Title: The Magic Fish by Trun Le Nguyen
Book Beginnings:
Friday56:
Summary: Real life isn't a fairy tale but these are the library books Tiến enjoys reading out loud to his parents. It is hard to communicate with parents when you are a teenager but it is doubly hard when there your parents struggle to understand English. So how does one tell your parents you are gay when a language barrier exists?
Review: I saw some good reviews of this graphic novel by a very talented artist, Trung Le Nguyen, and thought I'd best check it out. What I liked about the story was the way that fairy tales were woven into the story line of a lonely boy hoping to communicate something very important to his parents. Many of the fairy tales were Vietnamese adaptions on Grimm or Hans Christian Anderson tales but others were ones I wasn't familiar with at all. Sometimes I couldn't really tell what happened in the tale. Did that person really come back to life? Why did they need to dig up the bones? What happened next? What I didn't like about the book was my confusion about the age of the characters. From the drawings Tiến seems to be around ten and his mother looks like she is about fifteen. The drama in his life was never fully flushed out, though I did understand there was a lot of it.
After reading this graphic novel I hopped over to Goodreads and took a peek at others' reviews and didn't find many (any) that agreed with me about the problems I found with the illustrations or the story line. I guess I may not be the best person to review a graphic novel since I read so few of them each year. I'd love to know what you think of this format or of this book specifically.
-Anne
I haven't read any graphic novels. Looks interesting.
ReplyDeleteLooks like a lot of fun! Happy weekend!
ReplyDeleteI have never read a graphic novel, but I do sometimes equate the idea of them with the comic books I once loved. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteI see how you'd have to be on the look out for subtle clues. For example, I wasn't sure who that was in the first panel until I noticed the person had on the same jacket as the one on the cover. I guess reading graphic novels is an art.
ReplyDeleteI enjoy a good graphic novel. I'll have to check this one out. Thank you for sharing!
ReplyDeleteI love that second page you shared. The couple popping out like that. I haven't read this one, but you have me curious. I don't read a lot of graphic novels, but I do enjoy them from time to time. Like you, I don't think I'm good at reviewing them. Although I think part of my problem is I am all about the story and sometimes don't give the art as much attention as it deserves.
ReplyDeleteI have to admit that I don't read graphic novels, as I guess I will only really ever think of, and treat them like, the traditional comics I can remember from my youth, in respect of their written content value.
ReplyDeleteI do however have great admiration for the graphic novel artists, who I think on the whole have an amazing talent, and totally opposite to the 'Literary Feline', I will always spend my time scrutinising the artwork rather then the storyline!
It's good that we are all so diverse and don't necessarily see things around us in quite the same way as the next person :)
Stay Safe
Yvonne xx
Sounds like a good one. I really need to read more graphic novels. Thanks for sharing! Hope you have a great weekend! :)
ReplyDeleteI was just thinking earlier today that I want to read more graphic novels this year and up pops your review! The illustrations look really good in this one.
ReplyDeleteOooh, I've seen this graphic novel around and was curious about it! Shame it didn't quite work for you. I think I'll have to check it out, though. I love the panels you shared, and the artwork is rather charming!
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