The Vegetarian By Han Kang Review
Read a drama novel after a long time, having been stuck with reading crime thrillers. The Vegetarian is a psychological drama, also a family drama. And hell, I wasn't disappointed. It's an extremely unsettling read, it's disturbing in the most revealing way.
Fiction is not just meant to comfort you but also widen your scope of understanding, make you feel uncomfortable, make you think outside of your social, psychological bubble. However this novel reached some very deeply set, deeply ingrained traumas a woman in a conservative society invariably has to carry without any acknowledgement by the world, including their own family.
The themes of this novel deal with patriarchal oppression, bodily autonomy, gender roles, and violence, especially gendered violence and the writer has used the medium of allegory pretty heavy handedly. I am usually not a big fan of such a writing device but this writer definitely did justice to it, and it made the novel quite a nuanced read, as the device sent the message home.
I felt the emotions bubbling right under my epidermis as I read through this booker winning novel, it touched certain emotions deeply buried under my chest that eventually became a part of my persona, having born and grown up in an Asian society. The author put focus on how patriarchy not only oppresses women but limits a man as well, in terms of role assignment and social standing. Patriarchy straightjackets a man too, even if women bear the larger brunt of it and I loved how the writer used the right storytelling tones for the men and the women, matter of fact for the men and extremely intuitive and empathetic towards the women. The writing invariably depicts the stance of the writer herself, and I like it when the writer does that, when their writing speaks strongly of their conviction, where they don't play the part of some pacifist monkey afraid of calling a spade a spade for the fear of disapproval. If I can't respect the writer, i can't respect their writing.
There are three parts to the novel, and while there is one central protag, the parts themselves focus on different characters, however the protag is an important player in all the three parts. The novel lays bare the family dynamics in a conservative and patriarchal Korean household, the violence inflicted upon girls that shapes them and determines the kind of women they would become, and the part men play in it. But of course, the larger system or the family unit not only refuses to take any accountability for the inhumane treatment, they double down in the face of any type of criticism revolt.
The novel contains touches of magical realism, so the writing style reminded me a bit of Murakami, and I do have a feeling that the writer was probably influenced by him a little. But none of Murakami's novels affected me the way this novel did. This novel touched me deeply, made me shed hot painful tears, and experience the feelings of simultaneously putting down the book and keep reading despite myself.
I highly recommend it. Not to say that it is an easy read, and it's only meant for adults. So there's your disclaimer. It's a very painful read, so much so that you won't just feel it in your head but your body, it will make the muscles in your shoulders and neck tighten, make your heart and throat constrict, make you feel a hot sensation spread from your chest to the rest of your body and eventually your eyes and ears, I was in a daze for days after having read it. Your nervous system doesn't know what's real and what's fiction, it responds the same way either way. And this novel made something inside me seen and heard, things that I dont particularly want to talk about here, but something that most women have felt as children and women.
I want to talk about it in more detail but I am avoiding spoilers so feel free to talk about it in the comment section once you have read it, if you manage to read it. I rate it eight and a half out of ten stars.
