The Vegetarian: A Novel

What a dreamlike story. Passages throughout where we don’t know who the character being followed is yet because it’s only narrated with pronouns, but we get clues based on what they’re doing and who might be doing that based on who else we’ve met in the cast of people who’ve showed up.

And such an enticing read that had me hooked with every line. The pacing was very well done, and the story traced a comfortably sized arc without being too long or too short. The vignette style writing at points, and the (again) dreamlike jumps in time to just the important bits helped achieve that smoothly. The writing was clinical and precise, almost like a poetic journalist. That too felt appropriate though, given the strictness of the society represented.

It is actually because of these strict, inescapable societal expectations that characters are forced to live in that they all feel l'appel du vide, the call of the void to do things like suddenly stab out their eyes or jump in front of trains. And because of the childhood trauma that has loomed over them throughout their adult lives that they haven’t been able to properly heal from. No matter what happens, time relentlessly moves on, and they must keep the storm of their emotions all under the surface as they suffer the alienation of capitalism.

Overall, a fascinating descent of someone who went from only eating plants to actually trying to be a plant, and the resulting ripples into the lives of everyone around her. Once one person lets go of their thread on sanity, others think, well, why not? And for that this was a mindblowing, artistic, beautiful, and honest exploration of human psychology, told in a chilling yet romantic dark literary voice.

I will never look at trees the same way again! In a good way.