The Vegetarian: One Woman’s Self-imposed Dissapearance: A Book Review
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The Vegetarian by Han Kang
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This book challenged me.
On the surface, it was a grueling story of a woman, Yeong-hye. I catch the impression that she is a victim of horrid abuse and exposed to the gory realities of life and violence at an impressionable age. Her husband calls her unremarkable and says she asks for nothing for herself.
The Vegetarian is her, slowly disappearing.
In response to this and the growing unease she feels, she begins to exert control over her world through her diet. The only place she has total power. She chooses to become a vegetarian, but that isn’t enough.
Throughout the book, her dietary restrictions grow along with her family’s concern, frustration, and their eventual violent opposition.
What troubled me was that they never sought to help the woman in trouble. They sought to control her behavior. Often for reasons apart from her health.
I guess this is where the allegory lies.
It gets far worse. Creepers creep, family hounds, Yeong-hye slides further away from reality.
It is complex, sexually fueled, and made me pity Yeong-hye.
There are so many nuances this book brings to mind.
First, Yeong-hye herself is never presented as a victim. She is passive and even complicit in the violence against her. Her passivity is taken for permission, but her state of mind is clearly compromised, shattered.
Her birthmark becomes a point of obsession for her brother-in-law. A mark she has nothing to do with and has never shown to anyone. In the latter part of the book, it is revealed that she was not even aware whether it was still visible. This obsession is nothing of her doing. Yet it is a part of her undoing.
The theme of passivity, in contrast to the strong-willed adherence to Yeong-hye’s self-imposed dietary restrictions, reveals the confusion in her life and comments on the lives of those without power, protection, or compassion.
The Vegetarian is a book to read, then think about, and perhaps read again.
I was first repelled. Then I read it in total. Now, I am still thinking about it.
You’ve been warned.
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