A review by starryybella
Almond by Won-pyung Sohn

emotional funny inspiring reflective 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

5.0

I used to be able to win the prompt in Never Have I Ever, “Never have I ever cried to a book for 15 minutes straight”. 
Nope. Not anymore.
Ironically, the book that made me so emotional was the book about a person without emotions - Well, even that’s complicated.
“Almond” is the story of Yunjae, who suffers from alexithymia, where the amygdala, the almond-shaped mass of grey matter in the brain that allows us to experience emotion, is small or underdeveloped. Therefore, Yunjae doesn’t experience emotions of anger or fear or happiness.
Even when his mother and grandmother are brutally attacked in front of him, causing his mother to plunge into a vegetative state and his grandmother to die.
Yet Yunjae didn’t feel anything. He only saw red during that random act of violence that changed his life.
Left to care for himself and his mother’s used bookstore at 16, he has the help of the heart surgeon turned baker on the second floor, Dr. Shim, but it’s not the same without his mother.
It’s through a strange set of circumstances, after severe bullying at high school, that Yunjae meets troubled teenager Gon, who moves to his school after reconnecting with his father. 
He begins to have more perspective into human emotion, and although they start off on an awful note, this friendship is one of the most poignant and touching bonds I’ve read in literature. Two outcasts, who are polar opposites, yet discover things about the world, each other, and themselves throughout the book.
I got so attached to these two boys and their friendship. Through them, it took me through the process of relearning how to feel again.
Gon and Yunjae throughout the book come to answer the question “What makes someone human?”
It’s not emotions, and it’s not reactions or certain “redeeming” actions to others.
It’s both love and our relationships that make us human.
And not only does love make someone human, but it heals and brings us closer - This book was an affirmation that needed to be heard. I couldn’t put it down. 
From one late morning to an early evening, I became completely enthralled with Yunjae’s story.
Something remarkable about this book and about its unique storyline is that in contrast to the distant narration Yunjae provides, he’s surrounded by emotionally vibrant characters. The translator’s note at the end describes how she struggled between both liberal and literal translation to craft Yunjae’s distant tone in the original Korean manuscript. The brilliant translation absorbs readers into Yunjae’s world, 
Another aspect I admire about the book is its small chapters - and in Sohn’s case, less is so much more. It made the story coherent and in every chapter, its poigniacy never falters.
Toasts to the best friendship in literature since Frog and Toad - I’d give this book a hug if I could.
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