Winner of the 2016 Man Booker International Prize NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The New York Times Book Review • Publisher’s Weekly • Buzzfeed • Entertainment Weekly • Time • Wall Street Journal • Bustle • Elle • The Economist • Slate • The Huffington Post • The St. Louis Dispatch • Electric Literature Featured in the New York Times selection of “15 remarkable books by … Times selection of “15 remarkable books by women that are shaping the way we read and write fiction in the 21st century”
A beautiful, unsettling novel about rebellion and taboo, violence and eroticism, and the twisting metamorphosis of a soul
Before the nightmares began, Yeong-hye and her husband lived an ordinary, controlled life. But the dreams—invasive images of blood and brutality—torture her, driving Yeong-hye to purge her mind and renounce eating meat altogether. It’s a small act of independence, but it interrupts her marriage and sets into motion an increasingly grotesque chain of events at home. As her husband, her brother-in-law and sister each fight to reassert their control, Yeong-hye obsessively defends the choice that’s become sacred to her. Soon their attempts turn desperate, subjecting first her mind, and then her body, to ever more intrusive and perverse violations, sending Yeong-hye spiraling into a dangerous, bizarre estrangement, not only from those closest to her, but also from herself.
Celebrated by critics around the world, The Vegetarian is a darkly allegorical, Kafka-esque tale of power, obsession, and one woman’s struggle to break free from the violence both without and within her.
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It was depressing and grim
Quite strange. Maybe too high brow for me.
offbeat, readable and genuinely surprising. worth the read.
Dark, hard to read.
I found this book to be a complete downer. I did not care for the style of writing or the symbolism.
I read the book in one sitting, I couldn’t put it down. The culture in the story is Asian but real story the author is telling happens in every culture, be they poor or rich.
Dysfunctional families are not worth reading or writing about.
Interesting main character. Poor pornography
It was a bit depressing ,,the characters were all so unhappy….and the ending really confused me..I actually need to reread that last part since I am still baffled. It was quite compelling , all in all.
Just couldn’t get into this; after the 5th chapter i gave up. None of the characters were appealing to me
Extremely different… Very good writing
An understated literary novel that leaves the true meaning to the reader
I’m somewhat ambivalent towards literary fiction. I take the approach of seeing things through their end purpose – Aristotle’s Telos.
A towel is only good so far as it does towel things well – ie dry you off and/or protect you from sand at the beach. If it does not do that, it is not a good towel.
A book should entertain you and/or enlighten you. If it does neither of those things, it is not a good book.
Any Ruth Ware book entertains me, so all of Ruth Ware’s books are good. Any Yuval Noah Harari book enlightens me – so all of Yuval Noah Harari’s books are good.
But books that fall under the genre of Literary Fiction sometimes fulfill neither of those criteria. They are often inaccessible to the point of being chores to read, and you may not feel enlightened afterwards.
Sometimes after reading a piece of Literary Fiction, you can say I have read it, and that is it.
Ware gives you thrills, Harari makes you more intelligent – but with many Literary Fiction books you can say you have read them, and that is it.
The Vegetarian delivers thought, in an understated way
This book is not inaccessible.
It is not thrilling – you don’t have that desire to rush home and read it like you do with Ruth Ware.
It is not super-filled with enlightenment – you do not have any bon mots to bring to your next dinner party, like you do after reading Harari or Malcolm Gladwell.
But again – it is not inaccessible.
Kang brings the plot – a woman decides to become vegetarian in a non-vegetarian country. A lot of things happen, and it is up to the reader to decide what the metaphor means. It is really up to the reader.
The book is not even about vegetarianism. It is about things happening, it is about the reader making sense of them.
So in short, I recommend it – at the very least Han Kang will fulfill your Man Booker Quotient
I liked it, and yes – I can say I have read it. I have read a Man Booker type book this year.
I have my own opinions on the meaning behind this tale – if you check it out, you might just find yours as well.
The horrific tale of what happens when a young Korean housewife decides to take control of her own body, while having a series of monstrous dreams about killing and eating people.
This isn’t a horror novel per se, but one of those unexpected journeys. The main character lives a normal life, until she decides to stop fulfilling other people’s expectations. This is all told from other characters’ points of view–the whole book is about how nobody can treat the main character’s point of view as valid. I’m going to say that you should think of the book as The Metamorphosis from the points of view of the family trying to force Gregor Samsa to function again, if Gregor was a housewife rather than the family provider. I found it lovely and moving, but nastily sarcastic and scathing, too; I laughed out loud in several terrible parts, because it was so Kafkaesque. This was a one-sitting read for me, and kept me awake so I could finish it.
Recommended for fans of Kafka, of course!
It was well written, relatively short but definitely impactful. I thought I knew where it was going but was repeatedly surprised. Well worth reading.