The Vegetarian in Around the World in 80 Books

May 02, 2019 Linda Martin rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2019, gaaaaaah, fiction, geo-korea, psychology, families

I did not like or love this book. There were some good parts, and there were some parts I wish I'd never read, especially in part two of the book. There are only three parts, or chapters, in this book. Thankfully, it is a short novel.

The three sections were told from three different points of view. The first part was the first-person narrative of the vegetarian's husband. Then the author switched to third person for the rest of the book, focusing first on the vegetarian's brother-in-law, and in I did not like or love this book. There were some good parts, and there were some parts I wish I'd never read, especially in part two of the book. There are only three parts, or chapters, in this book. Thankfully, it is a short novel.

The three sections were told from three different points of view. The first part was the first-person narrative of the vegetarian's husband. Then the author switched to third person for the rest of the book, focusing first on the vegetarian's brother-in-law, and in part three, on the vegetarian's sister. We get very little knowledge of the vegetarian's actual thoughts... some of which are inserted in italics in the first section of the book.

I thought the writing style is more of what I'd expect in a short story, than in a novel. The style is very literary and extremely vague, which is one thing I didn't like about The Vegetarian. The book is said by some to be an allegory about South Korea but sorry, I just don't get it. Maybe I don't know enough about South Korea to figure out how that relates. Maybe the two sisters are North and South Korea, and one has broken away from tradition more, and is experiencing great trauma? Maybe the vegetarian is North Korea refusing to experience freedom? I don't know. Sometimes these things need to be explained to me. I don't much appreciate books that are so vague and hyper-literary that I can't even understand what they're about.

There were a few things I identified with. First of all, I'm a vegetarian and have been most of the time since I was about 17. Almost 50 years. (Yes, I'm that old.) I was hoping for something positive about vegetarianism, but positivity wasn't the mood of the book. I identified with the girl's relatives being negative about her new diet. Way back when I started to be a vegetarian, I met a lot of people who just didn't get it.

The other thing I identified with was toward the end of the book so I'll hide it here, as a spoiler... don't look unless you've already read the book. (view spoiler) Anyhow... memories! We all have them.

One main reason I didn't appreciate this book was because of excessive sexual content. I thought it was too graphic. It was disgusting literary porn. That was only in chapter two. Still, it won the Man Booker International Prize in 2016, so many apparently appreciated it more than I did. We live in a corrupt civilization. Books should have ratings just like movies to warn us of the content, because many of us don't want to read about explicit sexual encounters.

I read this book as part of the 2019 Asian Readathon (a Booktube thing). I regret reading it. This book is/was promoted far more than it should have been. ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Dec 01, 2024 Mike rated it really liked it · review of another edition

This went in some very unexpected directions. Careful if you are picking this one based on the title, it probably isn’t what you would think.

Like · see review

Apr 22, 2017 Missyjohnson1 rated it liked it · review of another edition

Very unusual

This selection was featured on Goodreads as a title that has been commonly re-read. Hhhmmmm I am not thinking that I will re-read anytime soon. Very unusual and thought provoking.

Like · see review