A review by leduyhxxng
The Magic Fish by Trung Le Nguyen

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective relaxing sad fast-paced

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

5.0

This graphic novel felt like drinking, sharing sweet lemonade with your family in the summer heat (given that none of them is dysfunctional). Often, stories about Vietnamese immigrants tend to preoccupy with the war, the displacement, and the traumas in their wake, without so much as a suggestion for what comes after. (Because life continues.) And thus, to read a story where characters try to move on, to love, to accept, even when it means "to break from tradition, and make do with what she knows [they know]," is a very refreshing narrative, especially when it was created with so much love, and visual as well as literary elegance.