Obsession and freedom through The Vegetarian

?What does it mean to have a body? The Vegetarian by Han Kang recasts the idea of vegetarianism through the haunting story of a young woman who spirals too deep in corporeal abstractions and crosses societal boundaries. Written and published in Korean in 2007, the novel was Kang’s first crossover into English, translated by Deborah Smith in 2015. Recipient of the 2016 International Booker Prize, the book is one of Kang’s most popular, receiving wide critical acclaim, and standing out amongst her works when she won the 2024 Nobel Prize in Literature.

Shifting points of view: The story introduces the main character Yeong-hye, a Korean woman in her early twenties, through the perspectives of three people close to her: her husband, her brother-in-law, and her sister. We first meet Yeong-hye through the eyes of her husband Mr. Cheong, who has no real passion for her, and is just satisfied with her marital duties and comforted by her plainness, which is why when she makes the sudden decision to stop eating meat, their marriage completely takes a turn. Her husband was appalled when one night she threw away all the raw meat they had in the freezer, blaming the compulsion on a dream she had.

Against the wishes of her husband and the demands of her parents, she continues with her vegetarian diet and drastically loses weight, turning pale and fragile. Her intense urge to avoid meat is unfathomable to everyone around her and only grows stronger as time passes. Her husband passively watches as her quiet nature grows quieter and her inner thoughts become completely unknown to him.

Gory dreams and provocative images. The novel is propelled by evocative imagery that reflects the complex and poignant inner landscape of the characters. Yeong-hye’s dreams are revealed through bouts of strong, descriptive images that appear mid-narration. Riddled with memories of meat grilling and bloody images, we learn of an immense sense of guilt that seems to be driving her nightmares.

A revitalizing experience. If the concept of vegetarianism has never stirred up your emotions, this book will certainly shift things for you. Kang manages to flesh out what, to most of us, seems like a simple dietary choice into the story of a woman who goes against the grain. The language alone will have you hooked as the translation chooses words that carry connotations that feed into the novel’s larger imagery. The story will shock and disturb you, but it will also challenge your ideas around bodily existence, societal expectations, and what it means to be unchained.

WHERE TO GET IT- You can buy a physical copy at Diwan. You can also get the ebook on Amazon and Kobo.