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What Members Thought
Hmmm. odd, dark, weird, perplexing book.
The Vegetarian tells the story of Yeong-hye, a young lady from Seoul, Korea, who after having a bizarre nightmare, decides to become a vegetarian. Not only a vegetarian, she seeks to live a more plant-like existence, doing things like sunning herself naked. Her decision confuses and even angers her husband and parents. There's some force feeding, psych evals, etc. As her family estranges her, Yeong-hye sinks deeper into her plant-based fantasy.
This book ...more
The Vegetarian tells the story of Yeong-hye, a young lady from Seoul, Korea, who after having a bizarre nightmare, decides to become a vegetarian. Not only a vegetarian, she seeks to live a more plant-like existence, doing things like sunning herself naked. Her decision confuses and even angers her husband and parents. There's some force feeding, psych evals, etc. As her family estranges her, Yeong-hye sinks deeper into her plant-based fantasy.
This book ...more
Wonderfully weird and dark. It had a creepiness that pulled you in -- it reminded me a touch of Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House, though with a very different, more minimalist writing style. Just under the surface-level plot is a clear portrait of a woman suffocating under the weight of societal expectations that become more & more oppressive.
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Jun 04, 2018
Julianne Dunn
rated it
really liked it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
2018-read-harder
Prepare yourself - this book is weird as hell. I'm still not sure why people were so thrown by the new vegetarianism of Young-eon. At first I spent too much time thinking about why it was so throwing for people but after I moved past it, the devolution of everyone surrounding her is fascinating.
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I knew this book would be weird, but I was not prepared for how upsetting it would be. ALL the Content Warnings: domestic violence, child abuse, rape, eating disorder, mental illness, suicidal ideation, infidelity, and horrific cruelty to a dog. (The bit with the dog made me wish I had not read this book - why do not other reviews warn about this??) Yeong-hye's eating disorder is described in detail.
She was no longer able to cope with all that her sister reminded her of. She’d been unable...more
Jun 01, 2016
Jennifer
rated it
it was amazing
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review of another edition
Shelves:
tob2017longlist,
tob2017
Both a three star and a five star for me. Too much to think about to review immediately. A sparse, painful read that is absolutely etched in my mind right now. But I also rather hated it. Right book at the wrong time?
Jun 24, 2016
Sarah
marked it as to-read
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review of another edition
Shelves:
christmas-2019-wish-list
