The Vegetarian

This book was nowhere near my reading list. How I came about it is through a friend. They were recommended the book and when they started reading it I thought, hm, let me see what's it about. And not knowing what to pick out of the other 70+ books waiting for me on my phone library, I naturally went and got The Vegetarian.

I don't know, I just felt like mentioning how I came across this book. And one note, might be some very slight spoilers in here, nothing straight out spoiler, but might take a bit away from reading the book. Some readers might not mind it, but I know I would, so here, you've been warned.

There's something I thought about while reading this. There are books, paintings, films, criticism, studies, all talking about and showing how women are treated unfairly in today's society. How they are expected to fulfil certain wants, how they are ignored by doctors and even car manufacturers. How they are treated unfairly in a school or work setting. All these works detailing all the unfair aspects of a woman's position in society, a staggering amount. And then, I wonder, how come we make such little progress in fixing this unfairness? In how many other ways do the same things need to be said and shown?

This book made me feel things, disgust being the most prominent one. But it's such a complex feeling of disgust aimed at so many things I don't even know how to begin to describe it. I certainly can't describe it in just a few sentences, but it mostly has to do with what I said the the previous paragraph.

The Vegetarian. I... disliked almost everyone there. Actually no, the only seemingly sensitive person there was Yeong-hye's sister-in-law, she was the only one appearing to care at all about Yeong-hye. And I disliked Yeong-hye's husband so much. He was so insensitive, so selfish, so preoccupied with appearances. Although I understand the cultural context around it, I blame him for his attitude and actions towards his wife.

Mongolian Mark. I think this might have been the most disturbing part of the book for me. Yeong-hye was clearly not well, and yet, her state of mind was dismissed solely on the account of what other people wanted to see. I felt my skin crawling. And it infuriated me how she was seen by others when they were actually the "bad guy".

Flaming Trees. By this point I think I was just tired. I felt the weight of it all. I was also expecting, for some reason, for the narration to be more abstract, more fantastical, so I was startled to see it being so mundane, so slice-of-life. It's kind of heartbreaking.

So yeah, I don't really know how I feel about the book overall. I'm kind of sick of representation. I would rather have some change instead. But the book is well written, I think it does what it's set out to do, so from that point, The Vegetarian is a good book.

After finishing this masterpiece, I was reminded of a film reviewer on Letterboxd who used to say that the interpretation of a piece of media, once it reaches the stage of public consumption, does not solely lie in the hands of the creator. In terms of that, you could make numerous interpretations of this novel, and all of them would fall short of capturing its essence – that's how open to interpretation The Vegetarian is.
Asides from the obvious metaphors of alienation, and stigmatisation when people don't stick to societal norms, there's a study in contrast to how various characters live their lives. Yeong-hye lives in flights of fancy; near the end she feels detached from her mortal shell to the point that she believes she can survive on sunlight. Mr Cheong lives a mundane existence and does not want to overthink his sense of purpose and seeming mediocrity – he just is.
In-hye lives a mundane existence, but she tries to find peace in being a beacon and always being a receiver than a giver. She assists her sister because it is the right thing to do, even when her parents abandon Yeong-hye. I found In-hye's husband the most fascinating, as well as the most repulsive. There is no sympathy you should feel towards his heinous actions – but because humans are predictably irrational, I did so anyway. He makes astounding leaps in logic because he wants to act out on his desires for the worse, but then again – who doesn't?
There's a lot more to talk about for this particular novel from my end, but since it's not even two hundred pages long – I'd strongly advise anyone who's not already read this to devour this whenever they can. Sure, it can be (understandably) divisive – but where's the fun without minimalist and yet seemingly full writing?

lots of great commentary, but i read this in the wrong place and the wrong time and i think i accidentally sunk deeper into a depressive episode?

it's easy to see where the author is making clear commentary about the role of women's bodies in society, particularly korean society, and how women are viewed throughout life. but it's done in a subtle enough manner that you don't feel like you're getting slapped in the face moira rose style with the author's thoughts. until the end, that is, when you're bombarded with the complexity of being the eldest sister in an asian family. if you're in a similar situation to me and that character, there's no such thing as too much criticism of the undeniable and unavoidable pressure and impossible situations put upon us. super props for talk about that

but the whole ‘wanting to be unalive' bit kind of resonated with me too hard and now i am stuck in bed, thinking about this book. yikes.

i think it somehow achieves to blur the line between the sane and the insane in a violent and bloody way, somehow it is alike Jeans Rhys' Wide Sargasso Sea, but in a more modern context with modern issues to catch on in south korea. although it might seems disturbing to some, i think it conveys something more than just blatant feminism, and somehbow the latter part also seems to arrive at that destination, of which is some sort of you'll have to go through hell in order to reach heaven redemption. the bonds between the sisters actually do highlights the last climax, alongside with a paralleling vision on life, and how they actually cross at a point, but diverging still because of their difference. the good thing is that it's not totally hopeless. and there's still a beam of light to clutch on.

kudos to a bit of nihilistic approach at the end, and in a very extreme way it achieves the purpose of telling how it's still an issue to be repressed by men in modern society, alongside with how artistic pursuit can literally because art for art's sake, sexualising women, commodifying them too, a total destruction of pre-existing morals, contrasting to the good old traditional society of south korean, and as standing up to the confucian ideologies. i think this speaks a lot in all due honesty.

Weird. Very weird. Disturbing. But also oddly peaceful and mesmerizing. I could picture each scene in my mind like an artistic cinematic experience. Some descriptions and thoughts expressed by the different characters made me pause and reflect deeply on their meaning in my own life. If art is supposed to make you feel something, then “The Vegetarian” is a true literary masterpiece.

An unconventional story that carries you along with the thoughts and emotions of a woman taking off into a schizophrenic-like flight from herself. The author's lovely and evocative writing made me feel inside the experience of the characters and their different levels of coping and disassociation. Somewhat frustrated by the uncertain closure of the novel, but I suppose that is what keeps it in my mind even after I've finished reading.

At a certain point its hard to not read this book from a purely allegorical standpoint, at least I think thats what makes the first two parts of this book bearable. It felt like some interesting themes, perhaps drawing a connection between misogynist culture and how humans treat the earth. The first two parts also, to me at least, show polarizing forms of male objectification and lust, the first coldly utilitarian, the second delusional romanticism, and how in both cases they take what they want, which interestingly also seemed like it could tie back into how humans have viewed the earth.
However I suppose its the third part of the novel that awakened me from the dream, as there really is nothing that drives these points home. So then in retrospect, we have a book about a woman who at first makes a somewhat major life choice because of a dream and is brutally persecuted by all the people who claimed to love her, then as she's recovering is persecuted again, then as she's recovering is persecuted again, then recovering from that is indeed continuously persecuted again. In the end I wasn't sure what the point of all this brutalism was.

Beautiful book, dark and frightening. The story of–primarily–sisters and their husbands, there is a lot to love about this book. If I have one quibble, I would say that the primary male characters – both husbands and the father of the sisters, and even their brother– are bastards. This is something I often see in modern novels, usually books by women. Is it how the author feels about men? Still, I thought this was a terrific novel and I will look for more work by this author.

I DNF The Vegetarian. I read the first chapter and already it was quite edgy and graphic the way books were in the 2000's. I started reading chapter 2 and I was like... no... that's a tacky, predictable and just huurg plot. It felt cheap. And the idea of this medicated woman who becomes a fantasy and gets to be manipulated and told and moved around... Really not what I want to read right now. I'm glad the 2000's is in the past ha ha

dnf and reviewed: 2022-05-30

Full Review: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jdd7NOQ5ciE

This was a strange one, but after taking some time to think about the story, I decided to give this four stars. The story's structure was completely new to me. It's told in three parts. Every part surrounds the character Yeong-hye, but we never get her point-of-view. Instead, we get her husband, her brother-in-law, and finally her sister. I'm not sure what's a spoiler, so I don't want to say too much else. I feel it's important to note that there are many disturbing images throughout this book, so it deserves all the trigger warnings. Sexual assault, eating disorders, mental illness, self harm, copious amounts of blood. The book is short, but it's powerful. There is beautiful writing in here, and I would definitely read this again.

This book is a perfect example of rating a book a five star even though you found the reading experience disturbing and painful. This book is beautifully written and Deborah Smith's translation is stunning. However the subject matter is deeply disturbing, dark and haunting. This book deals with mental illness, dark dreams, physical and mental abuse and anorexia and a plethora of many other difficult subject matters and the book remains terribly heartbreaking until the very end. This book will upset and haunt me for a long time after finishing it. Nevertheless, I think this book is so powerful and the plot and the characters are so strong. In under 200 pages this book has made me feel a rollacoaster of emotions for all the characters and at many instances this book made me conflicted over who I sympathised with more and to me that makes this book a five star read. I was engrossed in a rather morbid way throughout the plot. I think the structure of the novel was handled so well so that the plot never got too tedious and you never lost the integrity of the tone of the novel. A world class piece of literature to me that certainly deserved the man booker prize award. I certainly will be reading more of Han Kang's works!

This book made me feel gross and disturbed and I think that was the point. I can’t decide whether I love it or I hate it. I can’t even decide if it’s good or not! So much of this book is written in an abstract way that it’s hard to really pinpoint anything about its plot or its characters. It is firmly a book that aims to elicit emotions first and tell a story second. It is very good at eliciting those emotions and some of the phrasing here is super cool (and translated quite well), but I’m not sure what the point of it is. Maybe it doesn’t have a point, or its point is so grand that it can apply to everything. I think it’s kind of brilliant even if it is incredibly uncomfortable and certainly one of the last books I’d ever choose to reread.

I did not write a review for this book :0?

Anyways from what I remember I really did not enjoy it, it felt like it combined veganism with a lot of themes that weren't related. It felt more like a book of anorexia and self-destruction. The fact that it's titled vegetarian and all is a bit disappointing to me. The different P.O.V.s in each section of the book are of varying quality. The first one was the most fun and promising, and had cool descriptions. The second steps into vulgarity, immorality. The third one is a bit mundane and not a high note to finish this work on.

There is a lot of artistry and imagination in this book, but to me it is used in unfortunate ways on a subject that might alienate a lot of people in the first place. Like having a belief that you hold used as a device for horror is one thing, but the belief not even feeling relevant is another.

Okay first for the good things - I thought the writing was beautiful and vivid, and the translation was excellent!

The book is broken up into 3 sections all told from different points of view- I enjoyed the first, the second was okay but got a bit weird, then the third was just a bit boring to be honest.

I don't know whether this went straight over my head but I just didn't really get the whole point of the 3 different narratives. I did enjoy the first third and if that had continued I suspect it would have been a better book for me but the tone and feel changed in the other 2 sections and I just didn't really enjoy those bits.

I still absolutely praise the translation and writing though - both were excellent!

Read this within a day, because I had the time and because it absolutely captivated me. The story is told in 3 segments, one incredibly intriguing, one incredibly sexy and one incredibly terrifying. From different points of view they tell the story of a woman who follows a dream and converts to radical vegetarianism, which is only the first step in her transformation.

Part Kafka's Die Verwandlung, part Greenaway'sThe Pillow Book, part Sartre's Nauseau.

This seems to be a controversial book, and I get why. Who do I recommend this to without seeming like a weirdo? There are very disturbing character monologues and scenes in this book, which is off-putting to a lot of people.

So why do I think it's a 5-star? This book hits differently. It shows the reader how mental illness, specifically in Asian cultures, is sometimes ignored, shamed, and misunderstood. The story follows Yeong-hye, not through her own perspective, but from the perspectives of her husband, brother-in-law, and sister. Each perspective tells a very different story about Yeong-hye, and everyone has their own interpretations of the level of her illness. We see her, not as a woman with her own thoughts, desires, or dreams; we see her as the “other”. We watch her decline on the inside from an outside view.

The story is haunting, confusing and grotesque because that's what developing and coming to terms with severe mental illness is.