A review by melodramaticbotanist
The Vegetarian by Han Kang

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

4.0

 I devoured this book parallel to the way in which predators prey on meat as described in the book. Yeong-hye seemed difficult to understand yet all too familiar to me. She reminded me of someone in my own life and reading through the different perspectives of the book, I could see myself in their thoughts and monologues. To live a non-conforming life in a strongly collectivist society as Korea was incredibly eye-opening. As a Westerner, it's difficult to understand why such a lifestyle change like vegetarian or veganism might be difficult but reading this book helped to paint a better picture of why this may be so. I couldn't help but want to believe in Yeong-hye's narrative so badly as I even got sucked into it, but as the story got stronger and her actions became more extreme, I began to see the intricacies of mental illness creep through.
  Throughout the entire novel, there is mention of a dream from Yeong-hye and the book ends with In-hye whispering in her sister's ear of having to wake up from the dream or else an unmentionable consequence will occur. In-hye quietly confesses to herself of her past suicidal ideations but inability to carry out the act for her son recounts a dream of a white bird in tears -thus, she continues to carry the burdens of others and not let her so called dreams become a reality. The ending scene has In-hye defiantly looking at the trees as she whispers this to Yeong-Hye. 
  Powerful, primitive, reflective. I will think about this for a while, I can tell. 
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