Hi everyone! I hope you didn’t miss me too much. I still have a couple of horror books I want to wrap up by the end of October. While this particular book isn’t technically a horror novel, I think it still fits the vibe. I’ve also been trying to read more translated books, so I have been keeping my eye out for suggestions. I actually got this book for my birthday (back in June) and have been holding off until now to read it. So, let’s finally talk about The Vegetarian.

Content Warning: Disturbing Imagery, Domestic Violence, Child Abuse, Explicit Sexual Content, Sexual Assault, Animal Death, Self-Harm, Eating Disorders, Discussions and Depictions of Schizophrenia

Yeong-hye and her husband lived a perfectly harmonious, albeit boring, life. It all changes when Yeong-hye begins to have violent nightmares about blood and death. Disturbed by these dreams, she decides to completely swear off eating any meat. This decision throws her marriage and relationships with her family into turmoil. Her family’s concerns quickly turn into a desperate bid to control Yeong-hye despite her wishes. She begins to spiral and, soon, no one will be able to help her.

I am going to preface this review by saying that this book will not be for everyone. It covers a lot of heavy topics and does so with unflinching prose. The Vegetarian is, to me, reminiscent of The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins-Gilman. The readers are subject to witnessing this slow descent into madness, paired with other issues like marital abuse, the treatment of mental health patients, and psychosis. Like I said in the beginning, this is not a horror novel, but that doesn’t make it any less scary. Han Kang blends together different forms of prose, which enhances the message of the narrative. It is a bit of a bleak novel, but it is so interesting and hard to put down. At the end of the day, I am going to recommend The Vegetarian because it has such a powerful message amid haunting and brutal prose.