sugar_popppp 's review for:

The Vegetarian by Han Kang

5.0

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It's a haunting, fragmented descent into psychological alienation, social control, and bodily autonomy. Told in three parts through the eyes of those surrounding the protagonist, Yeong-hye, the novel presents a deeply disturbing narrative—one that you described as deranged and repulsive. And rightly so: the grotesque imagery and emotional violence throughout make it difficult to continue reading, with moments so unsettling they provoke a genuine desire inside me to stop altogether. That kind of discomfort is rare for me.

Yet amid the horror, there’s a quiet tragedy—most poignantly embodied in In-hye, Yeong-hye’s sister. In-hye’s helplessness, her silent suffering, and her attempts to hold everything together in a crumbling world make her perhaps the most human character in the novel. It's heartbreaking to witness her unraveling—trapped in a cycle of caregiving, repression, and resignation.

The story felt like dream, or I must say nightmare. It does not provide the reader a luxury of catharsis, it will leave you with extreme unease.

Two quotes that I feel summaries the whole book for me and were root cause of all the tragedy are :-

> “She didn't understand why, but faced with all those king buildings and strangling grasses, she was nothing but a child who had never lived.”

> “Everything would be fine as long as she kept going, just carried on with her life as she always had done. In any case, there was no other way.”