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A review by seekerxr
The Vegetarian by Han Kang
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
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? Yes
3.0
This was...certainly a book!
This was a difficult read. You definitely need to pay attention to the CW's and maybe even do more research on them before deciding to pick this up, because i went out of my way to look for them and I still got shocked by a few things. There were certain scenes in this book that made my stomach twist and they didn't have anything to do with the expected gore you'd think of just from the plot summary.
Overall though, this book didn't quite meet my expectations. I think my main problem is that this book was not in the main character's (Yeong-hye) perspective pretty much at all, except for a few little snippets. We get pretty much the entire story from outside perspectives; her husband, her brother-in-law, her sister. I feel like it took a lot of the oomph out of the story.
It would've been a much more compelling book if we saw it from Yeong-hye's point of view, so we can witness the descent of mental state firsthand. Watching from the outside just made every change seem bizarre, which was probably the point of making that decision about the POVs, but it only made the story confusing in my opinion. It made it all less enjoyable because I just wasn't sure what was going on for half the book.
One thing I did like, though, was the part in her sisters (In-hye) point of view. I think the author captured the frustration and grief of having a loved one struggling with mental illness really well. It was heartbreaking to watch In-hye just watch her sister get worse and not being able to do anything about it.
The ending, to keep it non-spoilery, was very unsatisfying in my opinion.
This was a difficult read. You definitely need to pay attention to the CW's and maybe even do more research on them before deciding to pick this up, because i went out of my way to look for them and I still got shocked by a few things. There were certain scenes in this book that made my stomach twist and they didn't have anything to do with the expected gore you'd think of just from the plot summary.
Overall though, this book didn't quite meet my expectations. I think my main problem is that this book was not in the main character's (Yeong-hye) perspective pretty much at all, except for a few little snippets. We get pretty much the entire story from outside perspectives; her husband, her brother-in-law, her sister. I feel like it took a lot of the oomph out of the story.
It would've been a much more compelling book if we saw it from Yeong-hye's point of view, so we can witness the descent of mental state firsthand. Watching from the outside just made every change seem bizarre, which was probably the point of making that decision about the POVs, but it only made the story confusing in my opinion. It made it all less enjoyable because I just wasn't sure what was going on for half the book.
One thing I did like, though, was the part in her sisters (In-hye) point of view. I think the author captured the frustration and grief of having a loved one struggling with mental illness really well. It was heartbreaking to watch In-hye just watch her sister get worse and not being able to do anything about it.
The ending, to keep it non-spoilery, was very unsatisfying in my opinion.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Child abuse, and Animal death
Moderate: Sexism and Medical content
Minor: Vomit