Reviews tagging 'Schizophrenia/Psychosis '

The Vegetarian by Han Kang

282 reviews

emilietje's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.25

This book contained a lot of triggers for me. Physical and verbal abuse, rape, obsessive behaviour, gore, self-harm and suicide. This made it a very difficult book to read despite me appreciating the thought that went into this thing.
When I was reading the first two chapters, I was missing reflections and/or explanations. I suppose it makes sense that Yeong-hye’s chapter is the most gorey, because her emotions are the most repressed and she has the worst nightmares. I mean, her chapter isn’t even from her point of view, it’s her husband’s. And I suppose it makes sense that the brother-in-law's chapter contains the most discomforting sexual descriptions and misconduct, because, well, that’s his issue. I ended up enjoying In-hye's chapter the most. It was the most introspective and least gruesome one after all. I liked reading her interpretations and her feelings about life and death. I'd say her chapter felt the most cohesive for this exact reason. The gaps between moments of insanity and despair are filled in with her thoughts, and I think the reading experience would’ve been nicer if it had those from the start.
One other thing that I liked –and this might be a spoiler but whatever– is Yeong-hye's whole wanting-to-become-a-tree thing. It's not something I've read before you know? Being deeply unhappy as a human and as an animal, so you try to become a tree in every way until you die from the effects. Idk, this also really shined in that last and third chapter and I really felt for her. Successful and effective portrayal of passive suicide and insanity? Yes!
Regardless of everything I said here, this book was clearly not aimed at a reader like me who can’t handle shit. I totally get that there aren’t meant to be fleshed-out (get it ha ha) thoughts in the beginning, but it just wasn’t my style. I went into this book blind, because I loved Han Kang's The White Book and Human Acts, but I have to say this was almost nothing like those books. The only overlap I can find is the miserable people and the introspection about what it is to be alive. Props to Han Kang for publishing works with what feels like a completely different writing style.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Suicide attempt, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

creatingavery's review

dark sad slow-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Suicide, and Blood

Moderate: Self harm, Sexual assault, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Minor: Misogyny and Vomit

thimbler's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Rape, Violence, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Schizophrenia/Psychosis

lottiegasp's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

3.75

This was not what I expected from the title. While there are some brief themes of veganism and animal rights, the book is more about unsatisfying hetero relationships, gender roles, family responsibilities and mental illness. I would say it's a pretty poor representation of vegetarianism given that the character who becomes vegetarian does so amidst some kind of mental health breakdown involving a complete change in personality which escalates to severe anorexia and schizophrenic symptoms. It's unclear to me whether the author considers vegetarianism to be akin or a risk factor for an eating disorder or mental health illness, or if she simply chose that as the catalyst to kick off the events of the book. Aside from the troubling association between vegetarianism and mental illness, I thought it was well written and I found interesting the theme of people coupling up with people they're incompatible with and ambivalent about because that's just what you do.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder, Rape, Self harm, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

crybabybea's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.0

Kafka-esque exploration of autonomy and the violence that people, especially women, face under patriarchal standards and the pressure to conform socially and culturally. Bizarre is a great descriptor for this, it's definitely the weirdest book I've ever read. Definite elements of horror here with lots of gory imagery, especially about animals and meat. The overall tone of the novel is extremely alienated and isolated, as the story revolves around the main character, Yeong-hye, but is never written in her POV. Instead, we see her descent into psychosis through the eyes of three people in her family; her husband, her brother-in-law, and her sister. 

This is clearly a novel that was written with the intention to make readers think and reflect, I think it is a testament to Han Kang's skill as a writer that everyone comes away from this experience with different thoughts and analyses. 

The writing is super allegorical and it's clear that each event happens for a reason and is designed to make the reader reflect and analyze. I found the writing style to be the main issue that kept me from giving it 5 stars; it jumped around in POV and tense, which, although it was written very well, became hard to follow at times.

I definitely feel like there were bits that went over my head and this is a book that deserves a reread with more concentration and reflection.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Eating disorder, Gore, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Minor: Incest

Very graphic depictions of animal torture and death. Not quite incest but the

main character's brother-in-law has a sexual obsession with her and ends up assaulting her.

There are multiple depictions of abuse against the mentally ill main character, both at home and in a mental facility.

krispyyk's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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

Read this book because of the polarized reviews it has and came out of it on the side of those who liked it. Definitely really difficult to read and often very uncomfortable/disgusting, not for everyone. However it was a unique and memorable story about mental health, patriarchy, and shame. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Suicide attempt, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

kelisabeth's review

dark tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

hannah_go03's review against another edition

challenging dark 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? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Self harm, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical trauma, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Minor: Child abuse and Sexual assault

isarza's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

2.5

Divido en 3 partes, cada una cuenta la historia desde lo que le pasa a 3 personajes diferentes y cómo afecta la decisión de dejar de comer carne de la protagonista a los demás. 
La primera parte estuvo bien a secas. El misterio de la decisión de la protagonista y lo oscuro de sus sueños y su lento descenso hacia la locura me entretuvo pero no me encantó. 
La segunda parte es muy extraña y hasta innecesaria. Las fantasías eróticas de un hombre de mediana edad no me interesan. 
La tercera parte fue, para mí, la mejor y la razón por la que le di medio punto más y no abandoné el libro. Esta parte es todavía más oscura que la primera y más triste pero aún así no la sentí tan profunda como para conectar con el personaje. 
Pienso que por seguir con esta atmósfera de misterio la autora lo dejo muy superficial. 
En lo personal hubiera preferido ahondar en la psique de los personajes y no dejar todo tan abierto. 
Definitivamente es un libro extraño pero no extraordinario.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Eating disorder, Infidelity, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Vomit, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

extravagantly's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder, Mental illness, Rape, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Schizophrenia/Psychosis