The Magic Fish (2020)

Okay, I loved this graphic novel. It’s fitting that I talked about Cinderella last week, because The Magic Fish dives into the importance of fairytales, including the Cinderella story, and explores different versions of them that emerge in various cultures. It’s also a beautiful, semi-autobiographical story about love and family.

Tiến loves his mom and the afternoons they spend together, him reading fairytales to help her practice her English as she does sewing work. They bond over the beauty and magic of the stories even as there are certain connections they struggle to make—Tiến’s mom can’t fully express how tough it is for her to be away from Vietnam, and while Tiến wants to come out to her, he doesn’t even know the Vietnamese word for “gay.”

That summary doesn’t really do the book justice. It’s such a lovely, gentle story about a boy figuring out who he is, a woman struggling to define herself away from the beloved home she had to leave, and a mother and son reaching across language, experience, and understanding to love each other. The graphic novel speaks volumes in the things that are unsaid, filling the silence with soft, emotional artwork that cuts through the characters’ reticence to show you their hearts.

Speaking of the artwork, I really like the monochromatic style, which shifts colors to denote different settings. The present-day scenes are all in red, while the fairytales Tiến reads with his mom are in blue and her memories of Vietnam are in yellow. In addition to reminding me of Hero, it’s a great way to follow the story as it slips without fanfare from one to another. Especially with the flashbacks, there are instances where just one or two panels surface as something Tiến reads reminds his mom of her past, and the yellow color scheme instantly denotes that we’re in her memories.

I’ve always liked how similar fairytales emerge across cultures, and I enjoy the way that this book explores takes on Cinderella and The Little Mermaid that hit the same story beats in different ways. I also love how the use of fairytales informs the characters. During their reading time, we see how both Tiến and his mom are affected at different times by moments in the stories, and the fairytales allow them to speak to each other in ways that their only partially-shared language struggles to. Simply gorgeous.

Warnings

Dark imagery, frightening moments, and strong thematic elements.