A review by izzyvg
Almond by Won-pyung Sohn

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective 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

3.5

I always appreciate books that have a theme around friendship.  It was neat to see how Yunjae and Gon were basically the opposites and they learned from one another.  Yunjae , not being able to experience emotion yet chooses to go about the world with actions of kindness.  Gon, who experiences emotions intensely and manifests them through violence and puts on a facade to hide his vulnerability.  Yunjae is doing his best to show emotions, Gon is doing his most to hide them.  This book was a simple but in a beautiful way; the author has a good balance of being straight to the point and still yanking at your heart and emotions.  The characters were easy to love and root for. 
I will say the ending felt a little too good to be true in that he now feels emotion and he mom woke up; I would have preferred an epilogue where we see a gradual growth in his ability to feel and maybe it being his mom waking up that starts triggering that.

Some notable quotes / paraphrasing I took away:
  • “Luck plays a huge role in the unfairness of the world”
  • “We just live because we are alive”
  • Violence is proof of weakness, a manifestation of vulnerability because they longed for strength 
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