Review by: Samantha M. Chandler
Hey friends! First of all, I would love it if you could use one of your fingers (yes you get to pick!) to push the blue follow button to the right of this review, maybe even add your email address to get updates, and share with a friend or on your social media of choice. I would greatly appreciate it.
Also, below at the end of the article is a comment box. Feel free to leave a comment or two. Let me know what you loved, any questions you might have, if you would like more clarity, or if you have something to add! I love learning. Please be positive and friendly to our writers. I try my best to post on the first of the month! Enjoy!
QUICK SUMMARY
The main character is Yunjae and he is born with a brain condition called Alexithymia which makes emotions difficult to feel. “It’s known causes are lack of emotional development during a person’s early childhood, post-traumatic stress disorder, and the smaller inborn amygdalae [the almonds of the brain]” (notes page). The inability to feel makes him an outcast as he is called “weird” compared to many of his similarly aged peers (and oooooo some parents are just so damn rude to him). His mom and gran don’t give up on him and try to help him along in life as best as they can. One piece of advice his mother continues to give him is to not stand out. Fit in with the crowd. I fear, too many Special Education students I have taught are also taught this. There are signs placed throughout the house by gran and mom helping to remind him to smile, what a certain facial expression might mean, and when and how to be respectful and polite.
However, a life-altering event occurs that shifts Yunjae’s life upside down. He may not be able to have “normal” feelings about how to cope with this situation, but some amazing people enter his life to help guide him along and develop into the Yunjae that the readers will grow to love, appreciate, and value.
THE REVIEW
HarperCollins Publishers sent me an invite to read the first few chapters of this book via email. When they did that, I was absolutely hooked and could NOT (and did not) want to put this book down! Almond is a wicked awesome read and is highly recommended. It’s a 10/10 for me! The genre categories include international culture (Korean), fiction, and young adult. Three things that I think made this book so valuable to me was the diversity, character development, and a phenomenal coming of age story. Diversity in this book is not only limited to the book characters, culture, and Yunjae’s disability, but the author and translators’ ability to help people who don’t have Alexithymia to understand, relate, and grow with Yunjae. Plus, Korean woman author and translator alert! I love that this was written by a Korean about a Korean! CULTURE! Character development is always an important must have for me in a novel and Won-Pyung Sohn def provided! Finally, the idea of finding/ creating your own path, the coming of age, and truly learning who one is always helps us reminisce a little bit. The coming of age stories are always heartfelt as many adults often reflect on their own experiences. If I were in the classroom, this would be on my middle grades shelf to hopefully allow some of my students to find themselves in this book.
DIVERSITY, BABY!
First of all, this book was written by a SOUTH KOREAN WOMAN who is also a film director, screenwriter, and obviously a novelist! It is pretty rare for Korean literature to make its way into English publishing. However, I am so glad that this one was able to make it. This book not only empowers young women and people of color but also people with disabilities. It was so nice to have a character of color, from a different country with different customs, and was not only struggling with his disability, but trying to overcome his disability. So many children do not see themselves represented enough in English literature in a positive way or cannot see their culture in the world they live in as an immigrant. Students (hell adults too) with disabilities don’t see themselves represented. ADHD tends to be a popular topic that is touched on, but what about others? Trying to make an inclusive library for a classroom budget is hard, but this one definitely deserves a spot there!
CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT
Yunjae is the main character. To watch him develop from being reliant on his mother and grandmother to him starting to learn how to make friends (and maybe a girlfriend?) is a rather unique experience. Won-Pyung Sohn and Sandy Joosun Lee did such an amazing job of really holding my hand and guiding me through the journey of Yunjae: what he was thinking, how he was developing as a young man, and how he processed information differently than me. At times I wanted to leap into the book and encourage Yunjae, his mother, and grandmother. But then, I didn’t need to because he had the help of a former doctor who lived upstairs, Dr. Shim. Dr. Shim was this fresh breath of air who worked really well with Yunjae. I kind of pictured him like this wise prophet of a man who was able to use his wisdom and knowledge to really guide Yunjae when he needed it, but also allow him to spread his wings and try new (and even though he couldn’t feel it) scary things.
Another character that had a magnificent impact on Yanjae was Gon. I love the quote from the prologue: “This story is, in short, about a monster meeting another monster. One of the monsters is me.” Gon is a juvie delinquent, was thrown from house to house and shelter to shelter, and became a school bully. If I have learned anything about bullies, it’s that they are usually a bully because of something that had or is still happening in their life. There is something else going on emotionally (the need to feel like they are in charge or protected). Gon would bully Yunjae because of his disability and the life-altering event that EVERYONE knew about. On Yunjae’s 16th birthday, a very violent attack occurs, leaving him to survive alone. Or so he thinks. Eventually, Gon and Yunjae create a very surprising and unique friendship that only helped elevate both of them into the young adults they are at the end of the book. (I really want to type the whole story out because it is so valuable and important that these two had the ability to enter each other’s lives, but I won’t ruin the story for you).
COMING OF AGE (IT’S THE CIRCLEEEEEEEE OF LIFE!!!!)
This book is a coming of age story. One that is different from anyone else’s, yet the same in many ways. I mean those teenage years were rough as hell, but we made it! The themes that really stuck out to me were loss, friendships, and personal growth. These all are a part of every human’s journey on finding our path and the author did such a great job of intertwining these three themes like a beautiful braid. Loss. Just hearing that word, we can think about a person, a place, a memory, an object, and feel our heart hurt. Yunjae’s 16th birthday was not something to be celebrated. That violent attack occurs, leaving him to carve out his own path by creating friendships and to learn to rely on others. His friendships help create the personal growth readers get to see through the entire novel. Won-Pyung Sohn did such a fantastic job of showing personal growth of not only Yunjae, but also ALL OF THE CHARACTERS! I was so amazed when I started to reflect on this book about how each person bettered themselves by meeting one another. How they learned, grew, accepted, and conquered their fears, dislikes, misunderstandings, and friendships. I honestly am so overwhelmed and elated with this tight, beautiful braid. I do not think Sohn or Lee could have weaved or translated these themes any better than they were able to.
If you are looking for a feel-good book, a book of diversity, a book of culture, a book of growing up, this is definitely the book for you. Please, teachers, pick up a copy. Put it on the shelves. Have book talks. Help make kids feel included and able to feel weird and comfortable with themselves.
IN CONCLUSION, READ THE FRACKING BOOK!
Up Next: Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets by David Simon
