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The Vegetarian by Han Kang (first published in 2015 by Portobello books)
The setting is North Korea where a young woman, Yeong-hye is the dictionary definition of a plain Jane. She is predictable, easy going and never one to rock the boat.
She lives a dull life with her rather spineless chauvinistic husband. If nothing else, their life is numb and comfortable.
And then Yeong-hye has a nightmare that leaves her repulsed by meat in a society that has very clear lines of what is right and wrong . You don’t have to guess that choosing vegetarianism means no longer fitting the mould, and that is a bad thing.
Being a vegetarian proves to be offensive to almost everyone, and even those who may not be offended by it, do not understand it.
This despite the fact that she preaches no ideology about her choice. Systematically relationships start unravelling and even the people who appear to be normal find themselves undone.
The style reminded me of Murakami and I thought the glimpse into Korean culture was a lovely complexity.
This book is all about the characters, which Kang introduces with a clever means of double vision: first from afar and then under a microscope where they are dissected rather ruthlessly.
Will this book convince you to become a vegetarian? I don't believe that was its purpose. But will it challenge you to think about your authentic self? Absolutely.
Not for nothing it won the Man International Prize for fiction (2016).
Read more of Cindi’s reviews on her blog.
Keen on reading this book? Buy your copy now.
