“This story is, in short, about a monster meeting another monster. One of the monsters is me.”
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First things first
We read Almond at Book Club. That month, the candidates were three books from Korean authors, and this one was the winner. I postulated Almond, by Won Pyung Sohn because I read some recommendations here and there. Even though I love Korean dramas and I am a huge fan of a particular Korean music group, I have never read books from Korean authors, so I was very happy to jump into this adventure. I was excited when this book won, but I must confess that I already had it, and I was going to read it anyway.
Synopsis
“This story is, in short, about a monster meeting another monster. One of the monsters is me.”
Yunjae was born with a brain condition called Alexithymia, that makes it impossible for him to feel emotions like fear or anger. He does not have friends –the two almond-shape neurons located deep in his brain have seen to that– but his devoted mother and grandmother provide him with a safe and content life. Their little home above his mother’s used bookstore is decorated with colorful Post-it notes that remind him when to smile, when to say “thank you” and when to laugh.
Then on Christmas Eve –Yunjae’s sixteenth birthday– everything changes. A shocking act of random violence shatters his world, leaving him alone and on his own. Struggling to cope with his loss, Yunjae retreats into silent isolation, until troubled teenager Gon arrives at his school, and they develop a surprising bond.
As Yunjae begins to open his life to new people –including a girl at school– something slowly changes inside him.
Personal opinion
Almond is a very touching story that gives messages about friendship, compassion and second chances. Yunjae and Gon’s evolution is very emotional. The reading is fluent and it gets you from the start, so you won’t take long finishing this book.
Since Yunjae narrates it in first person, I found it fascinating to know his thoughts and reasoning about situations around him; otherwise, it would have been almost impossible to understand him, due to his Alexithymia.
Yunjae is unable to feel emotions, but he is able to deduce what a person is like, based on his/her actions. He uses a lot of logic to define someone’s character; so, despite his lack of emotions, Yunjae sees them from another angle, and perceives how they really are. That got me, because I am a person who sees the actions of a human being, not their emotional words, and up until now, I have not been wrong about their character.
Growing up with his mother and grandmother, being surrounded by love was the key for Yunjae to grow up with good values and be a good-hearted person. He can differentiate what is right from what is wrong contrary from what happened to his friend, Gon, who grew up unloved.
Gon is a very difficult kid. I did not like him at first, but little by little, I started to realize that he was a misunderstood and pigeonhole person, like many. If everyone assumes you are a bad person, you get to a point where you give up trying to prove otherwise because no one will believe you; so you decide to become what they say you are. There is a fine line that can radically change a person’s life. Gon was a bag filled with emotions that he did not want to feel. Gon wanted to be like Yunjae. Gon got to my heart and made me cry; he was a victim of the circumstances since he was a boy and suffered a lot. Only Yunjae could see who he really was as a person.
All characters in this book are memorable, specially Yunjae’s grandma, his mother, and Dr. Shim, who gave him so much in exchange for nothing, pure kindness.
About the ending, all I can tell you is that I loved it. I was satisfied with it, and it has that Kdrama vibe: it leaves you wanting more. Almond is a book I definitely recommend you to read. If you already did, I would love to read your opinion.
Xoxo,
MJ
Other book reviews on my Blog:
A recipe for love, by Nicola Yeager
The white Masai, by Corinne Hofmann
The invisible guardian, by Dolores Redondo
Mi terapia es escribir. Me desahogo escribiendo sobre la vida, mis aficiones, aprendizajes, bienestar, historias, libros y recetas. También me hace feliz conectarme contigo.