Reviews with content warning for Death of parent - アーモンド

Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

アーモンド by Won-pyung Sohn

201 reviews

whereismyattentionspan's review against another edition

3.5

challenging emotional reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Loveable characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

The ending lost me a little. Nevertheless, I love Yunjae and his almond breath.

Content Warnings

mmefish's review against another edition

3.75

reflective tense 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: Yes

"From what I understood, love was an extreme idea. A word that seemed to force something undefinable into the prison of letters. But the word was used so easily, so often. People spoke of love so casually, just to lean the slightest pleasure or thanks"

It's a short, simple story loaded with heavy themes but written with enough distance for the reader to be able to digest it. While I found it heartwarming (in a bittersweet kind of way), the story carries a dangerous idea of "one person can change someone abusive if they only try hard enough". "I can save him", if you will.
This message is already being reinforced in various media, both actively and passively, albeit it is usually aimed at women. Without proper critical reading skills, especially among younger audience, this novel might reinforce that belief and passively encourage harmful outcomes, like entering or staying in toxic relationships.
Major spoilers:

Especially dangerous in this sense is the climax of the story: "I would do anything to save him" says the MC and gets very close to dying, having to relean to walk anew, sacrificing himself for his friend.

Content Warnings

teainthelibrary's review against another edition

4.0

emotional 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

Content Warnings

harlowboo's review against another edition

5.0

dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad 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: Yes

Content Warnings

vaaaleriechen's review against another edition

3.75

challenging emotional tense 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: Yes

has dark themes imbedded but i still enjoyed the read. the boys made me really nervous but their bond pulled the other out of their comfort zones and that was beautiful to read.

Content Warnings

virgcole398's review against another edition

5.0

challenging dark emotional funny inspiring reflective sad tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Content Warnings

applesodaperson's review against another edition

3.75

dark emotional reflective fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

This book was an interesting one. I thought the premise was super interesting and I can see why it is so popular. For me specifically, I really liked the psychological aspect to it. I think it did a good job of exploring the full width of how the condition the main character has would affect someone and their daily life. And I am sure a lot of neurodivergent people can probably relate to the experience of not being able to understand other people or read emotions very well, even if it isn't too this extreme length. And I liked that this book decided to explore it by making the main character adapt to a person that doesn't follow the standard behaviors. This was just a pretty fun read overall. I did feel like the ending

where the main character gets beat half to death by a random gang member we just met a bit far fetched though.

I also liked the inclusion of the used bookstore. Honestly though I think this book would have been improved by the two main characters falling in love, or at least ending with the hint of that.
Overall a decent read!
Listened to on Libby.

Content Warnings