eBook, 200 pages
English language
Published Feb. 2, 2016 by Hogarth.
Before the nightmare, Yeong-hye and her husband lived an ordinary life. But when splintering, blood-soaked images start haunting her thoughts, Yeong-hye decides to purge her mind and renounce eating meat. In a country where societal mores are strictly obeyed, Yeong-hye's decision to embrace a more “plant-like” existence is a shocking act of subversion. And as her passive rebellion manifests in ever more extreme and frightening forms, scandal, abuse, and estrangement begin to send Yeong-hye spiraling deep into the spaces of her fantasy. In a complete metamorphosis of both mind and body, her now dangerous endeavor will take Yeong-hye—impossibly, ecstatically, tragically—far from her once-known self altogether.
A disturbing, yet beautifully composed narrative told in three parts, The Vegetarian is an allegorical novel about modern day South Korea, but also a story of obsession, choice, and our faltering attempts to understand others, from one imprisoned body to another.
Corea es para las nuevas generaciones lo que Japón supuso para la nuestra, una cultura lejana y exótica que provoca fascinación. Y, al igual que sucede con Japón, la trastienda de esa sociedad oculta muchas miserias. Kang retrata sin ambages una sociedad machista y ultracapitalista donde los individuos no son más que meros engranajes desechables cuya única finalidad es mantener en marcha una enfermiza maquinaria.
One of my favorite short stories which I read in college was Melville's "Bartleby, the Scrivner." But Bartleby's got nothing on Yeong-hye. Her decision to become a vegetarian sends her family into a tailspin, as Han explores how an effort to renounce violence and reject the world's demands provokes a more and more violent reaction from those around her. Aspects of the story are absurd, but are told in a straight, just-the-facts-ma'am style that heightens the sense of how stark (yet simple) Yeong-hye's actions are. She determines, for her own reasons, to live as she wants, and the novel illustrates how challenging it is to take such a stance.
Un libro que no parece ser lo que se presenta. Tiene tres elementos bastante delimitados con respecto al ser humanos: un elemento superficial, otro más carnal y el último, más mental. A Freud le hubiese gustado.
First read: Finished this in two sittings, which is a record for me.
This literally had me in a chokehold… So so emotional and thought provoking (and difficult to read).
Definitely read the trigger warnings before reading
Second read: Holy shit I forgot how insane this book is
die ersten zwei teile des buches waren für mich eine klare 4/5, aber dann kam der dritte und letzte teil (flaming trees) und das war für mich einfach soul crushing heart breaking gut wrenching, like i felt the pain and emptiness of this woman as it was my own - ich weine eigentlich selten wegen büchern, aber this one had me sobbing. for rememberance hier (out of context) ein paar textstellen, die mich besonders gebrochen haben, einfach nur für mich selbst
[it was a fact. she had never lived. even as a child, as far back as she could remember, she had done nothing but endure. she had believed in her own inherent goodness, her humanity, and lived accordingly, never causing anyone harm. her devotion to doing things the right way had been unflagging, all her success had depended on it, and she would have gone on like that indefinitely. …
die ersten zwei teile des buches waren für mich eine klare 4/5, aber dann kam der dritte und letzte teil (flaming trees) und das war für mich einfach soul crushing heart breaking gut wrenching, like i felt the pain and emptiness of this woman as it was my own - ich weine eigentlich selten wegen büchern, aber this one had me sobbing. for rememberance hier (out of context) ein paar textstellen, die mich besonders gebrochen haben, einfach nur für mich selbst
[it was a fact. she had never lived. even as a child, as far back as she could remember, she had done nothing but endure. she had believed in her own inherent goodness, her humanity, and lived accordingly, never causing anyone harm. her devotion to doing things the right way had been unflagging, all her success had depended on it, and she would have gone on like that indefinitely. she didn't understand why, but faced with those decaying buildings and straggling grasses, she was nothing but a child who had never lived.]
['was that it, mum? was this what made you laugh?']
['you see, it was just a dream.' but was that really true? right then, in the ambulance, she wasn't sure. had it really been just a dream, a mere coincidence? because that had been the morning when she turned her back on the sun as it rose over the silent trees and retraced her steps back down the mountain, wearing her faded purple T-shirt.]
[it's your body, you can treat it however you please. the only area where you're free to do just as you like. and even that doesn't turn out how you wanted.]
This was a difficult book to finish. I wanted to finish it, for about a week, but the last 50 or so pages are emotionally harrowing. Hard work.
Stylistically beautiful. Terse and without any extraneous detail, it reads a bit like a ascetic philosophical exploration of decisions in society.
A lot of other reviews (and the blurb above) focus on the book's setting in Korea -- traditionally meat-heavy diet, traditionally rigid patriachal family structure etc. I didn't find this -- apart from the names of people (which are few) and the descriptions of food, there is very little to locate this book in space or time beyond being somewhat modern.
Black, reminiscent of South American fantastique but with the mundanity of daily life.
More than I ever wanted to hear about nipples …
Brilliantly executed
Hmm, kann meinen Eindruck nicht beschreiben irgendwie wars ein bisschen zu lange aus der Perspektive ekliger Typen. Das Ende mochte ich
This was a raw and wrenching, quick read, with stark, excellent writing. It made me very curious about South Korea. I hope someone writes a good introduction to it in future updates, because for once I would not skip a preface. However, even without a background, there is something relatable for anyone who refuses to comply with the expectations of others for
This novel is not so much about vegetarianism, though it makes for a convenient starting point. A seemingly small act of rebellion, committed by a previously docile wife, becomes a familial crises born solely by the youngest females. It is a lonely book, as the Vegetarian cannot rest in her self and create her own roots(she has some issues with trees) outside of the projections of herself pushed on her from others.
The writing is clear and lovely though, so while I am sure I missed a lot, …
This was a raw and wrenching, quick read, with stark, excellent writing. It made me very curious about South Korea. I hope someone writes a good introduction to it in future updates, because for once I would not skip a preface. However, even without a background, there is something relatable for anyone who refuses to comply with the expectations of others for
This novel is not so much about vegetarianism, though it makes for a convenient starting point. A seemingly small act of rebellion, committed by a previously docile wife, becomes a familial crises born solely by the youngest females. It is a lonely book, as the Vegetarian cannot rest in her self and create her own roots(she has some issues with trees) outside of the projections of herself pushed on her from others.
The writing is clear and lovely though, so while I am sure I missed a lot, I certainly enjoyed it.
Great book. Reminded me to Kafkas 'The Metamorphosis'.
I picked a great read for my first Korean novella. The Vegetarian won last year's international Man Booker award, and was better the last Man Booker I read, Disgrace.
The prose here loses nothing in translation. I don't think I've read anything like it. If you took away the Benji part of The Sound and The Fury you might have an analog.
The book has three parts, narrated by a different person and centers around the decent of Yeong-hye an ordinary Korean wife who refuses to eat meat and is eventually institutionalized. The first part is told by who husband, who is the least crazy, but also a jerk. The second part Yeong-hye's brother in law who is an artist that lusts after her and is a little crazy. The last part is by her sister, In-hye, the closest to losing it like her sister.
The Sound and the Fury …
I picked a great read for my first Korean novella. The Vegetarian won last year's international Man Booker award, and was better the last Man Booker I read, Disgrace.
The prose here loses nothing in translation. I don't think I've read anything like it. If you took away the Benji part of The Sound and The Fury you might have an analog.
The book has three parts, narrated by a different person and centers around the decent of Yeong-hye an ordinary Korean wife who refuses to eat meat and is eventually institutionalized. The first part is told by who husband, who is the least crazy, but also a jerk. The second part Yeong-hye's brother in law who is an artist that lusts after her and is a little crazy. The last part is by her sister, In-hye, the closest to losing it like her sister.
The Sound and the Fury goes in the opposite direction from opaque to clear headed narrators and ends with resolution. The Vegetarian doesn't have a true resolution and leaves more questions open then open. However, both use the decline of a family to make allegorical the decline of a country.
There is certainly more eroticism in The Vegetarian, despite Faulkner's muddy underwear obsession.
The Sound and The Fury is probably a bad comparison, but I do think Han Kang is on the same level as Faulkner, with much clearer prose. That's backed up with the Man Booker, I'm looking forward to her publishing more in English. Han Kang takes on issues of Art, Sexuality, Patriarchy, Violence, Sanity, and Nationalism, just to name a few. The ending suggests there are no clear cut answer to the questions that trouble us most, the questions at the heart of our nature.
3,5/5
Probablemente The Vegetarian ha sido una de las novelas más raras que he leído en toda mi vida, pero me ha gustado y a la vez me ha aterrorizado muchísimo (sobre todo al pensar que cosas que pasan en la novela y que me han parecido horribles las tenemos muy asumidas en nuestra sociedad).
Me han gustado sobre todo la primera y la segunda parte (esta un poco menos) y de la tercera aún no tengo una opinión clara porque no he entendido el final, la verdad. Menudo libro...
This was a difficult read, but I don't for a moment regret having read it.
There is so much going on in this book, so much that is unsaid, so much that is left for the reader to decide. It is a book about men and women—men using women to further their own goals. It is a book about families breaking apart and coming together. It is a book about human connection and the lack thereof.
It is a book about mental health, about a descent into madness. There is a dreamlike quality to it, but the language is precise and objective (often reminding me of Hilary Mantel or Angel Carter). As one of the characters seems to lose her grip on reality, readers find themselves more and more grounded in reality. Strangely, this is unsettling rather than reassuring.
The Vegetarian is beautiful and sad, exquisite and gut-wrenching, terrifying and …
This was a difficult read, but I don't for a moment regret having read it.
There is so much going on in this book, so much that is unsaid, so much that is left for the reader to decide. It is a book about men and women—men using women to further their own goals. It is a book about families breaking apart and coming together. It is a book about human connection and the lack thereof.
It is a book about mental health, about a descent into madness. There is a dreamlike quality to it, but the language is precise and objective (often reminding me of Hilary Mantel or Angel Carter). As one of the characters seems to lose her grip on reality, readers find themselves more and more grounded in reality. Strangely, this is unsettling rather than reassuring.
The Vegetarian is beautiful and sad, exquisite and gut-wrenching, terrifying and ultimately redemptive. It is one of those books that will come back to me in those strange moments when images from books I've weave themselves into the threads of my wandering thoughts.
