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hickorynut's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
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This was very well translated, bringing an emotionless yet still engaging main character to life. Yunjae's journey through being taught how to be "normal" resonated deeply for me as an autistic reader. His experiences of trauma and tragedy and growing into young adulthood without guardians were narrated in a logical, factual manner with curiosity and an interest to learn and understand more. I ended up reading most of this in one sitting as his simple and straightforward method of communication combined with a complicated and traumatic life, kept me intrigued.
"Love, according to Mom’s actions, was nothing more than nagging about every little thing, with teary eyes, about how one should act such and such in this and that situation. If that was love, I’d rather neither give nor receive any. But of course, I didn’t say that out loud. That was all thanks to one of Mom’s codes of conduct—Too much honesty hurts others—which I had memorized over and over so that it was stuck in my brain."
"Books took me to places I could never go otherwise. They shared the confessions of people I’d never met and lives I’d never witnessed. The emotions I could never feel, and the events I hadn’t experienced could all be found in those volumes."
"But books are quiet. They remain dead silent until somebody flips open a page. Only then do they spill out their stories, calmly and thoroughly, just enough at a time for me to handle."
"“Do you think I could make others understand me, even though I can’t understand myself?”"
Author's note:
"I have come to think that love is what makes a person human, as well as what makes a monster."
This was very well translated, bringing an emotionless yet still engaging main character to life. Yunjae's journey through being taught how to be "normal" resonated deeply for me as an autistic reader. His experiences of trauma and tragedy and growing into young adulthood without guardians were narrated in a logical, factual manner with curiosity and an interest to learn and understand more. I ended up reading most of this in one sitting as his simple and straightforward method of communication combined with a complicated and traumatic life, kept me intrigued.
"Love, according to Mom’s actions, was nothing more than nagging about every little thing, with teary eyes, about how one should act such and such in this and that situation. If that was love, I’d rather neither give nor receive any. But of course, I didn’t say that out loud. That was all thanks to one of Mom’s codes of conduct—Too much honesty hurts others—which I had memorized over and over so that it was stuck in my brain."
"Books took me to places I could never go otherwise. They shared the confessions of people I’d never met and lives I’d never witnessed. The emotions I could never feel, and the events I hadn’t experienced could all be found in those volumes."
"But books are quiet. They remain dead silent until somebody flips open a page. Only then do they spill out their stories, calmly and thoroughly, just enough at a time for me to handle."
"“Do you think I could make others understand me, even though I can’t understand myself?”"
Author's note:
"I have come to think that love is what makes a person human, as well as what makes a monster."
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Animal cruelty, and Blood
Moderate: Bullying, Blood, and Mental illness
lemo_n's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
sad
fast-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
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence and Murder
Moderate: Animal cruelty and Bullying
cyndakeel's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
reflective
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
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, Murder, and Animal cruelty
Moderate: Ableism
nanana_naaa's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Death, Bullying, Physical abuse, Murder, and Violence
frankieclc's review against another edition
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Death, Violence, and Animal cruelty
mcrespo's review
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.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal death, Death, Animal cruelty, Violence, Murder, and Gore
noshinbean's review
dark
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Death, Grief, Abandonment, Ableism, Blood, Bullying, Murder, Physical abuse, and Violence
chrztnnn's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
My casual craving for best sad books has been satisfied. As an alternative for a review, I will be leaving personally favored quotes to tend my woes for this book.
"Books took me to places I could never go otherwise. They shared the confessions of people I'd never met and lives I'd never witnessed. The emotions I could never feel, and the events I hadn't experienced could all be found in those volumes."
"There is no such person who can't be saved. There are only people who give up on trying to save others. It's a quote by the American accused-murderer-turned-writer P.J. Nolan."
"Most people could feel but didn't act. They said they sympathized, but easily forgot. The way I see it, that was not real. I didn't want to live like that."
Now I understood why many loved this book. I am part of the 'many' now and perhaps forever.
"Books took me to places I could never go otherwise. They shared the confessions of people I'd never met and lives I'd never witnessed. The emotions I could never feel, and the events I hadn't experienced could all be found in those volumes."
"There is no such person who can't be saved. There are only people who give up on trying to save others. It's a quote by the American accused-murderer-turned-writer P.J. Nolan."
"Most people could feel but didn't act. They said they sympathized, but easily forgot. The way I see it, that was not real. I didn't want to live like that."
Now I understood why many loved this book. I am part of the 'many' now and perhaps forever.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Torture, Death, Physical abuse, Violence, Animal cruelty, Cursing, and Mental illness
veronica214's review
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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Animal death, and Animal cruelty
Moderate: Blood, Mass/school shootings, and Cursing
ada_henry's review
dark
emotional
reflective
relaxing
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
4.5
"...neither you nor I nor anyone can ever really know whether a story is happy or tragic."
I picked this book up in New York while I was there for a school Broadway trip, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Translated from Korean by Sandy Joosun Lee, Almond tells the story of a boy, Yunjae, who can't feel emotions. Originally, I didn't love the writing style and the way the story was told. (I do realize that a lot of my issues were likely caused by the translation, not the original writing.) But by the end of the novel, I had really begun to appreciate the simplistic yet emotional writing choices and syntax. The incredibly simple language allowed for so much emotional depth, even though Yunjae couldn't feel the emotions himself. This book is incredibly quotable and beautiful, especially on a very micro level.
My one real issue upon concluding this book is the incredibly sad lack of Gon x Yunjae. It was going so well... I could feel the tension between them, and the Dora had to show up? Nobody cares about Dora. She's annoying. She's boring. She's keeping Gon x Yunjae from being a thing, and that's basically a crime. I also felt like although Gon and Yunjae were kind of oblivious, it seemed like even they knew they would get together at some point. Like, Gon, Yunjae... come on. This thing you have going on is clearly not purely platonic anymore. Alas.
In any case, I'm giving this a 4.5/5, rounded up, because I hated Dora but I loved everything else. (It would've been a million times better if Gon and Yunjae had become a couple, but oh well.)
I picked this book up in New York while I was there for a school Broadway trip, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Translated from Korean by Sandy Joosun Lee, Almond tells the story of a boy, Yunjae, who can't feel emotions. Originally, I didn't love the writing style and the way the story was told. (I do realize that a lot of my issues were likely caused by the translation, not the original writing.) But by the end of the novel, I had really begun to appreciate the simplistic yet emotional writing choices and syntax. The incredibly simple language allowed for so much emotional depth, even though Yunjae couldn't feel the emotions himself. This book is incredibly quotable and beautiful, especially on a very micro level.
My one real issue upon concluding this book is the incredibly sad lack of Gon x Yunjae. It was going so well... I could feel the tension between them, and the Dora had to show up? Nobody cares about Dora. She's annoying. She's boring. She's keeping Gon x Yunjae from being a thing, and that's basically a crime. I also felt like although Gon and Yunjae were kind of oblivious, it seemed like even they knew they would get together at some point. Like, Gon, Yunjae... come on. This thing you have going on is clearly not purely platonic anymore. Alas.
In any case, I'm giving this a 4.5/5, rounded up, because I hated Dora but I loved everything else. (It would've been a million times better if Gon and Yunjae had become a couple, but oh well.)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence and Death
Moderate: Animal cruelty