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A review by thereadingcat
The Vegetarian by Han Kang
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
A brilliant book, The Vegetarian tells the story of Yeong-hye, a homemaker who one day decides to become a vegetarian. The novel has 3 parts, detailing the perspectives of the people involved and how her decision led to her being shunned by the people around her. Each part is narrated by a different person and has a distinctive atmosphere to it, the first one is by her husband, focusing on his perspective on the chain of events that happen before and after Yeong-hye's decision. The second one is narrated by her brother-in-law, with a story focused on desire; and the third one is narrated by her sister, with prose that highlights traumas and the pressure facing women in Korean Society.
Similar to how dreams stay a central theme of the book, I also feel as if the time spent reading this book akin to wandering in a dream, with a strong desire to shrug off all the pressure and materialism to embrace becoming a being connected with nature. There are many themes that I still do not get, but what strikes me the most is that perhaps Yeong-Hye's desire to abandon meet and live in a more natural state comes as a turning point when she can no longer accept what living as a human in the modern (Korean) society entails. The different perspectives of our narrators might support this, especially in parts 2 and 3, as they have difficulty realising how to distinguish human desire from societal norms.
While the first story illustrates the sorrowful existence of the women's body and autonomy as being constrained and oppressed by society, the second one shifts the perspective and asks the question of desire and the confusing facets of the body and the mind. However, it is the third story that strikes me as the most haunting and beautiful, as we hear from the narrative of another woman, Yeong-Hye's sisters, and take one step closer to what might be the reasons behind her decision to become a vegetarian. It might have been, perhaps, the hopeless story of trauma, survival instinct, and how it impacts our body and mind, while simultaneously being the hopeful story of discovering our core being and listening to how it is telling us to live. Or maybe it is not as simplistic as that. Regardless, The Vegetarian and its characters are many things: beautiful, haunting, conflicted, provocative, reflective, fearful, bold, and full of complexities and contradictions. At its core, it is a powerful story that leaves readers with a lasting impression of transformation and the human psyche.
Similar to how dreams stay a central theme of the book, I also feel as if the time spent reading this book akin to wandering in a dream, with a strong desire to shrug off all the pressure and materialism to embrace becoming a being connected with nature. There are many themes that I still do not get, but what strikes me the most is that perhaps Yeong-Hye's desire to abandon meet and live in a more natural state comes as a turning point when she can no longer accept what living as a human in the modern (Korean) society entails. The different perspectives of our narrators might support this, especially in parts 2 and 3, as they have difficulty realising how to distinguish human desire from societal norms.
While the first story illustrates the sorrowful existence of the women's body and autonomy as being constrained and oppressed by society, the second one shifts the perspective and asks the question of desire and the confusing facets of the body and the mind. However, it is the third story that strikes me as the most haunting and beautiful, as we hear from the narrative of another woman, Yeong-Hye's sisters, and take one step closer to what might be the reasons behind her decision to become a vegetarian. It might have been, perhaps, the hopeless story of trauma, survival instinct, and how it impacts our body and mind, while simultaneously being the hopeful story of discovering our core being and listening to how it is telling us to live. Or maybe it is not as simplistic as that. Regardless, The Vegetarian and its characters are many things: beautiful, haunting, conflicted, provocative, reflective, fearful, bold, and full of complexities and contradictions. At its core, it is a powerful story that leaves readers with a lasting impression of transformation and the human psyche.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Eating disorder, Rape, Blood