Reviews

La vegetariana by Han Kang

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bookdsolid's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

perillaleaf's review against another edition

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dark mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No

3.0

jess_mango's review against another edition

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3.0

Hmmm. odd, dark, weird, perplexing book.

The Vegetarian tells the story of Yeong-hye, a young lady from Seoul, Korea, who after having a bizarre nightmare, decides to become a vegetarian. Not only a vegetarian, she seeks to live a more plant-like existence, doing things like sunning herself naked. Her decision confuses and even angers her husband and parents. There's some force feeding, psych evals, etc. As her family estranges her, Yeong-hye sinks deeper into her plant-based fantasy.

This book is mostly told from the perspective of characters other than the vegetarian. The book is divided into three sections. The first section focuses on Yeong-hye and her husband The second section is mostly about her brother-in-law who sees her as a muse for his art. The 3rd section shifts the focus to Yeong-hye's sister and her relationship with Yeong-hye. Through all of these various perspectives we see how Yeong-hye is viewed with anything from disdain to wonder and fear. There are a lot of feminist messages in here about the subjugation and objectification of women.

This book counts towards the Reading Women 2020 Challenge task #2: a book translated from an Asian language

sarahpuedeleer's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad fast-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

4.0

obiathus's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

This book is dark. Complicated. It awakes something sensetive in you, yet raw. I had a hard time

reading about the abuse

but I also felt so much for the Hye sisters. This book won't leave my mind for some time.

fantasynovel's review against another edition

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3.0

A dark tale of sexual liberation, "The Vegetarian" follows a South-Korean woman named Yeong-hye's descent into madness. The story is an allegory for male oppression of women, with meat standing in for the violence both within and without Yeong-hye and plants standing for freedom. It's a bit stretched out; there are scenes that could be cut entirely, making this a novella and not a novel. I was a little bit bored, and I also felt that the translation was stilted in the way only translations can be. This may be unfair; I haven't read it in the original Korean. In the end, I found it fascinating but boring.