Please read the book Almond: A book summary
Author: Won-pyung Sohn
What is the Book About?
Almond is the story of Yunjae, a six-year-old boy with a rare mental condition called alexithymia. It makes it impossible for Yunaje to identify and express feelings, like any normal kid could. His underdeveloped amygdala, also known as the almond, is the reason behind his condition.
Yunaje's mother and grandmother try their best to teach him to get along with other kids. From memorizing names of feelings to associating them with gestures. From feeding him endless almonds, all with the hope that his almond would grow. But things don't always happen the way we want. Do they?
Yujane's early childhood and adolescence are full of turmoil, the worst kind. So it won't be wrong to call this a coming-of-age story. A life where he bears witness to the cold-blooded murder of his family. Left all by himself, looking after his mother's bookshop. He still has to finish his studies, try to be normal, and survive as usual. But survival without a family, and that too in a kind of society where people don't care. But care enough to talk behind your back.
Things don't improve; instead, life has more surprises for Yunjae. Enters his life, a lookalike, Gon. A normal kid with a very uneventful past. Gon is the spit opposite of Yunaje, and they start on a very sour note. Gon deals with emotions very differently, has a broken and revengeful relationship with his father. The tyranny of which he wraths upon all he encounters. Especially Yunaje.
Amidst all the chaos life has to offer, Yunaje still tries his best to be as normal as possible. Managing school, responding to unwanted social encounters, dealing with questions about life, adolsence, and the deep-rooted urge to understand people. Afterall society doesn't allow escape. But does his incapability to feel, allow him to better deal with life, or makes it worse?
His journey is of emotional upheavals. Can Yunjae even make sense of what's happening? After all he cannot feel, no matter how hard he tries. Or maybe, he just has to try hard enough! Who knows.
While many of us take our ability to feel for granted, always swiveling between extremes. Stepping into Yunjae's shoes offers a transformative perception of reality, people, society and what it means to love.
Well in this story, normal isn't very normal. Rather, we do an injustice to ourselves by calling our lives normal.
Does the book have a happy ending or a sad ending?
Nor the author, nor can I tell you that. It's something you will only find out once you finish it. But its definitely worth you time and attention.
Maybe it helps your almond grow too!
Why I picked it up?
If I will be very honest, I picked it up because the cover and the name stood out. It looked cute. It had been laying on my bookshelf for last 4 months, unless I finally decided to pick it up. It was a quick read, and the writing style will etch in your heart like a fond memory of comfort.
Themes explored
- Living with a mental condition
- Friendship
- The Pseudo Normalcy of Society
- What it means to live?
- Healing from Trauma
- Identity vs Personality
- Transformation
- Unconditional Love
Writing Style
- The writing is simple and gut wrenching
- Considering its translated, the translator has done utmost justice to characters, their voice, dynamics, and their relationships.
- Descriptions are raw and vulnerable, you can easily step into the shoes of any character and imagine how the world would look from their eyes
- First person narrative, which makes it much more intimate
- The structure is well crafted, intentional, and purposeful
- The voice is immersive, and comforting
Quotes that will stick with you
- So I don't know why people laugh or cry. Joy, sorrow, love, fear - all these things are vague ideas to me. The words ''emotion'' and ''empathy'' are just meaningless letters in print.
- Anything will loose its meaning if you repeat it often enough
- Books took me to places I could never go otherwise. They shared confessions of people I'd never met, and lives I'd never witnessed. The emotions I could never feel, and the events I'd never experienced could all be found in those volumes.
- Thousands of times a day, I asked myself question after question, until I went back to square one and started all over again
- Mom used to say that every social community needs a scapegoat
- Being ordinary is the hardest thing to achieve.
- There is no such person who can't be saved. There are only people who give up trying to save others.
- I wanted to understand the world a little better. To do that, I needed Gon.
- Humans are designed to move on and keep on living, after all.
- We have to be tougher in this tough world
- Let's be honest, we just live because we're alive
- Love is what makes a person a human, as well as what makes a monster.
- Luck plays a huge role in all the unfairness of the world. Even more than you'd expect.
Rating :
🍂 / 🌊 / 🧠 / 💔 out of 5
Mood: Quiet, unsettling, tender
Read if you like: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine
Best for: Slow Sunday mornings, post-heartbreak reflection
Skip if: You need fast pacing or high drama
Rating: 4.5/5 Almonds cracked open slowly
Book in one sentence
Almond explores the limits of emotions and empathy, by someone who cannot experience them in the same way we do.