Reviews tagging 'Grief'

A Vegetariana by Han Kang

39 reviews

dani_ca's review against another edition

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

2.0

i hate men and this was very, very sad

overall unsatisfying end with a lot of men abusing their power and the psychological effects it has in the women in their lives were mostly highlighted in the last part of the book.

if you were told this was a horror novel you were lied to. it’s not NOT horror but i wouldn’t describe it as such.  

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carmentxx's review against another edition

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

4.0

i’ve had to sit on this book before i made a review. i’m used to reading bizarre, disturbing and creepy books but this one may take the cake. there is no better way to describe this book other than bizarrely disturbing. 
i was curious to see if we would ever get yeong-hye’s perspective after we got the perspective of the first two men. spoiler- we don’t. it’s just the sister. it’s a bizarre, disturbing account of a woman’s descent into complete and utter madness from the perspective of people around her who may well be slightly mad as well. the book begs the question- how do we know we’re not all really mad in the same disturbing way these characters are? what is madness? what is the difference between madness in men and in women?

the book isn’t perfect. the pacing is kind of weird where some bits are way too slow and some bits are a bit glossed over. but i was incessantly curious about how kang would end the book- and just as i expected, with lots of questions. 

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iseefirede's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated

3.5

The first part of the book was the most interesting. He was an unreliable narrator to me, as he had obvious flaws that he was completely unaware of. 
The second part I feel had the best imagery. The artist was focused on his work and I liked how it intertwined with the story.
The third part was...strange.
Spoilerwhen she was hospitalized
I mostly checked out. There was a consistent downward spiral and it devolved into almost randomness. The ending was very ambiguous.
I had a personal connection with the main character as I'm vegetarian as well. However, there was a lot more going on with the main character. Definitely an eating disorder and probably psychosis. It's not really made clear.

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coincidentally_k's review against another edition

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

1.75

I didn't get this book. I didn't want to finish this book. It was written fairly nicely (given it was a translation) but there were clearly themes and aspects that I just wasn't understanding.

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monserrot's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5


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frenchvanillapowdercreamer's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0


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bashsbooks's review against another edition

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

4.75

The Vegetarian is so compelling. It uses the unusual but very appropriate lense of vegetarianism to explore a wealth of other topics, from sexual violence to self-harm to familial abuse. I will have to reread it again at some point, as I definitely did not pick up all its nuances the first time around - it may be short, but it's dense. It is told in three parts, each from a different perspective, and I haven't decided how I feel about the tri-point-of-view yet, which is just about the only thing keeping me from giving it a full 5 stars. Regardless, it is haunting, and my brain will keep wandering back to it, for sure.

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renegadegrocerycart's review against another edition

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

4.0

Challenging and darkly fascinating exploration of obsession, bodily purity, mental illness, and societal control. It’s very difficult to read, but worth it, I think.

Yeong-hye is reminiscent of Anna of The Wonder by Emma Donoghue in her obsession to purify her body in response to trauma; it’s interesting to read them side-by-side. 

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sop__'s review against another edition

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

3.5


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baileyt2424's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious reflective 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

1.0


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