Reviews tagging 'Medical content'

Almond by Won-pyung Sohn

51 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!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Death, Bullying, Death of parent, and Grief

Moderate: Violence and Cursing

Minor: Suicide, Medical content, Child death, Kidnapping, Sexual content, Toxic friendship, and Blood

chermi's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Death, Murder, Medical content, Blood, and Cursing

lotoblanco's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted reflective sad fast-paced

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

5.0

I wouldn’t say “flaw” to what Yunjae is.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Death of parent, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Medical content, Death, Murder, Physical abuse, Blood, Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, and Violence

Moderate: Emotional abuse and Addiction

alexisgarcia's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic friendship, Death of parent, Violence, Grief, Medical content, Abandonment, Ableism, Blood, Murder, and Death

vira92's review against another edition

challenging emotional inspiring reflective sad 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Grief, Animal cruelty, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Violence

Moderate: Torture

aespaldon24's review against another edition

emotional hopeful sad medium-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Medical content, Murder, Bullying, Death, Grief, and Violence

Moderate: Animal cruelty

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

plxtoprojector's review against another edition

hopeful 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Grief, and Mental illness

Minor: Medical content and Violence

lilmissoddity's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Medical content, Murder, Physical abuse, Ableism, Grief, Bullying, Kidnapping, Violence, Death of parent, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Child death, Blood, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, and Emotional abuse

dezembrluft's review against another edition

challenging emotional medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Death, Murder, and Violence

Moderate: Blood and Medical content