Reviews with content warning for Child death - Almond

Reviews tagging 'Child death'

Almond by Won-pyung Sohn

23 reviews

meeklovestoread's review against another edition

dark emotional lighthearted sad fast-paced

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

3.5

Man, I've been wanting to read this book for a LONG time. It's been on my tbr for soooo long. Funny enough I actually started this in August of last year, but for some odd reason after like 3% I put it down and never touched it till now. I don't know what was going through my mind then because this is literally such a quick read. But anyway, I finally got to it and it was good don't get me wrong, but I feel like it could've been GREAT and it missed the ball for me.

I'd like to note that I didn't know this was a piece of translated fiction so maybe certain concepts that were supposed to be more prominent were lost in translation.

Okay, I'd like to say the first half was promising and then it just went "downhill" for me. Which is not to say the story was bad, but I just felt like it could've been more emotional, more impactful, more promising.

The friendship between Yunjae and Gon felt so lackluster to me which renders Yunjae's gesture towards Gon idiotic to me

Him taking a knife to the gut for Gon just felt so stupid to me because I honestly didn't feel that Gon deserved Yunjae's grace. But that's just me.

because I didn't feel this deep connection that the author was trying to establish between them. I personally did not connect to Gon's character at all. I understood what the author was trying to go for with the two monsters thing. Yunjae, being the kid who feels nothing paired with Gon, the kid who feels too much. But in my opinion, it was hard to sympathize with Gon because he never got the details of his captivity or much that happened to him, really. He was just a dickhead to everyone including the main character (especially toward the main character) and I was just expected to believe in this larger than life friendship between them just because the author wants me to. No way. It just didn't work for me.

Also, Dora's characterization also felt lackluster to me as well. I understand her purpose but in my opinion, her presence was very much so unimpactful and didn't bring much to the story at all. Honestly, because I've consumed a decent amount of ya coming of age stories, I honestly thought there was going to be something between Gon and Yunjae. It's fine that there wasn't, but I was just expecting more.

The way Yunjae introduced Gon and Dora I thought they were going to impact the main character in a life-altering way and it was going to be this epic, emotional story about the binds of friendship and family and illness and sadly it all just fell so flat for me. And the ending. I hate reusing adjectives, but again, lackluster and felt kinda like a cop-out. And felt like a forced "HEA".

I know I keep harping on about my qualms about this book, but it honestly wasn't a bad book by any stretch of the phrase. I really enjoyed learning about alexithymia and the way the main character thinks and views things. It was nice to get a glimpse into another type of human experience that I didn't even know existed so learning about Yunjae and his struggles was nice. And getting to witness the relationship between his mother and his grandmother and their past lives. As well as Yunjae's relationship with Dr. Shim.

Although it's still not explained why Yunjae's mother would just place Dr. Shim in his care. Their relationship is barely explained and I'm just supposed to believe this overprotective mother would just relay the care of her son on some virtual stranger. I was lowkey hoping that he was like an uncle or something from Yunjae's father, but nope.

Overall, again this is not a bad book. It has so many 4 and 5 stars ratings. It sadly just didn't hit for me and that's okay!

Content Warnings

stacylaughs's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful sad fast-paced

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

5.0

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rosalind's review against another edition

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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

Content Warnings

lilmissoddity's review against another edition

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2.0

This book is a gross misrepresentation of the condition Alexithymia and misrepresentation of conditions can be a harmful thing to people.

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hareems's review against another edition

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dark emotional inspiring reflective sad 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

4.75

4.75/5

Only 0.25 docked because some loose ends weren't tied. I don't mind that, but I think it may have further enhanced the story to at least reach a reunion between the two friends, even if it was just wordless, just a smile seeing each other again. I think Gon seeing Yunjae smile would've itself been incredibly significant. It was significant for Yunjae to cry and laugh in front of his mom. But we knew Gon for longer and Gon had a bigger (narrated) impact on Yunjae, so he deserved to see Yunjae's change just as much as his mother did (in the context of the story).

I appreciated that the ending was happier than reality. Sometimes we need that. A book that is heavily dosed with reality but that still gives us a proper happy ending instead of just a small glimmer of hope at the end.

I'm hopeful Gon changes. He's been shown too soft to really turn out poorly. And Dora isn't going anywhere. She'll stay in touch because she wants to stay in touch.

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chireadsandchill's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful 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

5.0

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theliteraryteapot's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.0

What a quick read it was! Unusual for me.

I really liked it, it's quite an emotional heartbreaking story.

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alisylvi's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

2.75

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lor_5's review against another edition

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dark emotional informative reflective sad tense 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

4.75

This book has destroyed me 😭
I literally started feeling as if a rock was hitting my chest in chapter 71/72 and I was sobbing A LOT.
I loved it tho.

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lilybear3's review against another edition

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emotional informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.5

This was a good audiobook, if you choose to listen. I thought the balance and dynamic between one character who has extreme emotions with one that feels nothing was interesting. The ending was nice and wrapped any loose ends. I loved the almond symbolism and candy (that specific one mentioned) metaphor throughout, it fit the story quite well. I wanted to see more of Dora (sp? again, audiobook) and Yunjae's friendship. Seeing some other reviews, I would've liked to hear the translator's notes because it sounds like it had an impact. I loved the translation as it was simple, yet emotional.

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