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The Vegetarian: A Novel Kindle Edition
by Han Kang (Author), Deborah Smith (Translator) Format: Kindle Edition
3.6 3.6 out of 5 stars 9,091 ratings
Yeong-hye and her husband are ordinary people. He is an office worker with moderate ambitions and mild manners; she is an uninspired but dutiful wife. The acceptable flatline of their marriage is interrupted when Yeong-hye, seeking a more 'plant-like' existence, decides to become a vegetarian, prompted by grotesque recurring nightmares. In South Korea, where vegetarianism is almost unheard-of and societal mores are strictly obeyed, Yeong-hye's decision is a shocking act of subversion. Her passive rebellion manifests in ever more bizarre and frightening forms, leading her bland husband to self-justified acts of sexual sadism. His cruelties drive her towards attempted suicide and hospitalisation. She unknowingly captivates her sister's husband, a video artist. She becomes the focus of his increasingly erotic and unhinged artworks, while spiralling further and further into her fantasies of abandoning her fleshly prison and becoming - impossibly, ecstatically - a tree.
Fraught, disturbing and beautiful, The Vegetarian is a novel about modern day South Korea, but also a novel about shame, desire and our faltering attempts to understand others, from one imprisoned body to another.
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Print length
166 pages
Language
English
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Review
"Surreal . . . [A] mesmerizing mix of sex and violence ."--Alexandra Alter, The New York Times
"[Han Kang] has been rightfully celebrated as a visionary in South Korea . . . Han's glorious treatments of agency, personal choice, submission and subversion find form in the parable. . . . Ultimately, though, how could we not go back to Kafka? More than The Metamorphosis, Kafka's journals and 'A Hunger Artist' haunt this text."--Porochista Khakpour, New York Times Book Review
"Indebted to Kafka, this story of a South Korean woman's radical transformation, which begins after she forsakes meat, will have you reading with your hand over your mouth in shock."--O: The Oprah Magazine
"The Vegetarian has an eerie universality that gets under your skin and stays put irrespective of nation or gender."--Laura Miller, Slate
"Slim and spiky and extremely disturbing . . . I find myself thinking about it weeks after I finished." Jennifer Weiner, PopSugar
"It takes a gifted storyteller to get you feeling ill at ease in your own body. Yet Han Kang often set me squirming with her first novel in English, at once claustrophobic and transcendent."--Chicago Tribune
"Compelling . . . [A] seamless union of the visceral and the surreal."--Los Angeles Review of Books
"A complex, terrifying look at how seemingly simple decisions can affect multiple lives . . . In a world where women's bodies are constantly under scrutiny, the protagonist's desire to disappear inside of herself feels scarily familiar."--Vanity Fair
"Elegant . . . a stripped-down, thoughtful narrative . . . about human psychology and physiology."--HuffPost
"This elegant-yet-twisted horror story is all about power and its relationship with identity. It's chilling in the best ways, so buckle in and turn down the lights."--Elle
"This haunting, original tale explores the eros, isolation and outer limits of a gripping metamorphosis that happens in plain sight. . . . Han Kang has written a remarkable novel with universal themes about isolation, obsession, duty and desire."--Minneapolis Star Tribune
"Complex and strange . . . Han's prose moves swiftly, riveted on the scene unfolding in a way that makes this story compulsively readable. . . . [The Vegetarian] demands you to ask important questions, and its vivid images will be hard to shake. This is a book that will stay with you."--St. Louis Post-Dispatch
"Dark dreams, simmering tensions, chilling violence . . . This South Korean novel is a feast. . . . It is sensual, provocative and violent, ripe with potent images, startling colors and disturbing questions. . . . Sentence by sentence, The Vegetarian is an extraordinary experience."--The Guardian
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About the Author
Han Kang was born in 1970 in South Korea. In 1993 she made her literary debut as a poet, and was first published as novelist in 1994. A participant of the Iowa Writers' Workshop, Han has won the Man Booker International Prize, the Yi Sang Literary Prize, the Today's Young Artist Award, and the Manhae Literary Prize. She currently works as a professor in the Department of Creative Writing at the Seoul Institute of the Arts.
Product details
ASIN : B00R1BRKDG
Publisher : Granta Books (1 January 2015)
Language : English
File size : 1021 KB
Text-to-Speech : Enabled
Screen Reader : Supported
Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
X-Ray : Enabled
Word Wise : Enabled
Print length : 166 pagesBest Sellers Rank: 31 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)1 in Erotic Thrillers
1 in Contemporary Literature & Fiction
2 in Erotic Fiction (Kindle Store)Customer Reviews:
3.6 3.6 out of 5 stars 9,091 ratings
Top reviews from Australia
Steve P
4.0 out of 5 stars A fascinating, dark readReviewed in Australia on 12 December 2017
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A fascinating read. Very different to anything I've read before. I had no idea where it was headed and had to keep turning the pages on a very strange and tragic journey. Explores some pretty deep and dark themes - mental illness, anorexia, and the way we relate to people who make choices that are different to ours. A difficult but rewarding read.
3 people found this helpful
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Charlie
3.0 out of 5 stars InterestingReviewed in Australia on 7 April 2017
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I started reading this book with delight and had a chuckle at how ridiculous the family was of not understanding someone's need to be a vegetarian. Sadly the medical fraternity failed her and I expected them to be more understanding of people with mental illness and anorexia. There were two main issues here mental illness and anorexia and in that the author did well to capture this well and I expected a bit more depth to these two issues. Anyway it was a very good light read that I didn't want to put the book down as I was expecting to find more to the story but was to be. I still do recommend it.
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K Green
5.0 out of 5 stars DeliciousReviewed in Australia on 14 March 2023
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This was so much fun. I had heard a lot of good things but I wasn't prepared for how clever and visceral this book is. All the food is described in this way that's simultaneously tantalizing and disgusting which really works. The world is so vivid and rich and immersive you just sink into it. I really loved that the book isn't necessarily about vegetarianism. It's about how decisions and boundaries women make, especially in traditional societies, disrupt the men around them who want to be able to commodify them easily
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Amazon Customer
4.0 out of 5 stars Draws you inReviewed in Australia on 24 April 2017
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Interesting. Unsure where it will take you. Thought provoking. Worth reading. Explores Interesting aspects of and insights into Korean culture and norms.
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Richard Naughton
3.0 out of 5 stars Imaginative, thoughtful, provocativeReviewed in Australia on 21 May 2016
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Generally recommended especially to readers who might be interested in understanding how Asian societies might write and think. I had never read a Korean novel.
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Keegan
5.0 out of 5 stars Great readReviewed in Australia on 30 January 2019
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Another beautifully written book about terrible men doing terrible things to women. Quite reminiscent of Murakami in the imagery of food and nature. A very interesting take on trauma and mental health.
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Kerrie Dodds
1.0 out of 5 stars Not my sort of book. SorryReviewed in Australia on 6 June 2017
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Thought concept was great in principle.. not for me. Too much waffle in terms of explaining emotions ... don't want to call it anything bad nor good. Good luck
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Marian Parkinson
4.0 out of 5 stars Four StarsReviewed in Australia on 29 July 2016
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Amazing, sad and disturbing read.
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Dion
5.0 out of 5 stars Ótimo produtoReviewed in Brazil on 24 April 2024
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Ótimo produto
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Winibie
5.0 out of 5 stars Good but disturbingReviewed in Canada on 17 October 2022
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A very quick and interesting read but very disturbing. Contains a lot of different forms of abuse, verbal, physical, sexual, animal abuse, etc. Different perspectives gives it a good grasp on what is happening to the main character and her spiral into a lack of reality
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Laura A.
5.0 out of 5 stars RecomiendoReviewed in Mexico on 24 July 2022
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Una buena lectura.
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Daisy
4.0 out of 5 stars On madnessReviewed in the United Kingdom on 3 August 2023
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A book of three parts, with each part told from the perspective of a different family member of The Vegetarian, who is sequentially depicted as a wife, sister-in-law, sister. Central to the plot is the descent of The Vegetarian’s mental well-being from ostensibly healthy to hospitalised and verging death. Parallel to that we see each of the revolving character’s own perceptions and dealings with mental health, both their own experiences and their reaction to The Vegetarian’s. I enjoyed the exploration of the transition from dream to hallucination, and the discussion of choice and agency in taking control or giving into dreams. The themes of fetishisation and consent were fascinating and important but disturbing and difficult to read at points, and evoked an uncomfortable dissonance as art and horror clashed. I think this is a 3.5 star read for me, cleanly written, thought provoking and at points beautiful. But I lacked any true deep connection or care for any of the characters - I wanted them to be well, sure, and I was interested, but my heart wasn’t throbbing in the way I know a story like this could make if told differently - possibly because we skipped perspective across the three parts, leaving me without any enduring true attachment or affection for any of them.
Overall, a solid read but not one I’ll sing about from the rooftops.
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St Lebkuchen
5.0 out of 5 stars Super BuchReviewed in Germany on 19 May 2023
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Super Story
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