The Magic Fish by Trung Le Nguyen

 

I found The Magic Fish by Trung Le Nguyen on one of those Amazon "other customers also purchased" lists that are so dangerous to my wallet. A quick scan of the synopsis revealed that it was a middle grades graphic novel that incorporated folklore and fairy tales. That was enough reason to pick it up for me, so into my cart it went last month. I decided to give it a try before continuing on with the next Mistborn novel (in other words, before launching into another dense, over-700-page-long test of endurance). I was hoping for a quick, sweet read. Happily, that was what I got.

The plot of the novel follows a young Vietnamese boy named Tiến who lives with his mom and dad in a small American town. His dad works a lot, so he is often at the office, but he and his mother are very close. The spend a lot of time reading old fairytale and folklore books from the library, which helps his mother learn English and gives them a nice bonding time. His life is pretty normal, but one thing has been troubling him lately--he's gay and doesn't know how to break the news to his parents. There's not even a word for it in Vietnamese, so he feels lost and nervous as to how they will react. 

At the same time, his mother is struggling with her sad memories of fleeing Vietnam when she was a young woman. She had to leave her family behind when she came to America and misses them desperately. She's had to wait to become an American citizen before traveling there to visit, and now that she's done that, she just needs to save up a bit more money to make the trip. Her mother is ill though, and she isn't sure how much longer she can wait.

Both Tiến and his mother are comforted through the stories they read to each other. Even though they don't directly talk much about what troubles them, they are able to reach out through the folklore, changing bits and pieces of the plots sometimes to reflect their current needs. Ultimately, the stories help them both come to terms with their worries and grow closer as a family.

This book was magical, and I really loved it. Tiến and his mother's stories were both emotional and uplifting, and Nguyen's beautiful illustrations were the perfect complement to them. The novel uses a color coding system to help differentiate between the current day, character memories, and pieces of the stories that Tiến and his mother read. The current day is shown in red panels, memories are shown in yellow, and the stories are shown in blue. This helps make the action easier to follow, and keeps the story accessible to younger readers. The drawing style is simple, but very pretty. The pictures illustrating the folklore were particularly beautiful, and I found myself pausing my reading frequently to examine the details. 

The themes of the story were beautiful as well, with message about acceptance and family taking center stage. I also really liked the idea of using traditional tales to reach out and connect with others. There is a reason that folklore endures across time and place. These types of stories tap into all the struggles and triumphs that come with being human. Using them like Tiến and his family do--changing them relate to their own, modern problems--is a natural and lovely thing to do, and I really enjoyed how Nguyen wove these into the text.

For a book that I picked up on a whim while browsing online, I was very pleasantly surprised by how much I ended up liking this. The Magic Fish is a wonderful pick for adults or younger readers. It's become a new favorite for me and has rooted itself firmly in my heart. I'm going to end up recommending this to everyone I can, because a story this moving and emotional deserves to be shared. 

Challenge Tally

Middle Grade Mission: 11/24

Total Books Read in 2022: 27