Reviews with content warning for Violence - Almond

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This was very well translated, bringing an emotionless yet still engaging main character to life. Yunjae's journey through being taught how to be "normal" resonated deeply for me as an autistic reader. His experiences of trauma and tragedy and growing into young adulthood without guardians were narrated in a logical, factual manner with curiosity and an interest to learn and understand more. I ended up reading most of this in one sitting as his simple and straightforward method of communication combined with a complicated and traumatic life, kept me intrigued.

"Love, according to Mom’s actions, was nothing more than nagging about every little thing, with teary eyes, about how one should act such and such in this and that situation. If that was love, I’d rather neither give nor receive any. But of course, I didn’t say that out loud. That was all thanks to one of Mom’s codes of conduct—Too much honesty hurts others—which I had memorized over and over so that it was stuck in my brain."

"Books took me to places I could never go otherwise. They shared the confessions of people I’d never met and lives I’d never witnessed. The emotions I could never feel, and the events I hadn’t experienced could all be found in those volumes."

"But books are quiet. They remain dead silent until somebody flips open a page. Only then do they spill out their stories, calmly and thoroughly, just enough at a time for me to handle."

"“Do you think I could make others understand me, even though I can’t understand myself?”"

Author's note:
"I have come to think that love is what makes a person human, as well as what makes a monster."

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lemo_n's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful sad fast-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

4.25

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pikitat's review against another edition

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fast-paced

2.0

It was somewhat interesting but I didn't think it was remarkable enough to warrant the hype. I did find it bothersome that the story ends with

Gon and Yunjae being "fixed". There are many stories about neurodivergent people that end in this sort of savior style, where the neurodivergent person finally conforms - becomes "normal" - and this change is celebrated as a good thing. I think the fact that Yunaje's ability to suddenly feel emotions was described as him becoming "human" was particularly bothersome, as it does imply that people with alexythemia are inhuman.

Overall, I think this book doesn't do a stellar job exploring and representing the condition it tries to shed light on and portrays the condition in an offensive manner. It's not surprising because this happens frequently with portrayals of neurodivergent and mentally ill individuals in fiction, but it's always disappointing.

Content Warnings

nanana_naaa's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

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frankieclc's review

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4.5

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