Reviews with content warning for Animal cruelty - La vegetariana

This was...certainly a book!

This was a difficult read. You definitely need to pay attention to the CW's and maybe even do more research on them before deciding to pick this up, because i went out of my way to look for them and I still got shocked by a few things. There were certain scenes in this book that made my stomach twist and they didn't have anything to do with the expected gore you'd think of just from the plot summary.

Overall though, this book didn't quite meet my expectations. I think my main problem is that this book was not in the main character's (Yeong-hye) perspective pretty much at all, except for a few little snippets. We get pretty much the entire story from outside perspectives; her husband, her brother-in-law, her sister. I feel like it took a lot of the oomph out of the story.

It would've been a much more compelling book if we saw it from Yeong-hye's point of view, so we can witness the descent of mental state firsthand. Watching from the outside just made every change seem bizarre, which was probably the point of making that decision about the POVs, but it only made the story confusing in my opinion. It made it all less enjoyable because I just wasn't sure what was going on for half the book.

One thing I did like, though, was the part in her sisters (In-hye) point of view. I think the author captured the frustration and grief of having a loved one struggling with mental illness really well. It was heartbreaking to watch In-hye just watch her sister get worse and not being able to do anything about it.

The ending, to keep it non-spoilery, was very unsatisfying in my opinion.

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tangerinejellies's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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katieribbon's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

quite bizarre piece of writing, finished it few days ago and can't really wrap my head around it. i definitely keep on thinking about it. i loved the beginning and i thought it was so intruging and it was what i expected it to be, an exploration of consequences that come when husband's wife decides to become a vegetarian but throughout the book it gets more twisted, bizarre, weird and starts shifting to a completely different narrative and topics. i don't know if i loved that. it was for sure an interesting read but as i said bizarre.

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hauntedorchid's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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wynnerad's review against another edition

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dark medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.5

I could not tell you a single solid plot line that happened in this book. Unlike The Grace Year, where the uncomfortable scenes had a purpose, every time I wanted to vomit or shut the book was so unnecessary.

My biggest issue is that the book is said to be “a tale of one woman’s struggle to break free of the violence in and around her”, but there is not a single section of the book where the main pov is hers. She is merely viewed through other people’s eyes and it made me sick.

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