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# The Vegetarian: A Novel

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The Vegetarian: A Novel [Han Kang] on desertcart.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. The Vegetarian: A Novel

Review: The Vegetarian by Han Kang: A review - What a strange little book. I tried to think of something in my reading experience with which to compare it and the only thing that came to mind was Kafka's The Metamorphosis, but instead of waking up to find herself transformed into a giant insect, Yeong-hye awoke one morning from a troubled dream of blood and gore and cruelty and decides to give up the eating of all flesh; to become a vegetarian. For her avidly meat-eating family, a metamorphosis into a giant cockroach might have been preferable. They are appalled and outraged. At a family gathering some time after she makes her decision, they try to force her to eat meat. Her brutal father slaps her twice and forces a piece of meat between her lips, but Yeong-hye manages to spit it out and then grabs a knife and slits her wrist. As her blood spurts out, the only one who comes to her aid is her brother-in-law, while her parents, her husband, sister, brother, and sister-in-law look on. What is wrong with these people? Well, a lot, apparently. We learn about it all from three different sources: the odious husband, the brother-in-law, and, finally, the sister. The husband's tale starts with his description of his impressions on meeting the woman who was to become his wife. To say his was underwhelmed would be an understatement. To be fair, his description of himself is just as unflattering. I laughed out loud at the husband's sardonic depictions of the two of them, but it was the only time in the book that I felt any inclination toward jocularity. As his wife of five years makes her decision to become a vegetarian, all the husband can think about is how this affects him and what his employer and their acquaintances will think. He is totally self-absorbed. The brother-in-law becomes obsessed with Yeong-hye after the incident at the family gathering. He is an artist. His medium is videos and he becomes consumed by the idea of featuring his sister-in-law's naked body in his videos. He wants to paint flowers on her body and film her. She agrees to this. His fixation then moves on to filming her having sex. He persuades a fellow artist to allow him to paint flowers on his body and to be Yeong-hye's partner, but when it comes to the point of actually engaging in sex, the partner backs out. The brother-in-law then takes over - which is what he wanted to do all along - and videotapes himself having sex with her. The sister discovers them together. The last section of the book is the sister's tale and there we learn some of Yeong-hye's back story. We learn, for example, that she was an abused child. She was the middle child with her older sister and younger brother, and her father took out his rage on her. Her sister feels guilty that she did not do more to protect her or support her. Through the sister's eyes, we see Yeong-hye descending from a healthy vegetarianism into anorexia. She goes from refusing to eat meat to, finally, refusing to eat, period. She is diagnosed with a mental illness and hospitalized. Her husband divorces her. Her parents and brother abandon her. The only one who stands by her in the end is her sister. Yeong-hye is slowly starving herself to death, even as her sister tries to pull her back and persuade her to eat. She dreams of transforming herself into a tree. Finally, she asks her sister who is trying to persuade her to live, "Why, is it such a bad thing to die?" In Korean society, where societal mores are expected to be strictly obeyed, her decision to become a vegetarian and live a more plant-based life is seen as an act of subversion. This disturbing novel should evidently be read as an allegory about modern life in Korea, and about obsession and the choices we make, as well as our stumbling attempts to try to understand each other. This is an impressive bit of story-telling by a very talented writer. Just a note also about the translator: I read this book in English and it was a thoroughly lithe and graceful translation. The translator was Deborah Smith and she, too, is an artist.
Review: Okay on the Outside - “Reality is wrong Dreams are for real”.-Tupac Shakur The Vegetarian a Korean novel written by Han Kang, is a story that shows the main character’s, Yong-hye, journey after deciding to become vegetarian. Though it is her story, the book only contains the points of view of the people around her. Separated into three parts, it starts with the moment she makes her decision. Told by her husband, Mr. Cheong. He describes what he thought of his wife in detail, before and after the life-changing events. Part 2, Yong-hye’s brother-in-law's point of view shows his obsession with wanting to film a certain side of Yong-hye, and now his obsession starts to affect his family. The ending of part two sets up the thoughts and feelings of the last point of view, Yong-hye’s sister In-hye. In-hye is left to care for her sister after she is abandoned by everyone around her and placed into a mental hospital. Yong-hye’s true thoughts are never shown, besides the dream she explain to her husband that started her change. Her words and actions show only a glimpse of what is going on in her head, which is hidden from the reader just like it is hidden from her family. Han Kang probably wanted to write this story to show the inner workings of a Korean family when dealing with a mental illness. In Korea, like in many other places mental illness is not easily accepted; it is even refused to be accepted by the ones affected by it. Causing a problem big or small in a relationship it's frowned upon disregarding what your parents elders and partner stays is utterly disrespectful in Korean culture if there is no love that the relationship should be treated as a business you have to play your part wanted to show how this is all destroyed by the mere action of not eating meat I enjoyed reading this sort of story after randomly coming across the short and simple plot was enough to get me started. I soon realized that it was more than what I expected to be this novel to be more than just getting to see how this affects a Korean family it shows how the people who seem the most composed on the outside are lost and a mess on the inside, whether it be from themselves or others, they can't seem to find a solution. Being referred to as insane, is just a measurement of how well you fooled others to think you were okay, because even you know you are not okay. One character who shared his confusion the most is Mr.Cheong. He was the first one that noticed the change in his wife. Knowing her as just an ordinary women who, goes along with what he says, and seeing her make a decision disregarding his opinion was a lot to handle. He wasn’t afraid to tell her that she had gone insane. His reaction to this is understandable because he knew her one way for a longtime. “If the hints of hysteria, delusion, weak nerves and so on, that I thought I could detect in what she said, ended up leading to something more?” This showed how much Mr.Cheong feared the woman he called his wife. By this point, she was a completely different person to him. The other character completely lost with the situation is In-hye, the older sister. She has known Yong-hye far longer than most, so she feels she knows who Yong-hye is. Seeing the events that happened after the family dinner just proved her wrong. Yong-hye has put on a strong face since she was little, and In-hye didn’t see through it. “Dreams...and I could let myself dissolve into them, let them take me over...but surely the dream isn’t all there is?” In-hye does not want Yong-hye to continue what she is doing. She wants to make herself believe that it is all a dream. A part of her understands Yong-hye, but the recent events can’t let her share that. The only thing she wants is for Yong-hye to go back to ‘the way she was.’ The book overall did a good job in telling the story jumping from points of views, but still getting the information the reader wants and needs. The only thing that I did not like about the book was the fact that we never got to see the point of view of Yong-hye. The only parts that we get close to hearing her thoughts is when she is describing her dreams, but that is still the husband's point of view. I wanted to know more about what she was thinking and how her mind got to this point. I feel just like the other characters, trying to find out why Yong-hye is like this, without being able to talk to her. It is amazing to think that the characters lives could all have been much different if the dream never came to Yong-hye, but I still think it would all have come to this. They don’t understand Yong-hye because they don’t know her, they only claim to. Yong-hye’s wish of being a tree shows how she dislikes being a human, and the ones around her are part of that reason. If you don’t mind the images that Yong-hye paints in the readers head, much like the images her brother-in-law draws, you can try and understand the pain Yong-he feels in her chest and how she wants to break free.

## Technical Specifications

| Specification | Value |
|---------------|-------|
| Best Sellers Rank | #1,096,336 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) |
| Customer Reviews | 3.8 3.8 out of 5 stars (15,022) |
| Dimensions  | 5.08 x 0.51 x 7.8 inches |
| ISBN-10  | 1846276039 |
| ISBN-13  | 978-1846276033 |
| Item Weight  | 4.9 ounces |
| Language  | English |
| Print length  | 216 pages |
| Publication date  | November 5, 2015 |
| Publisher  | FABER AND FABER |

## Images

![The Vegetarian: A Novel - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71YBG7M5WCL.jpg)

## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ The Vegetarian by Han Kang: A review
*by P***N on May 6, 2017*

What a strange little book. I tried to think of something in my reading experience with which to compare it and the only thing that came to mind was Kafka's The Metamorphosis, but instead of waking up to find herself transformed into a giant insect, Yeong-hye awoke one morning from a troubled dream of blood and gore and cruelty and decides to give up the eating of all flesh; to become a vegetarian. For her avidly meat-eating family, a metamorphosis into a giant cockroach might have been preferable. They are appalled and outraged. At a family gathering some time after she makes her decision, they try to force her to eat meat. Her brutal father slaps her twice and forces a piece of meat between her lips, but Yeong-hye manages to spit it out and then grabs a knife and slits her wrist. As her blood spurts out, the only one who comes to her aid is her brother-in-law, while her parents, her husband, sister, brother, and sister-in-law look on. What is wrong with these people? Well, a lot, apparently. We learn about it all from three different sources: the odious husband, the brother-in-law, and, finally, the sister. The husband's tale starts with his description of his impressions on meeting the woman who was to become his wife. To say his was underwhelmed would be an understatement. To be fair, his description of himself is just as unflattering. I laughed out loud at the husband's sardonic depictions of the two of them, but it was the only time in the book that I felt any inclination toward jocularity. As his wife of five years makes her decision to become a vegetarian, all the husband can think about is how this affects him and what his employer and their acquaintances will think. He is totally self-absorbed. The brother-in-law becomes obsessed with Yeong-hye after the incident at the family gathering. He is an artist. His medium is videos and he becomes consumed by the idea of featuring his sister-in-law's naked body in his videos. He wants to paint flowers on her body and film her. She agrees to this. His fixation then moves on to filming her having sex. He persuades a fellow artist to allow him to paint flowers on his body and to be Yeong-hye's partner, but when it comes to the point of actually engaging in sex, the partner backs out. The brother-in-law then takes over - which is what he wanted to do all along - and videotapes himself having sex with her. The sister discovers them together. The last section of the book is the sister's tale and there we learn some of Yeong-hye's back story. We learn, for example, that she was an abused child. She was the middle child with her older sister and younger brother, and her father took out his rage on her. Her sister feels guilty that she did not do more to protect her or support her. Through the sister's eyes, we see Yeong-hye descending from a healthy vegetarianism into anorexia. She goes from refusing to eat meat to, finally, refusing to eat, period. She is diagnosed with a mental illness and hospitalized. Her husband divorces her. Her parents and brother abandon her. The only one who stands by her in the end is her sister. Yeong-hye is slowly starving herself to death, even as her sister tries to pull her back and persuade her to eat. She dreams of transforming herself into a tree. Finally, she asks her sister who is trying to persuade her to live, "Why, is it such a bad thing to die?" In Korean society, where societal mores are expected to be strictly obeyed, her decision to become a vegetarian and live a more plant-based life is seen as an act of subversion. This disturbing novel should evidently be read as an allegory about modern life in Korea, and about obsession and the choices we make, as well as our stumbling attempts to try to understand each other. This is an impressive bit of story-telling by a very talented writer. Just a note also about the translator: I read this book in English and it was a thoroughly lithe and graceful translation. The translator was Deborah Smith and she, too, is an artist.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Okay on the Outside
*by A***R on May 1, 2018*

“Reality is wrong Dreams are for real”.-Tupac Shakur The Vegetarian a Korean novel written by Han Kang, is a story that shows the main character’s, Yong-hye, journey after deciding to become vegetarian. Though it is her story, the book only contains the points of view of the people around her. Separated into three parts, it starts with the moment she makes her decision. Told by her husband, Mr. Cheong. He describes what he thought of his wife in detail, before and after the life-changing events. Part 2, Yong-hye’s brother-in-law's point of view shows his obsession with wanting to film a certain side of Yong-hye, and now his obsession starts to affect his family. The ending of part two sets up the thoughts and feelings of the last point of view, Yong-hye’s sister In-hye. In-hye is left to care for her sister after she is abandoned by everyone around her and placed into a mental hospital. Yong-hye’s true thoughts are never shown, besides the dream she explain to her husband that started her change. Her words and actions show only a glimpse of what is going on in her head, which is hidden from the reader just like it is hidden from her family. Han Kang probably wanted to write this story to show the inner workings of a Korean family when dealing with a mental illness. In Korea, like in many other places mental illness is not easily accepted; it is even refused to be accepted by the ones affected by it. Causing a problem big or small in a relationship it's frowned upon disregarding what your parents elders and partner stays is utterly disrespectful in Korean culture if there is no love that the relationship should be treated as a business you have to play your part wanted to show how this is all destroyed by the mere action of not eating meat I enjoyed reading this sort of story after randomly coming across the short and simple plot was enough to get me started. I soon realized that it was more than what I expected to be this novel to be more than just getting to see how this affects a Korean family it shows how the people who seem the most composed on the outside are lost and a mess on the inside, whether it be from themselves or others, they can't seem to find a solution. Being referred to as insane, is just a measurement of how well you fooled others to think you were okay, because even you know you are not okay. One character who shared his confusion the most is Mr.Cheong. He was the first one that noticed the change in his wife. Knowing her as just an ordinary women who, goes along with what he says, and seeing her make a decision disregarding his opinion was a lot to handle. He wasn’t afraid to tell her that she had gone insane. His reaction to this is understandable because he knew her one way for a longtime. “If the hints of hysteria, delusion, weak nerves and so on, that I thought I could detect in what she said, ended up leading to something more?” This showed how much Mr.Cheong feared the woman he called his wife. By this point, she was a completely different person to him. The other character completely lost with the situation is In-hye, the older sister. She has known Yong-hye far longer than most, so she feels she knows who Yong-hye is. Seeing the events that happened after the family dinner just proved her wrong. Yong-hye has put on a strong face since she was little, and In-hye didn’t see through it. “Dreams...and I could let myself dissolve into them, let them take me over...but surely the dream isn’t all there is?” In-hye does not want Yong-hye to continue what she is doing. She wants to make herself believe that it is all a dream. A part of her understands Yong-hye, but the recent events can’t let her share that. The only thing she wants is for Yong-hye to go back to ‘the way she was.’ The book overall did a good job in telling the story jumping from points of views, but still getting the information the reader wants and needs. The only thing that I did not like about the book was the fact that we never got to see the point of view of Yong-hye. The only parts that we get close to hearing her thoughts is when she is describing her dreams, but that is still the husband's point of view. I wanted to know more about what she was thinking and how her mind got to this point. I feel just like the other characters, trying to find out why Yong-hye is like this, without being able to talk to her. It is amazing to think that the characters lives could all have been much different if the dream never came to Yong-hye, but I still think it would all have come to this. They don’t understand Yong-hye because they don’t know her, they only claim to. Yong-hye’s wish of being a tree shows how she dislikes being a human, and the ones around her are part of that reason. If you don’t mind the images that Yong-hye paints in the readers head, much like the images her brother-in-law draws, you can try and understand the pain Yong-he feels in her chest and how she wants to break free.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Review
*by S***P on December 12, 2017*

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.

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