Reviews with content warning for Suicide attempt - La vegetariana

This has been on my TBR list for a while, but it was only ok. The two parts told through male POVs was interesting, as we have no idea who Yeong-hye is until her sister's section. She is "insane" and "self-centered to her husband for becoming vegan (why was the title translated to vegetarian?) which makes you wonder what is left out of the narrative through the inherent unreliability of a male character who doesn't value or care for his wife and feels justified in his treatment of her. Veganism as a metaphor for female agency is obvious in her family's treatment of her, where she is treated as a criminal for her refusal to eat meat. The second male character's POV has her as an object of desire---she is an object for all the men in her life and it's little wonder she goes crazy. Her descent to madness is kinda yellow-wallpaperesque in that I felt I might have reacted the same way in their positions. I like the ambiguity of the dreams, and the dreams are the only place we get first-person insight into Yeong-hye. However, I was still a little bored while reading, so even though I appreciate the book it wasn't my favorite.

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mbhcad's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

I’m not entirely sure what this novel is about, but that doesn’t stop it from being gripping the entire way through. Han Kang creates a subject whose very existence upends the lives of those around her, laying out like spilt entrails the inescapable violence of patriarchy. Yeong-hye, the titular housewife-turned-vegetarian, is constantly manipulated and violated by the men around her who have decided her expression of autonomy is an unbearable offense. A spectacularly written read that left me feeling hollow, but not in a bad way.

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marley_jane's review against another edition

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this book is not horror in the gory scary way, its horror in the men are actually disgusting kind of way. And I do not want to read that.

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raspberrymai's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

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abicaro17's review against another edition

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challenging dark reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

This is hard because while I enjoyed the symbolism and literary quality of this book, it also contains numerous instances of gratuitous violence, eating disorders, and abuse. I came into this book thinking it was a horror book based on the cover and implications in the synopsis. It is a horror book but not like I thought. The way women are treated in this book is the truly horrifying part. Rape, abuse, sexualisation, more rape etc. I really enjoyed the intentional slow decent for Yeong-hye into having zero control over her life despite every attempt to prevent it. I think the execution is just so violent that this book is soured for any attempt at resolution. Especially when the resolution is the sister abandoning her child?!

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