- The Vegetarian by Han Kang, Winner of the 2024 Nobel Prize in Literature

Reading The Vegetarian felt less like finishing a novel and more like passing through a quiet, unsettling spiritual experience. This is not spirituality rooted in religion or doctrine. It is the spirituality of negation, of refusal, of a soul trying to escape the violence embedded in everyday life. The protagonist’s decision to stop eating meat slowly becomes a rejection of the body, desire, social order, and finally language itself. What moved me most was how silence replaces explanation. There is no sermon here, only surrender. The book asks uncomfortable questions. What if enlightenment looks like withdrawal rather than awakening. What if purity is terrifying. What if becoming less human is the only way to remain true. It is haunting, meditative, and deeply spiritual in the most unsettling sense.

The Vegetarian by Han Kang is a powerful and disturbing novel that explores themes of control, violence, identity, and freedom. The story follows Yeong-hye, a quiet woman who suddenly decides to stop eating meat. This small decision slowly turns into a complete rejection of society, family, and human life. The novel is divided into three parts, each told from a different point of view. The first part is narrated by Yeong-hye’s husband, who sees her decision as strange, embarrassing, and inconvenient. The second part is told through her brother-in-law, an artist who becomes obsessed with Yeong-hye and uses her body for his art. The third part focuses on Yeong-hye’s sister, In-hye, who tries to take care of her while questioning her own life and choices. Yeong-hye herself rarely speaks, which shows how her voice is ignored and controlled by others. The second part of the novel is especially striking and beautiful in a disturbing way. The imagery of flowers, paint, and the human body is delicate and dream-like. Even though the situation is morally troubling, the writing feels calm, slow, and visually rich. This part stands out because it shows how beauty can exist alongside cruelty, and how art can also become a form of violence. Violence is a central theme in the novel. Han Kang shows that violence is not only physical but also emotional and social. Yeong-hye is forced to eat meat, judged as abnormal, and treated as mentally ill because she refuses to follow social rules. Her vegetarianism becomes a symbol of resistance against a violent and controlling world. In-hye is one of the most important characters in the novel. Unlike Yeong-hye, she follows society’s rules and carries responsibility quietly. As she watches her sister suffer, she slowly becomes aware of her own exhaustion and suppressed pain. In-hye represents women who survive by enduring, not by resisting. By the end, she is emotionally broken but deeply aware, making her character tragic and powerful. Han Kang’s writing style is simple, calm, and unsettling. The quiet tone makes the disturbing events more shocking. The novel does not give clear answers or comfort. Instead, it forces the reader to question what is considered normal and who has the power to decide it. In conclusion, The Vegetarian is a dark, haunting, and thought-provoking novel. It challenges ideas of sanity, beauty, obedience, and freedom. Though difficult to read, it leaves a lasting impression and stays with the reader long after it ends.

Book Name– The Vegetarian Author – Han Kang Genre – Fiction Translated by– Deborah Smith Hello lovelies!!!!! Here is another review of the book, but as always, let’s listen to my “story behind the book.” SBTB – Umm!! I guess it’s been more than 6 months since I bought this book. When it came into the spotlight as a winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature, I was intrigued and so excited to read it. But life happened in a good way, of course and this book remained on the shelf, waiting for its turn. And here it is! I finally took the time and finished this book in a week. So, let’s dive into the review. Book Review– This is the story of Yeong-hye, who was healthy and fine until one day she decided to become a vegetarian and refused to eat meat. Her family and husband forced her to eat meat, but she didn’t budge. Her condition worsened day by day. One day, her husband left her, and eventually, her family did too. Only her sister, In-hye, stayed by her side as a caregiver. As time passed, Yeong-hye became more disturbed, and her mental health deteriorated. She was eventually admitted to a psychiatric hospital. The way the story begins and unfolds is thrilling and painful to read. I found myself praying throughout the book, thinking, “Please Yeong-hye, hang in there, please?” Though the story becomes somewhat predictable, I still kept hoping for a twist that would change everything. This book felt like watching a psychological thriller drama shocking, heartbreaking, and intense on every page. QOTD – Since this month is Mental Health Awareness Month, tell me: What do you do when everything feels like too much, like you're about to break? Have you ever felt this way or seen someone go through it?

What a strange little book. I tried to think of something in my reading experience with which to compare it and the only thing that came to mind was Kafka's The Metamorphosis, but instead of waking up to find herself transformed into a giant insect, Yeong-hye awoke one morning from a troubled dream of blood and gore and cruelty and decides to give up the eating of all flesh; to become a vegetarian. For her avidly meat-eating family, a metamorphosis into a giant cockroach might have been preferable. They are appalled and outraged. At a family gathering some time after she makes her decision, they try to force her to eat meat. Her brutal father slaps her twice and forces a piece of meat between her lips, but Yeong-hye manages to spit it out and then grabs a knife and slits her wrist. As her blood spurts out, the only one who comes to her aid is her brother-in-law, while her parents, her husband, sister, brother, and sister-in-law look on. What is wrong with these people? Well, a lot, apparently. We learn about it all from three different sources: the odious husband, the brother-in-law, and, finally, the sister. The husband's tale starts with his description of his impressions on meeting the woman who was to become his wife. To say his was underwhelmed would be an understatement. To be fair, his description of himself is just as unflattering. I laughed out loud at the husband's sardonic depictions of the two of them, but it was the only time in the book that I felt any inclination toward jocularity. As his wife of five years makes her decision to become a vegetarian, all the husband can think about is how this affects him and what his employer and their acquaintances will think. He is totally self-absorbed. The brother-in-law becomes obsessed with Yeong-hye after the incident at the family gathering. He is an artist. His medium is videos and he becomes consumed by the idea of featuring his sister-in-law's naked body in his videos. He wants to paint flowers on her body and film her. She agrees to this. His fixation then moves on to filming her having sex. He persuades a fellow artist to allow him to paint flowers on his body and to be Yeong-hye's partner, but when it comes to the point of actually engaging in sex, the partner backs out. The brother-in-law then takes over - which is what he wanted to do all along - and videotapes himself having sex with her. The sister discovers them together. The last section of the book is the sister's tale and there we learn some of Yeong-hye's back story. We learn, for example, that she was an abused child. She was the middle child with her older sister and younger brother, and her father took out his rage on her. Her sister feels guilty that she did not do more to protect her or support her. Through the sister's eyes, we see Yeong-hye descending from a healthy vegetarianism into anorexia. She goes from refusing to eat meat to, finally, refusing to eat, period. She is diagnosed with a mental illness and hospitalized. Her husband divorces her. Her parents and brother abandon her. The only one who stands by her in the end is her sister. Yeong-hye is slowly starving herself to death, even as her sister tries to pull her back and persuade her to eat. She dreams of transforming herself into a tree. Finally, she asks her sister who is trying to persuade her to live, "Why, is it such a bad thing to die?" In Korean society, where societal mores are expected to be strictly obeyed, her decision to become a vegetarian and live a more plant-based life is seen as an act of subversion. This disturbing novel should evidently be read as an allegory about modern life in Korea, and about obsession and the choices we make, as well as our stumbling attempts to try to understand each other. This is an impressive bit of story-telling by a very talented writer. Just a note also about the translator: I read this book in English and it was a thoroughly lithe and graceful translation. The translator was Deborah Smith and she, too, is an artist.

A fascinating read. Very different to anything I've read before. I had no idea where it was headed and had to keep turning the pages on a very strange and tragic journey. Explores some pretty deep and dark themes - mental illness, anorexia, and the way we relate to people who make choices that are different to ours. A difficult but rewarding read.

The first reading I had from this author. Fabulous and deep. It is about the choice. It is also about the human nature. The choice that goes beyond the extreme. After this, I bought other books from the same author. Warmly recommended.

Sin duda uno de los mejores que he leído últimamente. Han Kang no defrauda con ninguno de sus libros. Es una maestra describiendo tantos horrores con la sencillez de su prosa.

Intenso, cativante, instigante. Em inglês, difícil, com um estilo e uma linguagem sofisticados. Te prende intensamente do principio so final