This was such a stunning story, both in terms of the writing and illustrations! I loved seeing how the fairy tales in some ways reflected the story taking place in our main characters narratives, it was such a clever way to go about telling the story. While it is a very slice of life story, throughout it you uncover a lot of layers and history within our main characters family. I'm excited for Trung Le Nguyen to release more works in the future, because this was excellent from beginning to end. 506 s Romie1,141 1,368

*cries in queer vietnamese*2020-releases asian-rep contemporary ...more427 s Kai SpellmeierAuthor 7 books14.7k

"Joy is a precious thing. And precious things are few. So we learn to hold on to them."

This was the most amazing graphic novel. It's a fairytale retelling, a coming out story, a story about immigration and communication and love.

Ti?n is 13, has a crush on his best friend Julian, and loves to read fairytales with his mother. In school we see him spend time with his friends, battling his teachers’ homophobia and going to school dances. Back home we see the tender relationship between Ti?n and his mother blossom. Not only is it stunningly drawn, it also merges history - Ti?n's mum's escape from post-war Vietnam and her return almost a decade later - with magic in the form of original reinterpretations of popular fairytale classics. The result is magnificent and powerful.

The Magic Fish discusses so many things with so few words and brushstrokes and I'm in awe of the nuance and beauty captured between these pages.

Find more of my books on Instagramowned queer243 s s.penkevich1,201 9,521


‘We tell ourselves stories in order to live,’ wrote Joan Didion. Stories help us contextualize the world around us and at a young age has been shown to shape our empathy and help us grow. The Magic Fish by Trung Le Nguyen is a stellar graphic novel that shows the interplay between life and literature and the ways storytelling can empower and shape us. The book follows Ti?n and his family through a period of griefs and struggles centering around familial relationships. As a first generation American born to Vietnamese refugees, the language barrier between him and his parents is a daunting obstacle in his plan to come out to them as gay and meanwhile his mother is processing her grief over her aging and ill mother she hasn’t seen since she left Vietnam. To help them process the sadnesses of life, they read Vietnamese fairytales to each other, and the three retellings here probe deeper into the psychology of their lives through brilliant juxtaposition of the interwoven narratives. The beautifully intricate artwork and heartfelt storytelling sends the reader on an emotional investigation of generational traumas, alienation, and queer struggles through a stunning portrayal of an immigrant family trying their best to reach and love one another.

‘Joy is a precious thing. And precious things are few. So we learn to hold on to them’

This graphic novel is a real emotional deep dive that manages to remain shimmering with beauty even through the darkest moments. The fairy tales, retellings of Vietnamese versions such as Cinderella or The Little Mermaid, feel fresh and exciting but perfectly compliment the current lives of the characters. An empathetic reader often packs the stories they are currently obsessing over into their lives and personalities a bit, which is a notion I’ve often felt and truly comes alive here. Reading a book you are engrossed in becomes a pair of colored sunglasses that temporarily tint the world with its atmosphere. The Magic Fish reminds us of that and explores the way storytelling can have a healing power and help us see more clearly when we step outside ourselves and view it as a story.

Trung Le Nguyen approaches the character’s lives with the slightest of touches, entering their struggles and griefs without dwelling too much which leaves so much of the deeper understanding to grow within the readers mind an emotional participant. There is a playfulness and soft whimsicality threaded through the book that paces out relief from the ever growing tensions. Threading is what this book does best, with each narrative drawn in one of three hues to denote if it is their life, the stories they read, or a memory. The yellow memory frames crop up to seamlessly thread timelines and, which they are sparse and only offer hints, completely expand your understanding and deliver some of the strongest emotional punches.

The use of color allows multiple narratives to interact on the page in cool and dynamic ways.

There is a lot going on here, with generational struggles, language barriers and a coming out that sparks the ire of a teacher. Ti?n is sent to a priest and the shame of being gay is attempted to be forced upon him, but the balance between the acceptance of his friends really makes this a comforting and empowering queer narrative that doens’t shirk away from the problems of acceptance. It becomes a form of alienation from the general public--one that claims to want everyone to integrate but then pushes people away for their identities--as a parallel to the alienation his parents feel as refugees in new place with only a modest grasp on the language. This is a story that is sure to spark empathy and leave you thinking about many forms of identity, perfectly handled in a way that will resonate and stick with the YA audience it is aimed at but equally as powerful to adult readers.

A truly magical and beautiful book about the power of storytelling and the struggles of living, The Magic Fish is a massive success. Also it is perfect for Pride Month, so definitely check it out!

4.5/5

graphic_novel lgbtq ya148 s daph pink ? 1,074 2,907

4 stars ? ??

The book was breathtaking beautiful. The art and illustrations are lovely and intricate.

It made me laugh and cry at the same time. It was innocent and sweet and at the same time portrays the aggression experienced by immigrants and queer people. And that ending was so sweet. I hugged my mom so hard after reading that.

The fairy tales with Asian twists was cherry on cake for me.asian-authors graphic-books-comics queer93 s may ?511 2,377

it is 12pm on a Friday and here I am weeping in bed over this story... this was [clenches fist] so good

4.5 stars, rtc4-and-a-half-star contemporary ebook ...more83 s anna650 1,934

rep: Vietnamese-American gay mc, Vietnamese mc, Vietnamese characters, sapphic characters
tw: cannibalism, off page death, on page death, murder, blood, homophobia

ARC provided by the publisher.

It’s a simple story at the first glance but don’t be fooled, there’s so much going on here, you’ll be thinking about The Magic Fish for days. And the book does an excellent job of accentuating different arcs, different story lines: the present is drawn in red, the past in yellow, and the fairy tales in blue. 

But the stories and colors intertwine; sometimes there’s a single blue panel between a page of red to make you realise how the protagonist thinks about something. The faces are also the same ones across the present/past and the fairy tales. Because, really, our lives can be just as magical. 

There’s talk of escaping from your own homeland so you can live safely, of pain caused by living on foreign soil far away from everything & everyone you know and love, of feeling disconnected from your own flesh & blood because you grew up in vastly different circumstances, of… At its core, though, The Magic Fish is a story about love.

Everything in this graphic novel only happens because someone loved another person and would do anything to protect them. There are different shades of it, different ways of showing it. Sometimes we can just say “I love you”, sometimes our love language is just small everyday life actions.

You could write a whole dissertation about the use of color in The Magic Fish, the use of fairy tales to tell a present-day story, the use of characters designs to help the reader make the right connections. But at the end of the day, all of those amazing artistic choices are there to make you feel, and this book will make you cry.1-contemporary 3-authors-lgbt 3-authors-poc ...more65 s Kelsey (munnyreads)76 5,788

Beautifully written, visually enchanting, and a final page to hit you right in the feels.
Absolutely brilliant.2022-favorites63 s CW ?708 1,807

This is a masterpiece and I am in awe of the art, the storytelling, the tenderness, the love... I am but a potato, crying her potato eyes out over this book.

I don't even think I can review this, other than it's about how love transcends everything, about hope and second chances, about grief and heartache, about stories and reality. The Magic Fish is just. a work of Art.

Please read this, and then come cry with me. 53 s Nenia ? I yeet my books back and forth ? CampbellAuthor 56 books19.9k


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It's AAPI month and I've been trying to read as many Asian-authored books on my Kindle as possible. THE MAGIC FISH was a book I was really excited about because it's a graphic-novel that interweaves fantasy with the story of a boy's coming of age.



Tien is the son of Vietnamese immigrants. His parents are loving, but they had to struggle for and give up a lot to become U.S. citizens, and their English isn't very good. Sometimes, it feels there is an emotional barrier between him and them, because Tien feels his struggles are nothing compared to theirs. He also knows he's gay and he's afraid of coming out to his parents and having him reject that or not accept him.



In between all of this, we see Tien and his parents and friends interact on a day to day basis, interwoven with all of these beautiful fairytales, Cinderella or the Little Mermaid, but with a little twist. It's fascinating how the stories parallel the events going on in the main timeline and I just loved how intricate that was.



This is such a beautifully emotional book. It made me tear up several times. Sometimes the fairytales could be a little horrific-- especially the Cinderella one towards the end-- but I think a lot of fairytales are pretty morbid. Tien was a very likable character and so were his mom and dad. I really d when we started getting these little snippets that showed them as people, outside of being parents.



What a beautiful, haunting read.



4.5 starsbest-young-adult-books fairytale-retelling graphic-nouvelle ...more50 s Thomas1,631 10.1k

I thought this graphic novel was cute! I d the affirming though not simplistic themes of communication across culture and language barriers in families, queerness, and the use of narratives and fairytales to process big feelings. I most appreciate how Trung Le Nguyen avoided the stereotype of Asian American parents as intrinsically homophobic or socially conservative. I wanted more substance from the story itself, a richer or more textured plot and character development, though I respect what Nguyen pulled off. Reading this made me nostalgic for my perhaps favorite young adult graphic novel, the super queer and friendship-oriented Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up With Me by Mariko Tamaki, as well as for one of my first favorite gay young adult novels Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe (which I read and reviewed over a decade ago now, wow)!fantasy graphic-novel lgbtq ...more47 s Steph640 396

when i started reading the magic fish, i was struck by the similarity between the art here and the art in my tarot deck, the star spinner tarot. then i realized the deck artist, trungles, is none other than author trung le nguyen!! one and the same!!

the star spinner tarot art is close to my heart, so needless to say, i absolutely adore this book's art as well. it's absolutely beautiful. so dreamy and evocative, and somehow both classic and fresh.



i also love the book's shifting color palettes as the story goes back and forth between the deep indigo fairytale world, the yellowed past, and the vibrant reddish present. it's a joy to dip back and forth between these worlds.

trung's author's note talks about immigrant experiences, and his goal to write a small story about a vietnamese american mother and son's connection. helen and tien bond over dark, interesting versions of classic fairytales, and it's absolutely lovely.

also, tien's gay crush is the purest thing ever! despite the dreadful indications of homophobia in tien's world, and strife of helen's past in vietnam, the book remains remarkably tender and soft. i suppose it's a fairytale in that way. the horrible twisted things are there, but love and tenderness prevail
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