The Vegetarian: A Novel

The Vegetarian: A Novel

Author:
Series: 2018 Reading Challenge: A Book in Translation
ASIN: B00X2F7NRI

I've been meaning to read this Man Booker Prize winner since Jennifer Weiner said, "I find myself thinking about it weeks after I finished." Critics describe it as "Kafka-esque", and reader friends with great taste have said this strange (and sometimes disturbing) story delivers a unique and absorbing reading experience. Originally written in Korean and translated by Deborah Smith.

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About the Book

Publisher’s description:
Winner of the 2016 Man Booker International Prize

NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The New York Times Book Review • Publisher’s Weekly •  Buzzfeed •  Entertainment Weekly •  Time •  Wall Street Journal •  Bustle •  Elle •  The Economist •  Slate •  The Huffington Post • The St. Louis Dispatch •  Electric Literature

A beautiful, unsettling novel about rebellion and taboo, violence and eroticism, and the twisting metamorphosis of a soul
 
Before the nightmares began, Yeong-hye and her husband lived an ordinary, controlled life. But the dreams—invasive images of blood and brutality—torture her, driving Yeong-hye to purge her mind and renounce eating meat altogether. It’s a small act of independence, but it interrupts her marriage and sets into motion an increasingly grotesque chain of events at home. As her husband, her brother-in-law and sister each fight to reassert their control, Yeong-hye obsessively defends the choice that’s become sacred to her. Soon their attempts turn desperate, subjecting first her mind, and then her body, to ever more intrusive and perverse violations, sending Yeong-hye spiraling into a dangerous, bizarre estrangement, not only from those closest to her, but also from herself.

Celebrated by critics around the world, The Vegetarian is a darkly allegorical, Kafka-esque tale of power, obsession, and one woman’s struggle to break free from the violence both without and within her.

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