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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:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
If you fan of webtoons, manga and anime. This book is for you. Such an amazing example that chapters doesn't have to be very long but so much pact with action, reflection and incredible amazing placment in the world of the story. I very great story with good character development.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Deadnaming, Gun violence, Dementia, Grief
challenging
dark
emotional
inspiring
reflective
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Death, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder
emotional
reflective
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
Where should I start?
This book is full of emotions. I felt all kind of emotions, from sadness to happiness, from feeling injustice to justice, since anger to calmness... This book makes you feel things, remembering how much human you actually are.
Plus, it has friendship as one of the main topics: what can a friendship do for you? To what extent can a friendship change the way you percieve the world around you?
Besides, I really like the commentary on what it is to be a "normal person" nowadays.
This book will be forever in my heart. I don't remember reading a book as enthusiastically as I read this one.
I recommend this book to everyone.
This book is full of emotions. I felt all kind of emotions, from sadness to happiness, from feeling injustice to justice, since anger to calmness... This book makes you feel things, remembering how much human you actually are.
Plus, it has friendship as one of the main topics: what can a friendship do for you? To what extent can a friendship change the way you percieve the world around you?
Besides, I really like the commentary on what it is to be a "normal person" nowadays.
This book will be forever in my heart. I don't remember reading a book as enthusiastically as I read this one.
I recommend this book to everyone.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Death, Gun violence, Blood, Grief, Murder
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
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:
Complicated
Yunjae was born with a brain condition called Alexithymia that inhibits him from feeling any emotions. The novel is called Almond because it's the two almond-shaped neurons in his brain that are responsible for this condition. His lives with his mom and granny above their little bookstore and these two women try their best to "teach" him how to become more "human". They remind him when to smile, explain why people get sad and so on. One day, everything in his life changes. The blurb is WAY too long and basically spoils the whole book :') so I wouldn't read it.
This was a looovely read. I love Korean lit so so much. Somehow I feel like there's such a strong emotional intelligence in Korean culture and I am a fan.
I thought it was so interesting to read a book about a character who basically has no emotions when at the same time the author (and translator!!) made a wonderful job of delivering a emotion packed book. It was fascinating reading from the perspective of such an unusual character and see how he describes his reality. Another thing that really gripped me was his interest in books. The way he describes books and stories is something every reader will obviously resonate with.
I also loved the contrast between two characters that are polar opposites. (Yunjae and Gon) The little romance was also very cute and added more life to the plot, although I wish we got to see more of it. My only criticism would be how short it was. It's a pretty fast and easy read, the chapters are very short which is great. But i would love to have gone more in depth in the story, especially the ending was quite fast for me.
However, I still enjoyed this book a lot and it's one I will be recommending ! It's a very cute, emotional and thought-provoking coming of age novel.
(ps. this book reminded me sm of the korean series 'are you human?' ! anyways, v random but yeah there are definitely some similarities)
"Even though my brain was a mess, what kept my soul whole was the warmth of the hands holding mine on both sides"
This was a looovely read. I love Korean lit so so much. Somehow I feel like there's such a strong emotional intelligence in Korean culture and I am a fan.
I thought it was so interesting to read a book about a character who basically has no emotions when at the same time the author (and translator!!) made a wonderful job of delivering a emotion packed book. It was fascinating reading from the perspective of such an unusual character and see how he describes his reality. Another thing that really gripped me was his interest in books. The way he describes books and stories is something every reader will obviously resonate with.
I also loved the contrast between two characters that are polar opposites. (Yunjae and Gon) The little romance was also very cute and added more life to the plot, although I wish we got to see more of it. My only criticism would be how short it was. It's a pretty fast and easy read, the chapters are very short which is great. But i would love to have gone more in depth in the story, especially the ending was quite fast for me.
However, I still enjoyed this book a lot and it's one I will be recommending ! It's a very cute, emotional and thought-provoking coming of age novel.
(ps. this book reminded me sm of the korean series 'are you human?' ! anyways, v random but yeah there are definitely some similarities)
"Even though my brain was a mess, what kept my soul whole was the warmth of the hands holding mine on both sides"
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Gun violence, Violence
emotional
reflective
sad
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
Almond is a beautiful tale with a variety of characters, as well as two opposing mains — one presented as the one who cares too little, while the other one cares too much.
They learn from each other to see the world with different eyes, and as the story progresses it is easy for the reader to get invested in their peculiar relationship.
One thing I didn't like much is the one detail I would criticize in the general use of characters and their development: the love interest, Dora, is merely there to create some drama, and doesn't seem to have lots of personality traits other than 'being nice'.
While I understand her relevance to the story, and her use in helping the main character develop just a bit, I simply don't like characters being used as a tool to progress the plot without them being given any qualities or other aspects to their personality.
Other than that, the characterization of every other person in the story feels realistic and believable, and makes for a truly pleasant read.
The family members play an important role in the characters' lives, and although they don't always directly appear in the plot, their presence is very much felt in the most emotional parts of the book, through the main characters.
Wonderfully written, and will definitely read again soon, once I emotionally recover from this experience.
They learn from each other to see the world with different eyes, and as the story progresses it is easy for the reader to get invested in their peculiar relationship.
One thing I didn't like much is the one detail I would criticize in the general use of characters and their development:
Other than that, the characterization of every other person in the story feels realistic and believable, and makes for a truly pleasant read.
The family members play an important role in the characters' lives, and although they don't always directly appear in the plot, their presence is very much felt in the most emotional parts of the book, through the main characters.
Wonderfully written, and will definitely read again soon, once I emotionally recover from this experience.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing, Blood, Death of parent
Moderate: Gun violence
Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
relaxing
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence
Moderate: Murder
Minor: Gun violence
dark
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence, Violence