and the stories within the main story (blue) with complexity and beautiful details. I found myself instantly attached to the characters and the story. It was beautifully crafted and it couldn't come to me in a most precious and sad time to help me too.

The tale she narrates to her child at the end couldn't have been better. I was sobbing and wrecked. So touching.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Homophobia, Outing, Animal death, and Child death

Moderate: Grief, Genocide, Colonisation, Xenophobia, and War

Minor: Blood and Gore

meganpbell's review against another edition

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!

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence, Murder, Terminal illness, Colonisation, Child abuse, Death of parent, Grief, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, and Animal death

indeedithappens's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective sad 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

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Abandonment, Blood, Classism, Domestic abuse, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Xenophobia, Colonisation, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Hate crime, Grief, Murder, Physical abuse, and Violence

pointeshoebookworm's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring sad 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? N/A

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Homophobia, Death of parent, and War

Minor: Death, Hate crime, and Colonisation

ellornaslibrary's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad 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

5.0

I had been looking at this graphic novel for awhile. The cover was always just so captivating it always drew my eye when popping up in recommendations, but I couldn’t get ahold of it at my library. Then I managed to get ahold of it this much just in time for a very important readathon - it is called Asian Readathon and is ran by Cindy (withcindy on YouTube); definitely check it out - and I’m so happy I was reminded of this book in time cause it is so, so good. Even made me cry a bit.

The art is stunning, and the way the stories of the mother and son are told through a mixture of their real world experience combined with the messages of fairytales is brilliant. I especially loved the information given by the author, Trung Le Nguyen, after the acknowledgements on his inspiration for both this important story he was telling as well as the comparison of graphic novels to a hybrid language.

I will give a warning though that as this is also a story about an LGQBTIA+ kid struggling with his identity in the 90s that there is a brief reference to the horrible, tragic murder of Matthew Shephard which was a big topic in the media at that time in regards to hate crimes and definitely relevant to the fears of coming out. There is also in regards to the immigration part of the story as far as mentions of loss of a parent & re-education(there might be some others I missed). I wanted anyone going into this graphic novel to be as informed as possible in case they aren’t able to handle it or need preparation to be able to do so.

Even so, I still think this is a beautiful story worth reading and highly recommend it.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief

Moderate: Death of parent

Minor: Outing, Hate crime, Religious bigotry, Homophobia, and Colonisation

I wasn’t sure if there were content warning tags appropriate for the mention of re-education and having to flee your country the way that is depicted. If so, please let me know so I might add them to my review.

abookwormspov's review against another edition

emotional 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

3.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Blood, Cancer, Homophobia, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Cannibalism, Outing, Physical abuse, Bullying, Medical content, Body horror, Gaslighting, Grief, Chronic illness, Murder, Death of parent, Colonisation, Death, and Terminal illness

chaoticnostalgia's review against another edition

hopeful reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Homophobia, Religious bigotry, Death, Death of parent, Murder, and Animal death

Minor: Colonisation and War

finesilkflower's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

A gentle relationship story between a boy and his mother, who primarily speak different languages but share the common language of stories, is interwoven with fairy tale retellings that comment on the framing story in complex and nuanced ways. Gorgeously drawn, with delicate intricate linework that reminds me of shojo manga, fashion illustration, and Perrault fairy tales. There is so much detail and thoughtfulness in the visual language; read the afterword for some behind-the-scenes info that will enhance your understanding of it. 

This story is a great example of a specific tone that I love, where it's made up of small low-key moments - characters hanging out together, the kid goes to a dance, etc. The emotional tension of the story is anchored and rooted in the seriousness of the characters' struggles (e.g. immigrant experience, the fear of coming out), but it's ultimately sweet and hopeful. 

 A+ beautiful princess dress content. 

---

Content Warnings

Minor: Colonisation, Death of parent, Homophobia, and Religious bigotry

laurajones's review against another edition

emotional hopeful medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Death of parent, and Grief

Moderate: Murder, Terminal illness, and War

Minor: Animal death, Animal cruelty, Colonisation, Domestic abuse, and Pedophilia