Almond by Won-pyung Sohn
“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.”
Won-pyung Sohn is a Korean director, script-writer and novelist. Almond, her debut novel, was released in 2017 and translated into English for publication in Australia in 2020. It tells the story of Yunjae, a young boy born with a difference. Yunjae has a brain condition called Alexithymia that makes it hard for him to feel emotions like fear, anger, and empathy. The condition is attributed to the lack of development of the amygdalae in the brain, responsible for emotional regulation. Yunjae refers to these as his “almonds,” a reference to their size and also to the fact his mother regularly feeds him almonds from all over the world, in the hope they’ll help his development.
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.”
Everything changes for Yunjae, when at the age of sixteen, his mother and grandmother are both victims of a senseless, violent attack on Christmas Eve. Left to care for himself, Yunjae attempts to navigate the world without the support of his mother’s coaching, finishing school and keeping her bookshop open. It’s at this point in the story that Yunjae meets Gon, another teenage boy with a troubled past, through a bizarre coincidence. Tentatively the two strike up a friendship, the first of Yunjae’s life, and they learn to rely on each other in ways neither of them has relied on anyone else before.
The first half of Almond is told beautifully. It’s all written from Yunjae’s perspective, and although he’s a distant narrator, what he lacks in emotional delivery is made up for by how Sohn makes us feel for him. Yunjae questions himself and ponders the complex questions of life. He’s aware and self-assured, keen to do the “right” thing - while never feeling certain of what that might be.
“Looking back, Granny must’ve wanted an ordinary life for Mom, too. But Mom didn’t have it... Being ordinary was the trickiest path. Everyone thinks ‘ordinary’ is easy and all, but how many of them would actually fit into the so-called smooth road the word implied?”
As Yunjae emerges further into adolescence, it’s implied that he somehow begins to develop more emotionality but it’s not clear. At some points, he describes himself as feeling relieved or having an “ominous” feeling - which doesn’t quite fit with the narrative of him not being able to feel emotions. Sometimes it seems like Sohn changes the story in this aspect in order to meet a plot device rather than staying true to the character.
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.
It’s difficult to review a book that has been translated from Korean, as there is always going to be so much that’s left out or unexpressed. Sohn touches well across both happiness and sadness, joy and the complexities of life. There are also some beautiful descriptions about books, which were a delight to read:
“But books are quiet. They remain dead silent until somebody flips open a page. Only then do they spill out their stories, calmly and thoroughly, just enough at a time for me to handle.”
Overall, Almond is a well-written and unique story about the power of friendship.
Elaine Mead is a freelance writer and book reviewer, currently residing in Hobart, Tasmania. She is passionate about the ways we can use literature to learn from our experiences to become more authentic versions of ourselves and obsessed with showing you photos of her Dachshund puppy. You can find her online under @wordswithelaine.
