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The Vegetarian

byHan Kang

Genres: Fiction Psychological Thrillers

Who is this book for? Readers interested in psychological explorations of identity and societal norms.

Topics WomenFamily dynamicsIdentityRelationshipsCultural heritagePsychological explorationDreams and nightmaresKorean societyVegetarianismTranslation and language.ShameDesireFamilySurvival

MoodDark, Melancholic, Reflective

Female protagonist

RomanceMinor Subplot

ViolenceModerate

Explicit scenesSuggestive Themes

Winner of the Booker International Prize 2016. Yeong-hye and her husband are ordinary people. He is an office worker with moderate ambitions and mild manners; she is an uninspired but dutiful wife. The acceptable flatline of their marriage is interrupted when Yeong-hye, seeking a more 'plant-like' existence, decides to become a vegetarian, prompted by grotesque recurring nightmares. In South Korea, where vegetarianism is almost unheard-of and societal mores are strictly obeyed, Yeong-hye's decision is a shocking act of subversion. Her passive rebellion manifests in ever more bizarre and frightening forms, leading her bland husband to self-justified acts of sexual sadism. His cruelties drive her towards attempted suicide and hospitalisation. She unknowingly captivates her sister's husband, a video artist. She becomes the focus of his increasingly erotic and unhinged artworks, while spiralling further and further into her fantasies of abandoning her fleshly prison and becoming - impossibly, ecstatically - a tree. Fraught, disturbing and beautiful, The Vegetarian is a novel about modern day South Korea, but also a novel about shame, desire and our faltering attempts to understand others, from one imprisoned body to another.

Language

Published on

05/11/2015

Pages

192

Format

Paperback

ISBN

9781846276033

Price Comparison

8.19 €

8.99 £

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9.99 €

11.89 €

12 €

12 €

12 €

12.99 €

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21.99 €

Editions in other languages

The Vegetarian alternative edition book cover

Paperback

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