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What to make of The Vegetarian by Han Kang. I have been waiting so very long to read this book. I first heard about it around this time last year over on Three Percent. I thought it sounded amazing. It wasn’t available in the US, had not been published here. In the meantime, it began turning up on blogs of people who are not in the US and I wanted to read it more each time. Finally, in November of last year it appeared in my library catalog as being “on order.” I immediately put myself at number one on the holds queue. And I waited. And Waited. And then waited some more. Until at last the book was at the library and ready for me to pick up. Was all that waiting worth it? Oh yes.
The Vegetarian was ably translated from the Korean by Deborah Smith. It is a beautiful book about mental illness, family, beauty, responsibility, refusing to comply with social rules and family expectations. It’s tone is quiet and gentle even when some of the situations are violent. It is sometimes overwhelmingly sad and sometimes breathtakingly gorgeous. Occasionally it is mildly humorous. Most of the time it is disturbing, unsettling. This is not a comfort read.
Yeong-hye is the vegetarian in question. She is married but the relationship is not a loving one. Her husband chose her because she was convenient, submissive, and no trouble. He is trying to climb the corporate ladder and impressions are everything. Yeong-hye takes care of the house and all her husband’s needs, she doesn’t complain when he works late or needs to go out for a drink with the boss. She is a maid with benefits and her husband doesn’t once stop to consider her needs or desires because he does not care and they do not matter. Her job, her position, her life is to be there entirely for him.
One night Yeong-hye has a dream. We are not privy to what the dream is right away, though we learn about it later and it is horrific. It is this dream that makes her decide to become a vegetarian, more vegan actually since she throws out all the milk and eggs and meat in the refrigerator and refuses to cook anything other than vegetarian for her husband. This effectively upends her husband’s well-ordered world as once she refuses to eat meat, she begins refusing to do other things as well. The consequences are terrible in the true sense of the word.
The next section of the book is narrated by her brother-in-law who is an artist. He falls in love with Yeong-hye. He conceives an art project that involves painting flowers on her naked body and filming it. The flowers are vivid and alive, different than anything he has done before. Yeong-hye loves them and does not want them to wash off. There are some beautiful scenes in this section, almost transcendent moments and I got the feeling that if Yeong-hye could be perpetually covered in painted flowers that everything would be ok for her. But of course this is not the case.
The third section is narrated by Yeong-hye’s sister, In-hye. Yeong-hye has been committed to a mental institution and now refuses to eat anything. She is wasting away and medical staff keep trying to intervene but their attempts are unsuccessful. In-hye is the good sister, the one who follows all the rules. She has her own successful business, a young child, and while she is no longer married to her artist husband, she is perfectly capable of taking care of herself. The rest of the family has disowned Yeong-hye so it is In-hye who is paying the medical bills, who consults with the doctors, who visits regularly and tries desperately to make her sister well.
Gradually, In-hye begins to understand the things behind Yeong-hye’s refusal to eat, not through long heart-to-heart conversations with her sister, but through her visits and sitting silently with her and being forced to think about their childhood, their father, their lives. In-hye realizes how much anger she has inside of her and can only imagine if that is what she carries, what must her sister be holding inside? The book ends with the sisters and brought tears to my eyes, is bringing tears right now as I type this.
Most of the story is told to us through the eyes of Yeong-hye’s husband, brother-in-law, and sister. Only in a few short places early in the book does Yeong-hye speak for herself. Her silence is not just in the narrative but in her life too. She has some short dialogue in a few places but it is reported through someone else’s narrative. The others comment frequently on how quiet she is, how she won’t talk and this causes no end of frustration to all involved.
I loved The Vegetarian. It is not a lighthearted read. But it did not leave me depressed either. It manages to walk that fine line of tragedy without tipping over the edge into making you feel like you’ve been through the wringer. Instead, when I turned the last page I felt sad and stunned and sat there saying wow, wow, wow over and over. And then I spent the rest of the evening telling Bookman at random moments how good the book was.
I am very happy that Kang has a new book out, Human Acts. It is getting much praise. Hopefully I won’t have to wait an entire year before I get to read it.
Great review! I have such complicated but good feelings about this one!
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Thanks Rachel! It’s a complicated book so complicated feelings are only appropriate. 🙂 I definitely won’t be forgetting this book any time soon.
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This sounds like one I must read. It’s going on my list.
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It is am amazing book Jeanner and if you read it I hope you like it!
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I have read Human Acts and thought it was amazing and I recognise much of why that was from your descriptions here, I’ve not really had a good sense of what The Vegetarian was about, but your review makes me sure I want to read it, the multiple perspectives and growing awareness of the character whom we hear from the least, I called Human Acts a work of literary art, each chapter is like an expression of something the artist is trying to reveal and in the case of Human Acts, also to heal from.
Han Kang has a sensitivity that somehow protects the work from feeling depressing, it’s as if she has taken it all on herself and written through the observations in a way to portray them for us, but without inflicting the negative emotions of having absorbed their meaning.
Thank you so much for a fabulous review, I look forward to hearing what you think of Human Acts.
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Thanks Claire! It sounds like I have much to look forward to with Human Acts! The Vegetarian too is a work of literary art, one I am not going to forget any time soon. I like the way you have described Kang’s sensitivity, you do feel as though she has been there and she is offering us a beautiful gift of a story.
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I’m looking forward to reading this book too! In my experience, Korean books are often very very sad and somewhat reserved. But if the author can go beyond pure melodrama to express beauty, that’s all to his credit!
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This sounds a fascinating novel. It will, I’m afraid, be the first Korean fiction I would have read. I wonder if other Korean novelists will get translated – lets hope so. It sounds like a novel bursting with tension and beauty.
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Ian, it is a really beautiful novel that is the best I have read so far this year and I can;t imagine anything else knocking it out of first position. I think this might be the first Korean novel I have ever read. I do hope more get translated especially if they are as good as Kang!
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Smithereens, I think this might be the first Korean book I have read. I do hope with the success of Kang’s books that more Korean books are translated. And when you read The Vegetarian, I hope you like it very much.
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It’s gorgeous, isn’t it? So glad you enjoyed it.
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Elle, oh it is the most beautiful thing I have read in a long time. 🙂
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Great commentary on this book Stefanie
This sounds really good. I am appreciating well written character studies more and more.
I like your description of the story walking the line and not exactly tipping over into tragedy. I think such a situation is often reflective of life.
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Thanks Brian Joseph! The book is very true to life and all the good and bad and in betweens that entails. It is a book I won’t be forgetting any time soon!
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I’m putting this one on my list. Thanks!
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writerly, you bet! I hope you like it!
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It’s wonderful when a book can mean so much to you and have such an emotional impact. I can’t recall such emotion after or during reading a book. I’ve loved a great many, but never like you describe. Thank you for such a thoughtful review.
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Richard, I was surprised it had gotten so deeply under my skin. I didn’t realize it until the end. Definitely one I won’t be forgetting any time soon.
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I clearly remember how your review of Fly Away Peter by David Malouf, a few years ago, made me hurry to find the book and how beautiful it was. I have found out that my library has The Vegetarian in a Dutch translation and I am already certain this is going to be a very special reading experience. Thank your Stefanie.
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Cath, I am so glad you library has it in Dutch! I hope you enjoy it, I think it is one you will find very moving.
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Wow–even your review is moving. Putting the book on wish list. I’m reading Anne Sexton’s The Complete Poems and that is about all of drama and mental illness I can handle at the moment, so I’ll save The Vegetarian for later.
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Jenclair, gosh, thanks! Anne Sexton is hard reading since she is so confrontational in some ways. The Vegetarian is quiet and creeps up on you in ways you don’t expect. I hope you like it when you get to it 🙂
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I just finished ‘The Vegetarian’, and your review is an excellent summary of the novel. My review will occur in a week or two.
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Thanks Tony! I look forward to seeing your thoughts on the book!
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Your comment that she doesn’t mind her husband coming home late etc reminded me of a conversation I had with a guy in Korea last year. He and his work colleagues go out from work almost every evening and stay out drinking until 2am or 3am. For him this is part of Korean culture. It made me feel sorry for those wives….
Great review by the way Stefanie, I am envious this is available in your library, I’m waiting and waiting here ….
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And you wonder how they treat their wives when they come home at 2am or 3am – or, do they fall asleep in an alcoholic stupor?
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i was wondering how they managed to get up for work the next day. i would barely be able to function.
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Thanks BookerTalk! Korean culture seems like it must still be very patriarchal and that does contribute to Yeong-hye’s mental health issues. I don;t know how the men can go out drinking and then get up for work the next day either. But I suppose you do what is expected even if it has detrimental effects. Yikes!
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I love this review, Stefanie. Thank you. 🙂 Since you are a vegan, I was looking forward to read your thoughts on this book. I am glad you liked it. I surely want to read this soon.
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Deepika, thanks! It is interesting that the book has everything and yet nothing to do with being vegetarian. At first I was slightly bothered that vegetarian equated to mental illness but the book and I both got beyond that pretty fast 🙂
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Your terrific post is the first review I’ve read that’s made me truly consider reading this one. Since I’m far behind on 2016 books (after participating in the TBR Dare) I’m going to see how far I get with some other 2016 books before I commit. But I’m now officially “pondering.”
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Thanks Laila! If your pondering turns to reading I hope you enjoy the book!
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Wow, Stefani, this sounds well wroth reading. I’ve only read one Korean book, and one other set in Korea, but this sounds impressive. I love the sound of the multiple points of view. But, oh dear, can I justify buying it with all else on my shelf.
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whisperinggums, yes I think the book is well worth reading not only for the look into South Korean culture but just because it is so gosh darn beautiful. Not one I will forget any time soon. I hope it eventually makes its way to your shelf 🙂
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This was one of my top reads of 2016 and reading your reivew has reminded me of (to quote Jane Austen) how much I admire and love it. Hope you won’t have to wait too long for ‘Human Acts’ – though it’s a much more brutal read.
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Shoshi, yes and I certain this will be on of my top reads this year if not THE top read. It is going to have to be a really amazing book that knocks this one out of the top spot. Human Acts does sound more brutal but also pretty amazing so I am looking forward to it even knowing that.
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One of my friends recently mentioned that she just read and liked this, but we didn’t have an in-depth conversation about it (we were in a kind of noisy bar). She tends to read smart/interesting things, though, so I figured I should maybe check this out – and your review makes me think I definitely should! This sounds great.
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Heather, it is definitely a book that one does not soon forget. If you read it I hope you like it.
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Great review Stefanie! I do want to read this one but all reviews I read do make me feel like I need to prepare myself for quite a ride with this book.
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Iliana, it’s not a punch you in the stomach sort of book, everything sort of creeps up on you before you even realize it is happening and then it doesn’t let you go. It’s hard but in a good way. I hope you enjoy it when you read it.
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I’ve read reviews that focused on the brutality in the novel–yours is the first review that makes me feel brave enough to read it!
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Carolyn, there is brutality and it is disturbing and sad but there is more than that, much more. Be brave and give it a try! 🙂
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I really want to read this one, but somehow the moment doesn’t seem quite right just now–it seems like a more serious sort of read that needs focused attention (though I know it is fairly short) and my reading stacks are sort of towering at the moment. Such a dilemma-seeing all the new books that look so good yet trying hard not to be distracted by all of them (a fair few always seem to find a way to cut in line, however). I am not sure if I have ever read a book translated from Korean, so this one is still high up on the list.
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Danielle, I’ve never read a Korean book before either so this was extra interesting because of that. But all on its own it is excellent. It is definitely a serious read, there is nothing light-hearted about it and paying attention is required even though it is not a difficult book.
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