The Vegetarian
Han Kang • 2007
Devastation Rating
body Korea women resistance
Our Take
Yeong-hye stops eating meat after a dream and her refusal spreads outward until it becomes a refusal of her whole body, her whole existence in a world that demands women comply. Han Kang uses the body as the only territory where autonomy is possible. The brutality of the husband's response is the most ordinary horror in the book.
Appears In
► Body Horror — What Is Done to the Flesh ► Sexual Assault — The Silence After ► Korean Literature — The Weight of History in the Body ► Japanese Literature of Loss — The Grief Beneath the Surface ► Eating Disorders — The War Inside the Body ► Animals and the Ethics of Care — When We Fail the Creatures We Love
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