The Vegetarian by Han Kang Book Review

by The Reader

“Before my wife turned vegetarian I’d always thought of her as completely unremarkable in any way”.

This is how the book opens, straight into what will be the main mood of the book. Violence, in many forms and shapes, is the way of interacting by most—or all—of the characters along the book. What was a “regular” life turns havoc when the “unremarkable” wife turns vegetarian, and from this simple act sprout all sorts of chaotic and very disturbing family situations. She turns vegetarian because she starts having very bloody and violent dreams, but we as readers are never clear why or where do those dreams come from—they are succinctly narrated by her own internal voice in a few paragraphs along the book.

The main character, Yeon-hye (the wife turned vegetarian) is only the main character because her actions—and much more importantly, her non-actions—are the source of all the events in the plot; she seldom speaks and the story is narrated from the perspective of three separate characters—first the husband, then the brother in-law and finally the sister.

Becoming vegetarian in her environment is highly disruptive for the family and their social norms, but it becomes clear the main issue is not just not eating meat. She never really explains to anyone about the reason for the change (there is only a vague “I had a dream”, which nobody around her cares to listen), and her vegetarian diet is not balanced in any sort of way. She starts losing weight without any control and becomes more and more detached from her surroundings; husband, family and society in general, showing no interest for any of the things happening outside her internal world.

For Yeon-hye, to stop eating meat is just the first step for getting away from any form of violence—a big contrast compared to the characters around her. This seems to be not a rational path, but one that appears in a natural way but natural in the way manifestations of nature seem natural, like an unavoidable force that cannot be stopped in any way. As she distances herself from violence, she also detaches herself not just from other human beings but also from the animal kingdom itself, a kingdom where there is no survival without brutality.

This book is, at the end, about violence and subjugation, but also about deliverance. The narrative is fluid and engaging, but it is a hard, tough book to read. You may like it or you may not. You may find plenty of symbolism and meaning in it, or maybe just some strange, cruel narrative, but either way it is unlikely to leave you unmoved. It is definitely worth reading.