Almond: A Novel

Product Information

Like when he notes how easily people were to throw up their hands at the challenge of fixing remote problems, and in turn, cower in fear at the thought of fixing those nearest to them. There is a devastating eloquence in how Yunjae can express the complexities of human behavior and interactions with such simplicity, and through Yunjae’s eyes, the reader is given a different way of looking at the world. Yunjae lives with his grandmother and mother in a small apartment, at the front of which is his mother’s secondhand bookstore. Both of his caregivers dedicate their energy to creating a space that encourages and reminds Yunjae how to react in everyday situations. His mother prints out each hanja for happiness, sadness, anger, love, joy, and desire, on letter-sized paper, one big character per sheet, which his grandmother then traces. They place them all over the house for Yunjae to learn from and remember. After some instances at school begin to signal to his peers that Yunjae is not normal, his mother coaches him about various scenarios and the appropriate ways to respond: “ Thanks to Mom’s persistent efforts and my mandatory daily training, I slowly learned to get along at school without too much trouble. By the time I was in fourth grade, I had managed to blend in, making Mom’s dream come true.” Suddenly Yunjae falls in love with a girl and we are told doctors sometimes get things wrong and now his amygdalae (!) are working and maybe even grew. Even though a few chapters ago Yunjae felt nothing when he saw his mother and grandmother bludgeoned with a hammer, he now magically can fall in love. This quote was extracted from the Author’s Note. She clarified that she would not classify whether Almond was a happy or tragic story, as no one would truly know. Will Yunjae be able to fully feel all emotions in the future? Will he be able to find love? Will he and Gon be friends for a long time? Will Yunjae and his mother be okay?

Almond: A Novel by Won-pyung Sohn | WHSmith

Given the idea of nunchi in Korean culture, I personally found this story especially compelling. In a different setting, I don’t think it would have the same impact. And while there’s definitely subtext of commentary on Korean society, overall, I feel like the author was after telling a fresh YA/coming-of-age story, which this certainly is. People shut their eyes to a distant tragedy saying there’s nothing they could do, yet they didn’t stand up for one happening nearby either because they’re too terrified. 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.”There are a hundred answers to one question in this world. So it's hard for me to give you a correct answer" he leído varios libros ubicados en Corea o bien sus autoras son de dicho país y me estoy llevando agradables sorpresas, esta ha sido una mas.

Almond by Won-pyung Sohn - Where to Kim? Review: Almond by Won-pyung Sohn - Where to Kim?

So, the end of this book lowered this so much. Guess what, he feels emotions "because the heart is more powerful than the brain" or something like that… SO LOVE BEATS MEDICAL PROFESSIONALS AND THEIR SILLY MEDICAL DEGREES! Also, his mom comes out of her coma seemingly fine, despite the fact that those silly medical professionals said that she most likely wouldn't come out of the coma, and even if she did she would not be the same, THEY WERE WRONG BECAUSE THEY KNOW NOTHING. It's such a ridiculous happy ending that feels so tonally off that it just hurt what was such a good book. The novel will appeal fully to adults, but mature young readers who must cope in their everyday lives with the struggles of late adolescence will find themselves identifying with Yunjae and moved by his plight. A sensitive exploration of what it's like to live at life's emotional poles. ALMOND is such a stark and powerful book, written in spare prose and with surprising depth of emotion. I loved the neurodivergent hero and his quest to just try to live his life, despite his disability. I liked the subtleties of his development, and how the people around him helped him relate to himself and those around him in various ways (whether deliberately or inadvertently). I still feel like this could (and should) be read and enjoyed by a young adult audience, but again, it does have some dark content, like the aforementioned crime scene, and a scene involving graphic animal cruelty (a butterfly) that was quite hard to read and made me pretty sad. As Yunjae begins to open his life to new people-including a girl at school-something slowly changes inside him. And when Gon suddenly finds his life at risk, Yunjae will have the chance to step outside of every comfort zone he has created to perhaps become the hero he never thought he would be.People said there was no way to understand Gon. I didn’t agree with them. It’s just nobody ever tried to see through him.

Books | David Almond Books | David Almond

This could have been really good but it just didn't make much sense. The characters were not believable. For instance, the adults around him open up and tell him every little thing, as though he's their therapist. Another thing that didn't make sense is that his mother asked a friend to take care of Yunjae in the event she is ever unable to, but never told him anything about Yunjae's condition. Ooooo-kaaaaaaay. She wouldn't have, like, I don't know, said 'Hey, before you agree, I need to tell you that this kid has special needs that you'll need to know about and understand'? Yunjae was born with a brain condition called Alexithymia that makes it hard for him to feel emotions like fear or anger. He does not have friends—the two almond-shaped 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. The whole rebellious kid ( You’re stupid because you know too much) having a heart of gold when he is finally “seen” in by an outsider is for instance something that I have see much too often. He does have good quotes, like: If I can’t protect myself from being hurt I rather hurt other people. but he is really a bad boy as well, as animal abuse needs to drive home to the reader. I had so many thoughts when I read this book and a lot of them had to do with the way Yunjae was raised. I know his mother and grandmother only had the best intentions and wanted him to blend in with everyone, but I think to some extent their constant efforts made it even more difficult for him to deal with his condition. Emotions are something you can’t learn because human feelings are very complex and some people will cry because they are happy while others will laugh even though they are sad. You might be able to explain the general reasons behind behaviour like crying but every person is an individual and we all react differently when we’re overwhelmed by our feelings. The fine nuances of emotions... well they are something you can’t learn. So even though I understood where Yunjae’s mother was coming from I still didn’t agree with her methods. It felt like Yunjae was under a lot of pressure to learn “the proper reactions” and I kinda felt sorry for him.The second half of the book falls a little short. One of the great aspects throughout are the conversations between Yunjae and Gon, and how they discuss and explore the very different ways they feel and express their emotions. Gon is volatile, angry and larger-than-life in how he enacts his inability to regulate his emotions. It’s clear he’s very drawn to Yunjae and wants to be more like him. I felt the story may have been stronger if Sohn had focused only on developing this aspect. Instead, it veers into other narratives that are introduced too late and feel rushed.

Almond Download - OceanofPDF [PDF] [EPUB] Almond Download - OceanofPDF

Given that the hero, Yunjae, has so much difficulty with empathy and relating to others, he often attracts negative attention. One day, this attention comes from a juvenile delinquent named Gon, who has a whole bunch of his own problems, one of which brings him into the sphere of Yunjae in the first place. As you learn more about them, their bond becomes one of contrasts: Yunjae is a "good boy" who feels nothing at all; Gon is a "bad boy" who feels far too much. Yunjae has no empathy and could do terrible things without remorse but doesn't. Gon, on the other hand, lashes out at everyone, even as it tears him up inside. It becomes a curious and fascinating study about societal norms and morality-- especially in the last act of the book, when Yunjae makes another friend named Dora. It must be difficult to write a character without feelings, and the author didn't always succeed. Yunjae does feel things all along, otherwise some of his observations would have been different. Lastly, and I know it sounds like an excuse but neither you nor I nor anyone can ever really know whether a story is happy or tragic" Meet Yunjae, a boy whose almonds (amygdalae) don’t work very well: he doesn’t experience emotions because his almonds don’t send the right signals to his brain. His narrative is easy to read and follow despite his being ‘different’. It sounds like he is making his case without trying to: he’s just describing what’s normal to him and just like that he seems normal to us readers.Quite melodramatic and with a lot of coincidences. However what especially did not sit well with me is how the neurodiverse main character is supposedly “cured” by friendship, romantic love and a Disney like act of self sacrifice.