Reviews tagging 'Animal cruelty'

The Magic Fish by Trung Le Nguyen

19 reviews

tilo's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Beautiful story - both visuals and narrative. I loved the way the fairy tales were woven into the story and I appreciated the afterword of the author explaining the choices made to the tales.
I found it fascinating how the story dealt with the issue of coming out. It was underlining the story and certainly was a driving force, but it showed a refreshing complexity around it. Although the author says that "language" was intended to be the focus, I felt there were many other intriguing and arguably more present key aspects such as grief that I was compelled to see play out in this heart-warming story.
The story of the mother was not "overshadowed" by the coming-out story of the son but had enough spotlight to show how guilt, diaspora, and feelings of displacement all make up an intriguing story of migration. I valued that a lot in this story as it gave a clear perspective on the parent's end without needing the (in my opiniom) overplayed and somewhat problematic trope of the parent who "just needs time" to figure out how to deal with the news of having a gay child. The mother's story, therefore, was captivating and to me, is the best part of the narrative.

The ending was perfect, showing a simple yet powerful way of showing acceptance to your kid despite having a lack of words or means to verbalize it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Grief, Cannibalism, Murder, and Outing

Moderate: Body horror, Child abuse, Homophobia, Blood, Religious bigotry, and Death of parent

Minor: Domestic abuse

Due to the nature of fairy tales, this book has a bit of gore and some images could potentially be a bit too graphic for younger readers.

lunarxcross's review against another edition

reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Blood, Grief, Cannibalism, and Death of parent

lifeonasofa's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

The Magic Fish 🐟 Review

Real life isn’t a fairy tale. In fairy tales, the prince falls in love with the princess. But Tien had a different story to tell. His parents are refugees struggling to learn English, and he doesn’t know how to come out to them in Vietnamese. If he doesn’t even have the right words, how can he ever known if his parents will accept him? 💕

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 4.5 Stars 

STUNNING STORY! I was mesmerised by the way fairy tales were used in this book to move the story forward. The illustrations were SO beautiful and colours used, so simple and clever! With language being a barrier for Tien, this graphic novel captured the story perfectly. 🎨

The relationships were everything in this story. Tien and his mother, his parents, his friendships and his family across the pond. They were so heartwarmingly powerful and necessary when both Tien and his mother felt lost in this world. 🥰

Heads up, this is a really emotional read, check triggers. Some of the illustrations during fairy tale retellings are a little gory. But the representation in this book *chefs kiss* I can hear all the queer hearts singing around the world. 🌈

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Suicide, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Grief, Cannibalism, Religious bigotry, Murder, and Outing

temporarilyhuman's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Blood, Grief, Cannibalism, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, and Outing

laurajones's review against another edition

emotional hopeful medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Grief, and Death of parent

Moderate: Terminal illness, Murder, and War

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Domestic abuse, Pedophilia, and Colonisation

armontheroad's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

A stunning graphic novel that ripped out my heart!! I would love to read more volumes with these characters. The art was beautiful! The use of color to show when we were in the present day, the past, and following stories from fairytales was a brilliant decision. I read this in one sitting with a box of tissues at the ready. Everyone should read this!!

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Blood, Grief, and Murder

Minor: Hate crime

olafsl0stcarrot's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Homophobia, and Grief

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Blood and Cannibalism

oliverreeds's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

I LOVED this graphic novel. it was a little slow getting started, but it really picked up after that. i loved the way this book intertwined the story of a family with the fairy tales and showed how important they were to the family. i honestly think that the stories were balanced incredibly well and that the author masterfully interweaved them. the characters were all so distinct and lovely. the conflict was built so well. i would recommend this to anyone. i also loved how the text was used in this story in conjuction with the art.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Blood, Grief, and Death of parent

perpetualpages's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

CWs: death, animal death, and death of grandparent; references to post-war Vietnam; allusions to domestic abuse and murder; some religious bigotry

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Death, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Domestic abuse, Violence, and Murder