Reviews with content warning for Mental illness - Amêndoas

OKAY WOW THIS BOOK. Don't let the length fool you. Honestly I could write a whole essay on this. So many interesting themes were covered and in such a breath-takingly beautiful way. Safe to say I've highlighted a huge portion of the book.

Yunjae was diagnosed with alexithymia, a very rare condition where someone has problems to feel emotions because their amygdalae, which is shaped like an almond is smaller than usual. The story follows his journey of discovering himself and also as he tries to sort of largen his "almond".

For someone who basically doesn't have feelings, there's more depth to his personality than quite a few other people I can think of (looking at you, Mal 👀) And the CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT OH MY GOD 💥💥💥💯💯 It's just so amazing seeing him grow and all the things he went through in between—my heart 😭💓💓💓😫😭😫😭

And also, Gon and Dora—wow. Especially Gon, I mean, the way that he was pretty much polar opposites with Yunjae and yet we got to see the growth of development happen in both ways. I think I relate much more to Gon. Although, not in a child-delinquent kind of way but more of a feelings-are-so-damn-uncomfortable-must-be-nice-to-not-feel-any kind of way, you know? But reading this made me realise so much about feelings and however icky they are, they're also kind of beautiful and very much necessary.

This book is also about unlikely friendships, and how we perceive people with prejudice without even trying to understand them, to regard them with empathy. Empathy - an incredibly significant element of human relationships. And it explores what exactly does it mean by "ordinary"? I'm just rambling by this point, but definitely, definitely read it.

Content Warnings

shybookstagramer's review against another edition

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dark emotional 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? Yes

4.0

I was hesitant to read this because it's literary fiction, which I usually have a hard time reading, but I wanted to give it a try because it was recommended to me. I'm glad I did! I surprisingly loved the characters and their character development was great. I didn't fully understand all the things that were going on with Yunjae and his brain, but that didn't stop the impact of the story. The book is fast-paced and obviously very character-oriented, which I think worked well for this book. I do recommend checking this one out.

Content Warnings

elagomes06's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective fast-paced

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

5.0

Content Warnings

courtsbooks's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.5

Content Warnings

renalexis's review against another edition

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reflective sad fast-paced

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

5.0

Any book that touches my heart and makes me cry is an automatic 5-star ❤️

Content Warnings

changbinslemonade's review against another edition

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emotional informative inspiring lighthearted reflective sad tense 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? Yes

4.75

Content Warnings

denwluv's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense 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? Yes

5.0

This book had me crying beginning to end. Learning Yunjae’s story and relating to some of his experiences was something i really found surprising but i still loved so much. Seeing his and Gon’s friendship bloom into something great, despite all the horrible tragedies they faced in their lives. I was taken on a rollercoaster of emotions that i loved from the beginning to end and was so happy to see a somewhat happy ending for our main character. Something he deserved greatly!

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