Yesterday I finished reading The Vegetarian by South Korean writer Han Kang. This novel was awarded the Man Booker International Prize in 2016. Ms. Han Kang was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2024.
My review of The Vegetarian, in free verse/Japanese Haiku (5-7-5) style
The Vegetarian
The reader tends to love
The books which are slim and concise
The Vegetarian is only 182pp
As such I loved it
I was able to finish reading it
Till the very very end
It is written by a
South Korean writer lady named Han Kang
She got Literature Nobel recently
This novel was awarded with
Man Booker International Prize 2016 for being
Best translated book that year
Its story of a women
Who one fine day announces giving up
Eating meat and animal products
She said a night dream
Is the reason for giving up meat
Only vegetables fruits for her
Her husband and parents are
Bewildered and astonished at her strange decision
And decides to overturn it
But she is very firm
And refuses to eat meat animal products
Loses weight but is firm
She attempts suicide when she
Is force feed meat at family gathering
And is rushed to hospital
She is declared mentally unstable
Is divorced and given up by family
Except by her elder sister
Mangolian Mark is chapter 2
The above lady now lives all alone
But still only the vegetarian
Her brother-in-law is an artist
And he exploits the lady physically sexually
Is found by his wife
Flaming Three is chapter 3
Yeong-hye is the name of suffering lady
Now in a psychiatry hospital
Her elder sister, In-hye, visits
Hospital regularly to check on her condition
And is getting sad frustrated
The novel ends with another
Force feed by doctors nurses and sister
Makes condition of lady bad
The novel ends abruptly and
The lady is shifted to bigger hospital
Sister on brink of breakdown
Complex novel it is obvious
Unconventional people are often made to suffer
For being unconventional and different
Or maybe the author is
Saying something profound and complex which is
Beyond my comprehension and understanding
Glad was able to finish
And enjoyed the turning of physical pages
Instead of the Insta Doomscroll