4.5 stars
It took me a minute to get into the rhythm of the writing style. But, the writing style does fit the themes quite nicely.
It’s lyrical, fantastical, and breathtaking.
It’s a beautifully written heartbreaking story about a refugee family trying to find a better life for themselves.
They enter many tragedies during the journey and once they make it to this supposed better land.
It combines magical realism with literary fiction and the result is a captivating, yet harrowing tale.
And the cover- just gorgeous.
I already preordered myself a copy!

This is a devastating account of a family trying to make it from Indonesia to Australia, by boat, by plane, by truck--all on false passports and carrying the heavy weight of fear. Once the family--parents, a daughter, and a son--are confined to a camp for immigrants, where the full horrors of such places is exposed though the eyes and voices of children, who must watch their parents lose hope and voluntarily sedate themselves. Each victory seems to be dashed afterwards, leaving everyone uncertain and frightened. Poetic and compelling, Yu's novel is an important read for just about everyone living in our modern world, with its deportations and detainments and the separation of families.

This is a wonderful and compelling book that I look forward to recommending for my book club once we are able to resume our meetings. The story is a tragic one that could easily be overwhelming if not for the magical realism that is infused throughout. The topics of war, immigration, and discrimination can be tough to read about, but this book is so well written with powerful relationships. You won't want to put it down.

This ended up washing over me like a wave, and I ended up finishing most of this book in the tub tonight. The first part of this is the immigration story that the summary would lead you to expect - being smuggled across the world, the Nauru detention center, and the stories that Firuzeh is told as she experiences all this. But the second half of this is what really drew me in. Most stories would have ended at their visas to Australia being approved. The second half focuses on the family adapting to life in their new country, and Firuzeh starting to grow up, and the impact of Australia’s changing immigration policies, and the stories she tells herself and the ghosts that she carries. Woven throughout this are individual stories of those who interact with her family, if only briefly. And yes, duh, it’s political, and Australia’s immigration policies would give most Republicans a raging boner. Pick this up when it comes out in February, you’ll be in for a treat.

Poignant, compelling and beautifully written. I can’t say I enjoyed it as aside from it being quite a sad book, I wasn’t really in a head space to enjoy it this year (2020). But it poses important questions about sanctuary and home through the gaze of two refugees who turn to myths and fairy tales as a means of coping.

This book was absolutely heartbreaking. It has some of the most elegant prose that I have ever read and I loved the incorporation of storytelling as a means of helping these young children navigate through the various hardships that they face. This is not an easy read, but it is so worth it. Review to come on my blog.

On Fragile Waves is a book that will stick with me for a long time. The prose was beautifully written and I could not put this book down. It really tugs at your heart strings and I am so happy I got the chance to read and review this wonderful book!

I dare anyone who takes a hardline, zero-tolerance, separate-families-and-lock-children-in-cages stance on immigration and asylum seekers: read this book without becoming just a tad more empathetic.

I stayed up half the night reading this short but sweeping story of a girl and her family's journey from a war-ravaged home into the unknown, with only the receding hope of finding safety and stability to buoy them. The elements that push this into magical realism territory are naturally integrated and serve to strengthen the authentic tone of the refugee story. The author packs a wide range of experiences and viewpoints into the story, including a few chapters narrated by incidental characters that nicely supplement the main character's point of view to add context and insight.

On Fragile Waves is the most compelling book in recent memory. This book kept me up way past my bedtime on more than one occasion because I didn’t want to stop reading. But be warned, this book will break your heart many times over.

In On Fragile Waves, we are guided by young Firuzeh, as she flees a war-torn Afghanistan with her brother and parents. Their final goal is a new life in Australia, but their journey is by no means an easy one. Firuzeh’s parents tell the children fairy tales to distract from the horror of the journey, but there is only so much protection they can provide.

The family bounce from location to location, and as they struggle to stay together, others disappear, or are torn away. One particular tragedy sticks with Firuzeh in a supernatural way, proving a gorgeous sense of magical realism to the story.

On Fragile Waves is an absolutely harrowing story, but E. Lily Yu’s simple poetic language somehow conveys a constant sense of hope. I became emotionally invested in Firuzeh and her family very quickly, and longed for a happy ending. I was consistently frustrated by the unnecessarily complex bureaucracy of immigration, and the inhumanity of it all. There are a lot of cold-hearted characters in this book, who appear only briefly, but leave a big impression.

On Fragile Waves was nine years in the making, and the work, heart, and research absolutely shines through. Not a word is wasted, and the story always feels authentic. While some situations are brutal, they are, unfortunately, completely believable.

As soon as I finished reading this book, I wanted to start it all over again. I was not ready to leave Firuzeh’s world. I just wanted her to be okay. I have not been moved by a book like this in a long time. On Fragile Waves is an incredible achievement, and an astounding debut novel.

Okay, I honestly don't remember requesting this book on Netgalley and may have done so accidentally, so it was a surprise when it got accepted. Fortunately, it turned into a pleasant surprise, so, thank you to Netgalley!

This is not the type of book I usually tend to read, but it was still a very enjoyable read. It seems to be a very honest book on the topic of refugees and immigration and it was interesting to see it told from the POV of a child. It was inteesting to see the relationship between the family members and how they started forming friendships along their journey. And the relationship between Firuzeh and Nour was absolutely wonderful to read, it showed an honest sibling relationship and it was very heartwarming several times.
I did find it quite tense most of the time, but with the topic, that seems a fitting writing style.

The only thing that was somewhat disappointing is that I see this book tagged under magical realism and fantasy, but IMO it's a bit bleak on that account and *spoiler ahead* aside from the bit of ghost haunting, there wasn't much of it.

The prose in this book is stunning, it's like reading poetry. I feel like this story is about finding hope even when all hope is lost. There were times that I just didn't believe anything positive would ever happen again. All I can say is read on. Lyrical and beautiful, a unique take on fantasy.

After receiving a copy of this book, and being assigned by my editor, I am reviewing this book on behalf of Booklist.