Book Review: The Magic Fish by Trung Le Nguyen

 

 

Title: The Magic Fish

Author: Trung Le Nguyen

Release Date: 13 October 2020

Page Amount: 229 pages

GoodReads 

StoryGraph 

Blurb:

Tiến loves his family and his friends...but Tiến has a secret he's been keeping from them, and it might change everything. An amazing YA graphic novel that deals with the complexity of family and how stories can bring us together. 

Real life isn't a fairytale. 

But Tiến still enjoys reading his favorite stories with his parents from the books he borrows from the local library. It's hard enough trying to communicate with your parents as a kid, but for Tiến, he doesn't even have the right words because his parents are struggling with their English. Is there a Vietnamese word for what he's going through? 

Is there a way to tell them he's gay? 

A beautifully illustrated story by Trung Le Nguyen that follows a young boy as he tries to navigate life through fairytales, an instant classic that shows us how we are all connected. The Magic Fish tackles tough subjects in a way that accessible with readers of all ages, and teaches us that no matter what--we can all have our own happy endings.

Review:

I love a graphic novel. I also love fairy tales, and I thought the concept of this one sounded very interesting. There were parts of this that got a lot darker than I thought it would be; the fairy tale part, that is. Not at all a bad thing, just something to maybe keep in mind. 

I liked the art and that it had a color language to it. Each of the storylines, so to speak, were in a mostly monochromatic tone, and I thought that was very cool. For example. the when Tiến is reading the fairy tales, they are in a purple color scheme.
I always think it's interesting to see different versions of fairy tales so I liked that aspect to this. I thought the ending was very good, as well, but don't want to say why as that would give it away. ;) 

3.75 quills