3.0
The Vegetarian
By Han Kang & Deborah SmithPublisher Description
WINNER OF THE INTERNATIONAL BOOKER PRIZE • “[Han] Kang viscerally explores the limits of what a human brain and body can endure, and the strange beauty that can be found in even the most extreme forms of renunciation.”—Entertainment Weekly
One of the New York Times’s 100 Best Books of the 21st Century
“Ferocious.”—The New York Times Book Review (Ten Best Books of the Year)
“Both terrifying and terrific.”—Lauren Groff
“Provocative [and] shocking.”—The Washington Post
Before the nightmares began, Yeong-hye and her husband lived an ordinary, controlled life. But the dreams—invasive images of blood and brutality—torture her, driving Yeong-hye to purge her mind and renounce eating meat altogether. It’s a small act of independence, but it interrupts her marriage and sets into motion an increasingly grotesque chain of events at home. As her husband, her brother-in-law and sister each fight to reassert their control, Yeong-hye obsessively defends the choice that’s become sacred to her. Soon their attempts turn desperate, subjecting first her mind, and then her body, to ever more intrusive and perverse violations, sending Yeong-hye spiraling into a dangerous, bizarre estrangement, not only from those closest to her, but also from herself.
Celebrated by critics around the world, The Vegetarian is a darkly allegorical, Kafka-esque tale of power, obsession, and one woman’s struggle to break free from the violence both without and within her.
A Best Book of the Year: BuzzFeed, Entertainment Weekly, Wall Street Journal, Time, Elle, The Economist, HuffPost, Slate, Bustle, The St. Louis Dispatch, Electric Literature, Publishers Weekly
One of the New York Times’s 100 Best Books of the 21st Century
“Ferocious.”—The New York Times Book Review (Ten Best Books of the Year)
“Both terrifying and terrific.”—Lauren Groff
“Provocative [and] shocking.”—The Washington Post
Before the nightmares began, Yeong-hye and her husband lived an ordinary, controlled life. But the dreams—invasive images of blood and brutality—torture her, driving Yeong-hye to purge her mind and renounce eating meat altogether. It’s a small act of independence, but it interrupts her marriage and sets into motion an increasingly grotesque chain of events at home. As her husband, her brother-in-law and sister each fight to reassert their control, Yeong-hye obsessively defends the choice that’s become sacred to her. Soon their attempts turn desperate, subjecting first her mind, and then her body, to ever more intrusive and perverse violations, sending Yeong-hye spiraling into a dangerous, bizarre estrangement, not only from those closest to her, but also from herself.
Celebrated by critics around the world, The Vegetarian is a darkly allegorical, Kafka-esque tale of power, obsession, and one woman’s struggle to break free from the violence both without and within her.
A Best Book of the Year: BuzzFeed, Entertainment Weekly, Wall Street Journal, Time, Elle, The Economist, HuffPost, Slate, Bustle, The St. Louis Dispatch, Electric Literature, Publishers Weekly
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Meet readers like you in the Fable For You feed, designed to build bookish communities2431 Reviews
3.0
ingiroconalice
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gtxm
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Dark settingDarkThought-provokingAbuseMisogynySelf-harmSexual assault
Em Sager
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“I’m having a difficult time rating this one because it was a lot to take in. I decided 4 stars because I think the way this book was designed is incredibly unique and so multiplexed, but I didn’t really enjoy reading it and I will most likely never read it again. I came in expecting a horror book and while there are many graphic/eerie scenes, I think this is a much more thoughtful and complex piece that can’t be lumped into one genre. I spent 2/3rds of this book trying to piece together what the author was trying to say and greatly disliking the book because we were trapped in the two men’s perspectives (which were vile and honestly triggering). But in the third act I feel like it all came together, and I realized we never once get to hear Yeong-hye’s voice telling her own story; we only get how she is perceived by others as a wife, as a sexual object, and as a sister.
All I can say is this book is not about being a vegetarian; it’s about body autonomy, mental illness, and most importantly, the women’s place in South Korean society (or society in general). If you like weird books with heavy topics, this one’s for you.”Original writing
emić
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Annichilire
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About Han Kang
Han Kang was born in 1970 in South Korea. In 1993 she made her literary debut as a poet, and was first published as novelist in 1994. A participant of the Iowa Writers' Workshop, Han has won the Man Booker International Prize, the Yi Sang Literary Prize, the Today's Young Artist Award, and the Manhae Literary Prize. She currently works as a professor in the Department of Creative Writing at the Seoul Institute of the Arts.
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