Book Review: Almond by Won-Pyung Sohn
A review of Won-pyung Sohn’s Almond
“I won’t tell you whether it has a happy ending or a tragic ending…neither you nor I nor anyone can ever really know whether a story is happy or tragic.”
Almond by Won-Pyung Sohn (2020). Published in English by HarperVa.
I randomly came across this book one day as I was surfing Goodreads for something new to read in the depths of Korean literature in translation, and this lovely, surrealist cover seemed to pop up over and over again. Then, some BTS member recommended it to read, and suddenly everyone everywhere was reading it.
I finally have been on a reading kick as of writing this in April—yes, that’s how far back I’ve scheduled my own posts—and I randomly moved my cursor over my huge hoard of online books, and it landed on this one. I thought it was about time, as I watched a Cari Cakes video and she spent the day reading this novel, and so I read it.
All in all, I thought the plot was super interesting. There’s something about Korean literature as a whole, that’s also prominent about this novel, that holds this distinct brand of sadness and anger. Perhaps it’s the entire notion of generational trauma? Rapid modernization?
Anyways, let’s just jump into this book review. We’ve got quite a bit to unpack from this novel.
Almond can be purchased here.
Book Blurb
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 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 aren’t fazed by his condition. 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. Yunjae grows up content, even happy, with his small family in this quiet, peaceful space.
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 begins to bully Yunjae.
Against all odds, tormentor and victim learn they have more in common than they realized. Gon is stumped by Yunjae’s impassive calm, while Yunjae thinks if he gets to know the hotheaded Gon, he might learn how to experience true feelings. Drawn by curiosity, the two strike up a surprising friendship. 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 in danger, it is Yunjae who will step outside of every comfort zone he has created to perhaps become a most unlikely hero.
Content / Plot
From the get go, in the first chapter, we have the main character presumably watching six people get murdered before their eyes, including their mother and grandmother. If we can’t get any more in media res than that, I don’t know what else can. From the get-go, we can understand that the main character, Yun-jae, is not capable of feeling much emotion, as there is this detachment from the fact people are being murdered right in front of him. It’s said in an apathetic, almost casual way, as if we were reporting on the daily weather, which is chilling.
The book is about the two boys and their relationship. Gon is too emotional and Yun-jae literally can’t feel anything in his life. There’s some really graphic content and depictions of violence sprinkled throughout, which is a fair warning if you want to pick this novel up for a read.
There’s also a gay suggestion that may or may not be there? I don’t want to read into things or project anything, but I swear I got vibes that there was something more than friends in this novel.
Characters
The main character is really well-developed for their condition, and we see how their mother is impacted by this from the get-go. Chapter 4 is about how the mother is weeping when she takes her child to the hospital when he is four years old, because he is incapable of smiling or showing any emotions.
The book is about the juxtaposition of the two main boys, the boy who feels nothing and the boy who feels too much. It’s a wonderful contrast, one that works really well for this content. They learn from each other, even though by society they are labeled completely different. The one who feels too much, Gon, is a delinquent and an outcast to society. However Yunjae is praised for keeping his calm, even though it’s literally a medical condition.
I’m going to be real y’all, I enjoyed the relationships between the characters and the way that they’re depicted. This is a very artful book.
Writing
This book was a whopping 75 chapters, which found completely and utterly interesting to see from a writer’s standpoint. You just don’t see 75 chapters. But I actually really liked this method, because the chapters were short overall. For me, as someone who actually struggles to read (always have struggled with reading my entire life, which is ironic for a writer), this shorter method made it flow better. I can’t focus on a large chunk of words for long periods of time,
I also felt that the shorter chapters actually lent itself to the character development of the main character. We have these short bursts of little scenes from Yun-jae’s life, and, from the get-go, we get all these deaths occurring around him.
I also was really impressed with the translation of this novel. It was good!
Overall Thoughts
This is a really refreshing step away from Western literature. I really recommend it, because it’s not a story we see everyday nor is it a perspective stylistically told this way. However, if you want intensive plot-heavy books, this may not be the book for you. The interest in this story lies between the relationships of the characters, and how they interact with each other.
I’m really, really impressed. This was the author’s debut novel and it had good pacing and good relationships between characters. As a writer, those are two things I struggle with, so this was a really interesting read to just study and play around with craft-wise.
Rating: 5/5
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