Morgan's Reviews > The Magic Fish

Magic Fish — 5 ★

How we met: I went to a local bookstore with a friend a few months ago.

It was acutally my first time visiting in-person since the pandemic. I knew I was well stocked on books at home, and honestly had no intention of buying a book (pah, I know you all laughed or shook your heads reading that). Naturally, I got through the *entire hour* of book shopping *without* picking up a *single book,* but then right by the register I saw this beautiful book.

I opened it, closed it. Went to pay $17.23 and went on my way.

My Thoughts: Magic Fish is Trung Le Nguyen's debut illustrated work. At first glance this book is the story of a young Vietnamese boy, Tiê’n, and his mother Helen, who have (over the many years) created a norm of reading stories & fairy tales to one another. What started as a way to better learn English, is now a means to bridge their hybrid languages — the English Tiê’n has grown up with, and the Vietnamese his mother and father still rely on.

This is a story about trying to tell someone who you are when you don't know the words.

This is an Immigrant Story, a Queer Story and a Fairy Tale Story.

And really that's all I want to say about the story itself. Just go read it.

What I really want to focus on is how much intention went into every aspect of this graphic "comic."

From the fairy tales Nguyen chooses, to which character is telling *that particular story* & how it mirrors their own personal story (which is explained at the end of the book).

But it doesn't stop there, even the illustration styles echo the characters' personal experiences from Tiê’n, a young boy growing up in the 90s American Midwest; to his mother Helen who grew up in post-war Vietnam; and lastly, her aunt who remembers the time before the war.

This book is a weaving of story, languages, and how we use both to connect with others as well as understand our place in the world.

I'm still struck by the way Nguyen shows the compatibility of this hybrid "English-Vietnamese" language the characters are using THROUGH the use of his graphics which combine their own two "languages'': Text and Image.

This in itself is yet another foil to further support Nguyen's personal experience & belief that these natural hybrid languages, common among immigrant communities, are "the sound of people from very different worlds doing their best to come together and make each other feel at home."

As someone who spent much of their graduate experience examining stories (hermeneutics) — how they change, how they are told from one culture & community to the next — this book really stood out in the profound freedom and agency it gives stories in their ability to change when they need to.

Spot on Shelf? Yes. unequivocally, Yes. And you should add it to yours too.