The Vegetarian in Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge

Oct 06, 2016 Ryan rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: borrowed, 2016

Well...THAT got bleak in a hurry!

The first act intrigued me, the second act had me rapt, the final act just absolutely destroyed me. I'll remain a happy carnivore, thank-you very much.

I *do* feel like taking some photos now though.... ...more

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Jan 26, 2017 Monica rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: rooster, 2017

Eerie, memorable fable that I thoroughly enjoyed. Domestic horror with an unexpected empathetic streak.

3 likes · Like · see review

Aug 05, 2019 mehg-hen rated it liked it · review of another edition

I want to pretend like I fully understood this. I did not.

It's like a poem and it haunts you for a while. I feel like I will have a dream in two months and it will all become clear.

Regardless, I inhaled it. So...??? ...more

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Oct 20, 2018 Jennifer rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: translated, fiction, owned, novella, women-in-translation

I had been curious about this book for ages, but also, as a vegetarian, cautious. I was worried that it was going to make some big statement about vegetarians in general, which it didn't, but there were a number of scenes early on when Yeong-hye is first a vegetarian and she shares meals with others, where those conversations and snipes were so familiar and so dominating that I could feel my blood boil. But very soon it becomes clear that what is going on with Yeong-hye is far more than a change ...more

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May 19, 2016 jenn rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2016

This was almost a DNF after a slow first section, but then it won the Man Booker International before I could get it back to the library and I was like, "welp." Not a perfect book, but I'm not sorry I finished. Thanks, tastemakers! ...more

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May 09, 2017 Richard rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: readfromlibrary

This was one of the tournament books that initially held very little interest for me. It seemed like one of those quiet contemplative books that would be more about crafting a (boring) little world than providing a powerful story. I was happy to be horrendously wrong. This book was so wonderfully weird and surprising and frustrating and mesmerizing that I’m a little sorry I read it so fast. I need to come back to it some day. I loved the distance the reader had from the Yeong-Hye’s transformatio ...more

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