Review by dottiewankenobi - The Vegetarian

dottiewankenobi 's review for:

The Vegetarian by Han Kang

4.0

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Loveable characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

This book was a hard read at times. Despite the first two POV characters being quite unlikable, I still found the story and of course any scenes with Young-hye very interesting. To an outside perspective like a reader's, it's clear that she's spiraling and needs help, yet she gets none, and so to see things get progressively worse is quite engaging even if it is also sad and rage inducing. The first section taught me about two new squicks I didn't realize I had --

blood/gore in the mouth, and graphic animal abuse. Before, I found these things gross, but the scenes in this book that featured these things really hit me hard. I actually only skimmed the abuse scene because I couldn't stand to read it all the way through

.

The second section was... a lot.

I found the brother in law to be somehow even worse of a person than Young-hye's husband. It was like watching a train wreck, unable to look away as things get worse and worse. And he's the drunk driver who caused it all, and feels sorry for himself. While I found Kang's descriptions of his work (both the actual creations and how he created them) to be interesting, the unease strung through it all made it even more perversely entertaining. Yet at the same time, I found it hard to like him so much that it felt like it tainted everything else. Also he's also a rapist, so that's 2 for 0 on not-shitty men.

That said, I did enjoy a brief glimpse of hope near the beginning of this section where Young-hye seemed to be doing better, and I was glad to see more of her sister.

The third section made up for the assholery in the first two.

In-hye is by far my favorite character in this book, though in saying that, she's not like a favorite favorite -- she just didn't make me want to throw up, and also I was really interested in her struggles and how was she dealing with them. (I didn't care about the struggles of the husband or the brother in law, at all.) I really liked that she didn't blame Young-hye for what happened with her husband, at least not outwardly. Her strength and her weaknesses were both fascinating, and I loved that it was her relationship with Young-hye that was central, another tie connecting the pieces of the book.

TWs: spousal sexual abuse / rape / other forms of non-consent, eating disorders, ableism and non-supportive family, animal abuse, blood, gore, institutionalization

Content Warnings