Review | The Vegetarian by Han King
Han King’s The Vegetarian has been awarded the Man Booker Prize and while I can see the appeal, it left me wanting, not in a good way.
The story revolves around a family in which the daughter becomes a vegetarian after a nightmare. She’s compulsive about it, not eating anything that came from animals and getting to the point where instead of avoiding touching meat, she avoids touching people as well. The smell of sweat bothers her.
The story is short, with three different perspectives: the woman’s husband, her sister, and her brother-in-law.
To be honest, it’s pretty manic pixie dream girl. There’s some hand waving at magical realism, but it doesn’t follow through and the story’s structure feels stunted. The characters are mysoginists and flat. The pacing is meandering, and I didn’t find the story compelling. If it had followed through on some of its more magical and dream-related elements I would have found it more interesting.
Overall, it wasn’t for me. Maybe my tastes just aren’t literary enough.
I received a copy of this book for free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
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