Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

Almond by Won-pyung Sohn

85 reviews

jungsies's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful informative reflective sad 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty and Animal death

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Pregnancy, Murder, Physical abuse, and Cursing

Minor: Terminal illness and Blood

mcrespo's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful reflective sad fast-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

4.5

a very catcher in the rye-esque story. its super fast paced, and sohn has a command for tone and characterization. i especially love the use of metaphors with the almonds and the plum candies. i just wanted more almond metaphor in the end to tie it all up. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death, Death, Animal cruelty, Violence, Murder, and Gore

veronica214's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful fast-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

The story follows a teenager who was born with almond-sized amygdala (the part of the brain that processes emotions.) He doesn't feel fear, anger, sadness,  or happiness. However, a series of life changing events may be changing that. 

I liked the story enough, but wasn't a huge fan of the ending. Almost everything magically worked out ok and resulted in a happy ending. That part just didn't feel super realistic. Also, the translation was a little off at times.

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Animal death, and Animal cruelty

Moderate: Blood, Mass/school shootings, and Cursing

333amreen's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective relaxing 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

4.5

Such an easy read year covers such complex topics. Only goes on to show how great the writing is! So philosophical and psychological all at once. LOVED HIS CONNECTION WITH GON but the Dora part felt forced and incomplete & that's the ONLY reason I took off the .5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Grief, Medical content, Animal cruelty, Panic attacks/disorders, Terminal illness, Violence, Ableism, Blood, Bullying, Hate crime, Chronic illness, Death of parent, Medical trauma, Animal death, Mental illness, Murder, and Vomit

0hxneybee's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I thought this was book was really interesting. Not a usual go to for me but I’m glad I saw it through to the end.

The scene with the butterfly made me really uncomfortable so I almost stopped reading it there.

The quote at the end of it is very interesting and probably very true.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Moderate: Animal death and Animal cruelty

sahla's review against another edition

dark hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

i really enjoyed this book; the characters are so properly fleshed, and everything is captured so beautifully. the ending, when

yunjae meets his mother again, when she realizes that he can feel now, his absolute surprise and astonishment at her being alive, gosh,

it warmed my heart. and when

gon begs him to return when he's lying on the floor, bloody and hurt, and apologises so much,,,

it really moved me to tears.

the writing style reflects each of the characters so well, it's amazing. i can feel how yunjae must feel. the idea of him having the vocabulary for feelings but not actually having the feelings themselves, was conveyed perfectly, and so was the reverse for gon. and god, the relationship between his mother and grandmother is just so mwah.

my only issue (idk if it can actually be called that) was: dude, the homoerotic subtext between gon and yunjae! it was right there. i really liked dora, but there was no straight plotline necessary. but anyways, we move. (i've never felt more validated in my life than when i read the translator's note where she said she thought the same). 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Murder, Bullying, Animal cruelty, and Animal death

Moderate: Abandonment

teacupsandfirereads's review against another edition

hopeful 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

3.0

I was really intrigued by the disability in this one. I had never heard of it and don't know if the representation was accurate, but I am not to judge on that. It does seem the author did their research. This definitely wasn't an easy read, but being short, it was easier to get through. The ending was not as I hoped. The translation was done very well.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Ableism, and Violence

Moderate: Grief, Death, Murder, and Mental illness

Minor: Animal death and Animal cruelty

teabrewer's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective tense medium-paced

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

3.0

When this book was first shown to me, it was described as Yunjae's story but it actually both Yunjae and Gon's. Two young boys called monsters and rejected by society for different reasons. They're so opposite they become similar.

Dora seemed like a random adition to the story, mainly because she could be completly removed without altering much. She felt like an accessory only written in to make an oportunity where romantic love could also be mentioned.

I don't know if the alexithymia representation was well done since I know nothibg about it and haven't seen anyone that does talking about this book. I didn't fully like the end, but didn't fully hate it either. I like the scenes where he was a small child, helpless for depending on grown ups that didin't take him seriously and trying to correspond to his mother's expectations. It made very interesting scenes.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Violence, Murder, Bullying, Toxic friendship, Animal death, and Animal cruelty

Moderate: Child abuse

rosalind's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Murder, Animal cruelty, and Death

Moderate: Bullying, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, and Blood

Minor: Mental illness, Animal death, Child death, Death of parent, and Abandonment

inmasanzlo's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

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

5.0

2 words: read it!!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Gun violence, Murder, and Violence