Book Review

One Month Reading Challenge (Part II): Reviewing Books Recommended by Kim Namjoon of BTS

Kim Namjoon seems enjoying his time reading book. Source: https://www.koreaboo.com

Everybody knows the leader of BTS, Kim Namjoon or RM. He is famous not only for his rapping and music-making skills, but also for his charm and oozing charisma on/off stage. But not only that, he is widely known as an avid reader and constantly seen reading many good books behind camera.

Now let’s check out my review for the books and maybe these can be on your next month’s reading list!

Almond by Sohn Won Pyung

This is a story of a teenager named Yunjae who was born with a brain condition called Alexithymia that makes it hard for him to feel emotions including, happiness, sadness, and even anger. The story shows the development of Yunje’s character emotion due to some incidents that transformed him.

At first, I had high expectations of this book as it’s recommended by many readers. However, since I have just finished two Han Kang’s books with dramatic plot, I ended up disappointed by Almond. For me, the plot is too apparent, and that makes it too easy to predict the ending.

I was hoping that the book would give my wildest imagination to go full-blown wild by making the story end up unpredictable or twisted. It was quite a flop somehow since some scenes could be quite graphic and it contains intense tragedy in the early chapter. I expected that the progression to the ending could balance that.

I didn’t put down the book and kept reading it because I was hoping that I would find the twist somewhere in the middle of the story. Yet the story just goes as I predicted until the end.

I don’t want to be the “Karen” here, being disappointed doesn’t mean that I hate the book. I would say, the plot doesn’t suit my taste but I would applaud for how well this book is written, how it critiques our society, and points out major moral values.

1. We can’t avoid the fact that people have different problems, past, and upbringing, we should never judge very easily. We could only know if we were on their shoes.
2. We’re fitting in just to avoid problems. Due to that we tend to label others negatively if they don’t conform to society.
3. We don’t often mean what we say, we say it because we feel good after saying it or oblidged to say it. The truth is only shown by action.

I don’t see Almond as a book to challenge your perspective, to trill your imagination, or something like that, this book rather works as a reminder for us as an individual and a part of society and that’s what I love about it.

Vegetarian by Han Kang

Yeong-hye, is a housewife who, one day, suddenly decides to stop eating meat after she experiences a series of dreams. Her decision to become an extreme vegetarian causes lots of tragedy in her life and leads to a dramatic ending. The story is told in three parts and each part is narrated by Yeong-hye’s husband Mr. Cheong, Yeong-hye’s brother-in-law, and her sister, In-hye.

Contradicted to Han Kang’s previous book, Human Act, the protagonist in Vegetarian is on the reverse side of violence. In the story, Yeong-hye gradually sheds her human side and devotes herself to “becoming” a plant that exists without the desire to have meaning and greed.

I’ve only read two of Han Kang’s books, Human Act and Vegetarian, and both become my favorite so far. She describes everything vividly, the characters and the situation can be very unimaginable, and the whole concept of this book is so extreme but engaging. Han Kang’s books make the readers question lots of things especially the purpose of life, human nature, and humanity in general.

This story is about the protagonist who is fighting for what’s right for her (to the extreme level) despite being judged, she chooses to break the norms of society. Rather than conform to society and follow the authority just to “survive” like her sister, Yeong-hye chooses to follow what she believes was right for her although that takes a toll on her life. That causes her to be cast away by her parents, husband, and even society but she keeps proceeding with what she believes in: to become a vegetarian.

Vegetarian also shows the reality of the patriarchal society around Yeong-hye: her father, her husband, and her brother-in-law who all caused trauma and tragedy in Yeong-hye’s life. They are all acting as if they’re entitled to treat Yeong-hye that way and expect her to be submissive to their authority.

The opposite of Almond, if you’re looking for a book that challenges your perspective and leaves you with so many questions after reading it, Han Kang’s Vegetarian can be a good choice for you!

Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto

Okay, first of all, don’t expect something out of ordinary from this book. Kitchen is a book that is quite calming and tells a common everyday life of the protagonist after dealing with grief and loss. She is Mikage who is left alone by her dead family members and as the story progresses, she meets Yuichi Tanabe and is introduced to his mother, Eriko Tanabe. The plot is far from dramatic yet Yoshimoto successfully adds a surprising scene to stir our emotion.

Despite its simplicity, this book contains so many life lessons and an engaging storyline that makes me hard to put down the book. The scene, the characters, and their mannerisms are mostly very ordinary and that makes the reader find it easy to relate to the story. Yoshimoto describes the characters so well, that it makes the readers get attached to them and fall into the sadness that the characters feel.

In this book, grief feels so close and normal, and we are meant to experience it somehow. Yoshimoto puts a balance between sad and happy moments. She successfully illustrates it as realistic as possible where happiness and sadness in one’s life are not eternal, time shall pass and time too shall heal.

Here are major key takeaways from this book:

1. We will eventually experience grief and the loss of someone we love. We can do nothing but embrace this reality, and make it a reminder that we should not take our moment with them for granted. Once they’re gone, they’re gone for good.
2. We need to take a moment to embrace sadness and happiness. Both moments exist side by side in our life and we should realise too that none of them is everlasting.
3. We have to appreciate the life that we’re living and cherish the moment with the people we’re caring about while we can.

So what do you think of these three books? Are you curious to check them out? Share your thoughts with me!

Note: I also made the first part of Kim Namjoon’s book recommendation that you can check out through the link: https://chandrahardita.medium.com/one-month-reading-challenge-books-recommended-by-kim-namjoon-of-bts-71ed9f8b3af