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limrika 's review for:
The Vegetarian
by Han Kang
reflective
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Captivating, powerful, universal
(Review contains spoilers)
I went into the book vaguely knowing what it was about. I thought it would be dark, disturbing and stressful. And it was in some parts. But it was also a reflective experience. It ended abruptly without any resolution but the ending suits a book like this.
It's not just about preference of food or choice or autonomy. This is an act of revolt against a system and society that controls your life, your choices, your existence itself. Yeong Hye's story would not be the same if she was a man who was giving up meat.
It's not just the isolation or peer pressure one faces when they have a different dietary preference. It's a culmination of all the systemic discrimination and violence one faces for being born as their gender. It's a deeply gendered story.
How a woman's choices are taken away from her, how a woman is moulded from childhood to fit a role which is in relation to a man, she is not allowed to be a person but a character - a mother, a wife, a daughter, a sister, how violence towards women in family is so normalised, how even the misfits, the misunderstood and the sensitive men ( her brother in law- the sensitive artist) would take advantage of a woman. And it's not only yeong hye who is exposed to this injustices. We see in the last chapter how even her own sister's life is full of hardships. She herself feels trapped and even suicidal at one point and she understands her sister and empathizes with her.
It's heartbreaking and disturbing and familiar.
(Review contains spoilers)
I went into the book vaguely knowing what it was about. I thought it would be dark, disturbing and stressful. And it was in some parts. But it was also a reflective experience. It ended abruptly without any resolution but the ending suits a book like this.
It's not just about preference of food or choice or autonomy. This is an act of revolt against a system and society that controls your life, your choices, your existence itself. Yeong Hye's story would not be the same if she was a man who was giving up meat.
It's not just the isolation or peer pressure one faces when they have a different dietary preference. It's a culmination of all the systemic discrimination and violence one faces for being born as their gender. It's a deeply gendered story.
How a woman's choices are taken away from her, how a woman is moulded from childhood to fit a role which is in relation to a man, she is not allowed to be a person but a character - a mother, a wife, a daughter, a sister, how violence towards women in family is so normalised, how even the misfits, the misunderstood and the sensitive men ( her brother in law- the sensitive artist) would take advantage of a woman. And it's not only yeong hye who is exposed to this injustices. We see in the last chapter how even her own sister's life is full of hardships. She herself feels trapped and even suicidal at one point and she understands her sister and empathizes with her.
It's heartbreaking and disturbing and familiar.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Eating disorder, Sexual assault, Suicide