The amygdalae are two almond-shaped clusters located within the medial temporal lobes of the brain´s cerebrum in complex vertebrates such as humans. They have shown to play a primary role in the procession of emotions. The singular form “amygdala” is derived from the Greek word “almond”. A damage of the amygdala can cause poor decision-making and impair emotional memories. But what is it like to live with an amygdala that is much smaller than the average.
This question is the starting point for the debut novel “Almond” by South Korean author Won-Pyung Sohn. Her protagonist Younjae was born with Alyxthemia, a blindness of emotions. His condition makes it hard for him to feel any emotions be they good or bad in himself as well as in others. As a result, he seems apathetic, insensitive and cold. This regard of him by societies standards can have harmful effects as shown by an incident in Younjae early childhood: He sees a boy being beaten by a group of other boys and walks into a nearby store, to inform the owner that there is a person in need of medical help. Due to a lack of urgency or terror in his voice or face, the owner does not believe him and does not check on the victim. This causes the young boy’s death who is later on tragically revealed to be the store owner´s very own son. With this incident Sohn sets the focal point and tone for the rest of the novel: the importance of empathy in the decision making of every single person. People easily ostracise Younjae as they not only fail to understand him but also do not make an effort to change that.
Luckily Younjae is blessed with a very loving family. His mother and grandmother provide a shelter for him in their home and used bookstore. The feeling of their warm hands on his sides keeps his whole universe together. Younjaes mother especially is set on helping his amygdala grow by having him eat many almonds and by teaching him the meaning behind emotional words such as joy, fear or hate. The grandmother´s calligraphy of every newly introduced word is hung all over their home. His mother also gives Younjae tips on how to cover his disability with practical advice, however this feed becomes more difficult as Younjae grows and interactions turn more complex. It is thus inevitable that his condition is found out in school and as a result he is being isolated and bullied, oftentimes finding himself on the receiving end of physical harm ranging from tripping to punching and kicking.
Things could however work given his good home-life and his decision to simply fake what he does not have or to try to be invisible, but then a random act of violence shatters his world completely. With both his guardians gone, he is suddenly left to his own devices and at sixteen he has to fend for his own. First, he tries to just move on as normally as possible, but this is much easier said than done. Luckily soon new people enter his life: a kind-hearted bakery owner, a girl with a passion for running and especially a new classmate nicknamed Gon. The poor decision of a third party puts Younjae and Gon on each other’s radar and what starts out as another bully and victim relationship turns into something meaningful and eventually beautiful.
In the afterword for her novel, Sohn explains how the birth of her own daughter has inspired this story. Seeing the little child wriggling in its cradle, she wondered whether she would be able to give it unconditional love no matter what. What if it turned out to be someone completely different from its mother? This led to the creation of Younjae and Gon. Both boys are different from the so called “norm”. For Younjae it is his lack of emotions that sets him apart and for Gon it is an overload of them. But while Younjae receives love and affection by his family, Gon does not. At a young age he is separated from his family and handed from one place to another until he is reunited with his biological father. However, the circumstances of his upbringing have led to an overcharge of negative emotions, which his father is unable to overturn. He is in fact not able to connect with his returned child. Sohn does not name the reason for that, yet it is implied that the father´s prestigious position in society and the image he tries to uphold are crucial factors for his behaviour. His son is not what he imagined him to be. The lack of support and alienation creates anger and sadness inside Gon. This results in two stark polar opposite characters for both boys, as one is doomed to inner emptiness and one to heart-breaking sensitivity.
Younjae once calls the story one of two monsters meeting each other. “Monster” is probably a term mostly used for creatures which we do not and mostly cannot understand. Usually, stories follow a similar pattern in this sense: As long as a creature is not being understood, it is a monster. Once someone makes an attempt to understand them though the word is often times abandoned. This is the same case here, as Younjae once remarks that it is not impossible to understand Gon as others have claimed, but rather nobody has ever attempted to. They perhaps followed the advice given to Younjae by his mother: Do not stand out and too much honesty can hurt others.
In this sense the two boys are the perfect match for each other, like puzzle pieces that need to be linked to form a whole: Due to his absence of emotions, Younjae turns to logic and by that is not as judgemental as people with ordinarily shaped amygdalae. He does not tick Gon as monster and instead allows him to come close. Gon in his pain on the other hand wishes for nothing but to lose his feelings which causes him to be fascinated by Younjae. Naturally he is also drawn to the only person who accepts him and gives him a chance to let go of the hard boiled and aggressive image he put on because he believes that since this is what society thinks of him, every effort to prove them otherwise is pointless.
Cleverly and without ever pushing the reader in one direction, Sohn points out the flaws in societies behaviour. Younjae tries his very best to understand emotions and feelings but is often left baffled at how seemingly empathetic people so easily turn a blind eye to things that do not immediately concern themselves or those close to them. They are quick to criticize and complain and are often hung up on unimportant details yet do not lift a finger when a serious problem is at hand. The violence which shatters Younjaes world could perhaps at least have been less brutal if people had been ready to help. It is therefore purposefully ironic, that a person void of emotions has a better grasp at this very thing.
But the novel does not simplify its topic. Human relationships and emotions are shown as what they are: highly complex. Younjaes mother once sums this up quite perfectly by stating, that there are hundreds of answers to one question in this world thus making it quite hard to find the correct one. Circumstances can turn a right answer in one situation into one incredibly unsuitable in another.
At the beginning and the end Younjae says, that beforehand you can never know whether a story will have a positive or a negative ending and this is true for everything. One has to confront the things coming to know how they will end. Throughout the novel he grows and starts to understand the workings of the world better and better. It is not enough anymore for him to imitate emotions and to put on an act in order to blend in, but instead he really wants to feel what he knows in theory. He wants to read between the lines and be able to decipher the hidden meanings underneath the obvious surface.
His interactions help him to find the keys to boxes previously locked to him. This is beautifully reflected in the language. It is certainly not easy to write from the perspective of a person who does not feel and can therefore not describe feelings as books especially thrive from the emotions created by language. Translator Sandy Joosun Lee carefully chose every word using rather bland and direct choices at the beginning and slowly introducing more emotions by weaving a more colourful variety of similes and metaphors into the text. Her effort at an emotionless style does not work all the time, but the bits where it doesn´t do not negatively affect the reading experience.
The book is sectioned into many short chapters divided into four parts, with each part focusing on another aspect of Younjaes journey. The shortness of the chapters is certainly welcoming for inexperienced readers as they provide a quicker feeling of success and the four parts help to understand the progress of the story. It is however at this point, that a little critique needs to be addressed: The later parts are weaker than the first and the ending is a tad bit too sweet and perfect. It is understandable that Sohn wants to give a positive outlook into the future to show that progress and change are possible. On the other hand, it is quite surprising to see a boy who feels nothing at the sight of the most important people in his life being hurt in a most painful manner suddenly falling in love out of seemingly nowhere and in a very short amount of time. Younjaes growth has been visible without that, and the space should have preferably been invested more into the friendship of Younjae and Gon.
“Almond” may be placed in the young adult genre, in actuality it is a work going against such labels and appealing for a wide audience due to its important message and the way Sohn is able to force her readers to think and judge for themselves. She wittingly poses the right questions and has the skill to gently shake one’s shoulder. Her demand for more compassion, empathy and kindness is one universally needed. After all we live in circulatory systems, which means that we can all learn und grow from each other. Social prejudices need to be abolished so that people like Younjae and Gon can lead ordinary lives just like everybody else. Reading this engaging novel can be an easy first step to understand why.
Sohn, Won-Pyung. Almond. HarperVia, 2020.
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