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emotional
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
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
"Even though my brain was a mess, what kept my soul whole was the warmth of the hands holding mine on both sides."
Korean literature and art has this distinct soul touching quality, making you feel relaxed, grateful and healed.
I loved the book so much. I loved the two main characters, their relationship and how they grew from each other's influence. Kinda like a plot of a Miyazaki film.
1. You know a book is good if it makes you reflect on yourself.
This book in particular makes you go on a journey in your own head, in your own life and world. Your brain will go round, reflecting on yourself and your past experiences as you read the main character go through challenges of life and youth.
Because at least I found myself going on these memory tangents about my own teen years and coming of age etc after each chapter...
It was really fun kinda like active reading. 😂
2. Its not how you're born but how you're treated and brought up by others around you.
It was a very human way of looking at someone suffering from this disease. Mostly media depicts people who aren't able to feel emotions as evil murderous villains and that's problematic on a whole different level. This book showed us a more humane point of view of such a person. I prefer this a way more than any other depiction.
The way the Yunjae describes what each character is doing, their smallest body language like tapping the toe 3 times or what their face is doing instead of what the character is feeling. That was special, something we won't usually see in books. Also the way he tries to make sense of the emotions we never even think about e.g.:
"Now I understood a little what it meant to be frightened. It was like desperately gasping for air in a place without oxygen. That was how Gon was looking at me."
3. Lastly, This book can also be taken as a beautiful and rich character study. Gosh, you could literally feel the love of the writer for her characters in her writing. And in all honesty, the writer even made my inner child feel loved with her soul touching words...
Not to mention that all this would not have been possible if the translator hadn't done such an amazing job!
Korean literature and art has this distinct soul touching quality, making you feel relaxed, grateful and healed.
I loved the book so much. I loved the two main characters, their relationship and how they grew from each other's influence. Kinda like a plot of a Miyazaki film.
1. You know a book is good if it makes you reflect on yourself.
This book in particular makes you go on a journey in your own head, in your own life and world. Your brain will go round, reflecting on yourself and your past experiences as you read the main character go through challenges of life and youth.
Because at least I found myself going on these memory tangents about my own teen years and coming of age etc after each chapter...
It was really fun kinda like active reading. 😂
2. Its not how you're born but how you're treated and brought up by others around you.
It was a very human way of looking at someone suffering from this disease. Mostly media depicts people who aren't able to feel emotions as evil murderous villains and that's problematic on a whole different level. This book showed us a more humane point of view of such a person. I prefer this a way more than any other depiction.
The way the Yunjae describes what each character is doing, their smallest body language like tapping the toe 3 times or what their face is doing instead of what the character is feeling. That was special, something we won't usually see in books. Also the way he tries to make sense of the emotions we never even think about e.g.:
"Now I understood a little what it meant to be frightened. It was like desperately gasping for air in a place without oxygen. That was how Gon was looking at me."
3. Lastly, This book can also be taken as a beautiful and rich character study. Gosh, you could literally feel the love of the writer for her characters in her writing. And in all honesty, the writer even made my inner child feel loved with her soul touching words...
Not to mention that all this would not have been possible if the translator hadn't done such an amazing job!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Violence, Blood
Moderate: Death