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A review by nadiarausa
The Vegetarian by Han Kang
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
4.5
Before I share a few initial thoughts, for anyone interested in reading the book, please be aware of a few TW/CW: there are two instances of SA, the first in part one and the other in part two, as well as a few instances of self-h*rm and su*c*de attempts.
As for my initial thoughts: I think a lot of people missed the point of this book. It certainly wasn’t about convincing anyone to be vegetarian or vegan, it wasn’t even just to relay gory and creepy things (though much of the “creepy” imagery in this book was honestly quite beautiful to me); it’s about the harm of misogyny, patriarchy, and the lack of autonomy women have, and how this affects the physical and mental health of women in patriarchal societies.
Han Kang did a beautiful job weaving a story that gives a fantastical horror vibe to the very real world that women (or women-raised folks) live in. I would love to read this in Korean as well! I’d be interested to see how similar or different things are between translations.
One thing on translation that I will note: I wish they’d used the names of the dishes rather than listing ingredients. I get that they were trying to clarify if there was meat in this or that dish, but it felt so weird to read something like japchae (잡채) translated as “stir-fried glass noodles with vegetables and meat.” It’s like saying “wheat noodles with tomato sauce and meat” instead of just saying spaghetti. But otherwise, with only having read the English translation, the translator seemed to do a good job.
As for my initial thoughts: I think a lot of people missed the point of this book. It certainly wasn’t about convincing anyone to be vegetarian or vegan, it wasn’t even just to relay gory and creepy things (though much of the “creepy” imagery in this book was honestly quite beautiful to me); it’s about the harm of misogyny, patriarchy, and the lack of autonomy women have, and how this affects the physical and mental health of women in patriarchal societies.
Han Kang did a beautiful job weaving a story that gives a fantastical horror vibe to the very real world that women (or women-raised folks) live in. I would love to read this in Korean as well! I’d be interested to see how similar or different things are between translations.
One thing on translation that I will note: I wish they’d used the names of the dishes rather than listing ingredients. I get that they were trying to clarify if there was meat in this or that dish, but it felt so weird to read something like japchae (잡채) translated as “stir-fried glass noodles with vegetables and meat.” It’s like saying “wheat noodles with tomato sauce and meat” instead of just saying spaghetti. But otherwise, with only having read the English translation, the translator seemed to do a good job.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body shaming, Emotional abuse, and Mental illness
Moderate: Misogyny, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicide attempt, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Gaslighting