A review by jpaulthunders77
The Vegetarian by Han Kang

4.0

This collection of novellas, compiled into a short novel, provides commentary on women's life, how they juggle into a society led by patriarchy. With a seemingly simple and gimmicky premise—a woman drastically turns into a vegetarian (or dare I say, vegan) because of her nightly incessant nightmares—the author succeeds in satirizing the suffocating standards imposed on Korean women by a patriarchal society: how people, especially men, conceptualize physical beauty and body standards. A woman who fits in their preference is deemed as beautiful, worthy, and glorious. But someone who goes upstream and defy all these rules is sick in the head, ugly, and worthless. They are the ones who need a good amount of fixing—for something so inconsequential that doesn't even inflict harm on others. And oftentimes, unfortunately, these powerless women with low self-esteem, are abused by men by either ostracizing them or worse, fetishizing them.

WHO THE FUCK CARES IF YOU'RE A VEGETARIAN?