Reviews tagging 'Body horror'

The Vegetarian by Han Kang

112 reviews

carmentxx's review

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Mental illness, Grief, Dysphoria, Domestic abuse, Death, Body horror, Suicide attempt, Emotional abuse, Medical trauma, Self harm, Rape, Sexual violence, and Eating disorder

tlasata's review

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? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Self harm, Sexual content, Body horror, Body shaming, Mental illness, Blood, and Suicide attempt

iloveboogie's review

dark sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

intense, graphic look into the struggles and breaking point of women forced into submission 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Sexual content, Body horror, Death, Violence, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Blood, Gore, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Self harm, Suicide, Mental illness, and Rape

shangchunsong's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, Mental illness, Animal death, Body horror, Blood, Eating disorder, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Physical abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual content, Sexual assault, and Suicide attempt

iblyth's review

dark emotional sad tense 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Animal cruelty, Eating disorder, Vomit, Body horror, Animal death, Suicide attempt, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Miscarriage, Rape, Toxic relationship, and Sexual violence

sofiascomeundone's review

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Eating disorder, and Body horror

coincidentally_k's review

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Medical content, Blood, Body horror, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Sexual content, Eating disorder, and Forced institutionalization

Moderate: Gore, Rape, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Self harm, Body shaming, Injury/Injury detail, and Grief

Minor: Child abuse and Vomit

carirasreads's review

challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Sexual assault, Eating disorder, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Body horror, Emotional abuse, and Sexism

mcluster1's review

challenging dark reflective slow-paced

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

3.25

This is such a strange book. The three POV tell three different stories about one woman’s decision to become a vegetarian and the fallout from that choice. It’s almost like reading 3 short stories based on the same thing. 

I think that I will revisit this book in a few months to see how I feel after a reread. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder, Rape, Body horror, and Gore

noxygens's review against another edition

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Murder, Bullying, Body shaming, Self harm, Injury/Injury detail, Animal death, Sexual assault, Blood, Misogyny, and Body horror