This book is less than 200 pages, but it is definitely not
an easy read. I don’t even know if I have understood the book the way the
author wanted to portray to the readers.So if you have read this one, do share
your thoughts.
The vegetarian is written by a South Korean author Hangkang
and later it was translated in English by Deborah
Smith . The story is about a women name Yeong Hye who decides
not to eat meat anymore. She throws away all the meat from the fridge and
when her husband ask her why she did this, her answer was I had a dream. ( do read the book to know about the dream)
The book is in 3 parts. First it was narrated by her husband
second her brother in law and then her sister.
Its like the sky has fallen on to Yeong Hye family just because she have
stopped eating meat. ( In south Korean
meat is the main staple food ) The huband complained to her father, a
family meeting was called because she stopped eating anything related to
meat. What shocked me was the adult
Yeong Hye was forced by her father and was shoved meat in her mouth. Infact when she
tried suicide and was taken to the hospital in that time too her mother tried to make
food for her which was non veg. The day
she left the hospital sat on a chair
naked in front of the public Her husband felt she needs to get admitted in Psychiatric hospital and a
divorce.
Frankly I didn’t understand the narration of the brother in
law and his artistic views on Yeong Hye, he had
this weird erotic vision which later shattered his marriage with Yeong
Hye sister.
The last narration was from her sister In-Hye , though she didn’t understand her
sister’s problem but she tried to
prevent people to force feed her meat.
Even the doctor diagnose her with Anorexia and Schizophernia , but no one is
ready to accept her the way she wants to live her life.
What I felt is the
book is about how people get treated when they don’t follow social norms in
South Korea. Even the husband didn’t even stood by her side in the times when
she needed him the most. Slowly Yeonh
Hye gets admitted to the mental hospital where she stops taking food completely. Its all because
she wanted to live a life of non violence.
A person who enjoy
books related to realism or even about Human Psychology can try this
one out.
