Almond: How do people who can't feel anything cry? (Book Review)
Understanding ourselves and relating to others is not always easy
Recently, I read the story of Yunjae, who is 16 years old, the age to experience all kinds of emotions. However, his brain amygdala is smaller than an almond and, as a result, prevents him from feeling anything. Since I found out about this, I put this novel on the list to read because, being fiction and by the Korean author Won-Pyung Sohn, I wanted to know where the novel would take me with a character going through a situation like that.
With his father dying before he was born, Yunjae had only role models: his mother and grandmother. Starting the book, they present how he loses both of them at the age of 16 on the same day in a tragic way. Without expressing anything about what was happening in front of him, he is practically alone in a world that does not understand him. At that moment, I said, “Okay, now what is this guy going to do?”. Everything that happens to him, how it happens to him, and how he deals with it seems straight out of an anime.
Yunjae narrates his own story and his way of being is so noticeable through the narrative. Reading this novella from his perspective is one of the best ways it could have been put together. It allows us to go hand in hand with him trying to understand himself and I felt that I was asking the same questions as him. “How am I supposed to react to this situation not to make the other person feel bad?”, sometimes, without having a small brain amygdala, I ask myself that question, I wouldn't want to be in his shoes.
Let's imagine that we cannot cry, feel afraid, or get angry, you will think: “That would be cool”, but we also cannot laugh or feel joy about something. Not to mention the lack of empathy that, although some people do lack this without the need to have a brain amygdala smaller than almonds, complicates all types of interaction and the world is not used to that. The importance of not just feeling, but letting yourself be felt is vital in our daily lives. Revisiting our feelings for any reason not only affects us internally but also those around us in different ways.
Do you have to learn to express yourself better? Definitely. Likewise, sometimes we make mistakes in how to let our feelings out and the same effects of not doing so are reflected, questioning ourselves and keeping away those close to us. Yunjae, with his honesty in responding to any comment, doubt, or question, is the perfect example to realize how each action of ours, whether it is done with feelings or not, we get a different reaction depending on who we are interacting with.
What do you think of this book? Have you read it or would you be interested in reading it?
You can get Almond through Bookshop (the purpose of this website is to support independent bookstores).
Spanish Version - Almendra: ¿Cómo lloran las personas que no pueden sentir nada? (Reseña del libro)
If you liked what you read, I invite you to comment on it, share it on your social media, and let your loved ones know about the existence of this newsletter.
Thank you very much for reading me, I am grateful for it.