Reviews

Wowee, this book did not go where I thought it would. And it went quite dark.

Split into three parts, The Vegetarian takes us on a journey with a woman called Yeong-hye, who after a disturbing and bloody dream has decided to be a vegetarian. Without spoiling anything, this is a story about hunger and famine, sexual assault, domestic abuse, and mental illness.

Or is it? On the surface, it appears to be a story of descent into mental illness, but the layer underneath seems to be an allegory for Yeong-hye rebelling against the restrictive expectations forced upon her by not only society, but also her abusive father and husband. It is only after not being understood, and socially isolated, that Yeong-hye seems to spiral into delusional fantasy.

Of the three parts, I connected with the first and third the most, which were from the perspectives of Yeong-hye’s husband and sister respectively. The middle third, from the perspective of her brother-in-law, felt kind of porny (literally), and I felt detached from Yeong-hye, whose voice I couldn’t really hear in this part.

Overall though, The Vegetarian was a definite winner for me. It engaged me within the first five minutes, and had me thinking about it long after I finished. Kang’s writing is truly masterful and it is no surprise this book won the International Booker Prize. This is such a unique book and I highly recommend for fans of weird and wonderful books that really make you think.

fede1807's review against another edition

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challenging mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Loveable characters? N/A

3.0

rivcr's review against another edition

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2.0

quite slow and boring (plotless), the language/prose was odd - might be a case of the translation not really working across culture as well as language. a bit of a task to finish