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A review by literarypenguin
The Magic Fish by Trung Le Nguyen
emotional
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
5.0
At first glance this seems like such a simple story but dont be fooled. Underneath this story has so many things going on & so many layers. It is definitely a story I will not be forgetting anytime soon.
13 year old Tien has a crush on his best friend Julien. A son of two Vietnamese immigrants, Tien finds himself struggling how to tell his mother and father that he is gay. At school, he goes to dances, socializes with his friends & deals with homophobia from his teachers. When he goes home one of his favorite things is reading fairy tales with his parents. His mother, a Vietnamese woman who grew up in post war Vietnam, went through many sacrifices to come to America and live the life she wanted. She deals with missing her home & returning a decade later & seeing how it grew and changed.
The writing and illustrating were beautiful to see. It flowed so beautifully & I loved seeing how the fairytales were interwoven with what was going on in the story. I thought that was a great way to tell the story. I really liked the use of the fairytales and how they were retold. Learning about a culture through stories was great & showing the history of a country & how it changes and adapts.
I really liked this graphic novel & can not wait to see more amazing works from Trung Le Nguyen in the future.
13 year old Tien has a crush on his best friend Julien. A son of two Vietnamese immigrants, Tien finds himself struggling how to tell his mother and father that he is gay. At school, he goes to dances, socializes with his friends & deals with homophobia from his teachers. When he goes home one of his favorite things is reading fairy tales with his parents. His mother, a Vietnamese woman who grew up in post war Vietnam, went through many sacrifices to come to America and live the life she wanted. She deals with missing her home & returning a decade later & seeing how it grew and changed.
The writing and illustrating were beautiful to see. It flowed so beautifully & I loved seeing how the fairytales were interwoven with what was going on in the story. I thought that was a great way to tell the story. I really liked the use of the fairytales and how they were retold. Learning about a culture through stories was great & showing the history of a country & how it changes and adapts.
I really liked this graphic novel & can not wait to see more amazing works from Trung Le Nguyen in the future.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Grief
Moderate: Homophobia
Minor: Blood