"Vegetarianen" belönades 2016 med det internationella Man Booker-priset och blev Han Kangs genombrott utanför hemlandet Sydkorea. Det är en lyrisk berättelse i tre akter, som rör sig mellan realism, surrealism och allegori. Yeong-hye är en tystlåten kvinna i ett traditionellt äktenskap i Sydkorea. Hon har aldrig gjort uppror, men så börjar hon drömma om blod och brutalitet, om kroppar och kött. En dag bestämmer hon sig: hon måste bli vegetarian. Människorna i hennes liv, hennes make, svåger och syster, vägrar att acceptera beslutet, och hennes envishet sätter igång en spiral av tvång och våld. Kampen står inte bara kring hennes kropp och vad hon väljer att äta, utan handlar om hennes sexuella och intellektuella frihet. Vad händer med den som ständigt måste föra en kamp mot tillvaron? Vilka medel står till buds och när når en människa bristningsgränsen? Våldet som Yeong-hyes protest släpper lös tar sig in i henne själv, börjar arbeta emot henne. På andra sidan metamorfosen råder inte längre rationaliteten. "Vegetarianen" är en andlöst vacker och mörk berättelse om begär och förvandling, makt och motstånd.
Publication Year: 2007
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The first time I read it, I didn't really get it. But now reading it a second time, but now for my book club, I tried to analyse it a bit more and it really is an interesting book. It's not an easy book. I kind of feel I need to learn more about Korean culture to truly understand it all.
I think when I first read it I was so disgusted by the two male voices that uses Yeong-hye for their own lusts that I couldn't focus on much else. Her husband who only wants her to be this silent housewife that is almost like a servant. She is not allowed to be anything outside of what he deems normal. When she starts to get sick, his instinct is not to help her, he only wants her to go back to "normal".
Then the sisters husband who is an artist and becomes obsessed with Yeong-hye for some weird reason. He is enticed by her and uses her for sex when she is clearly not well at all. It also seems like some kind of fuck you to his wife whom he wishes would be more than she is.
And then we have the sister, the only one left in the end, watching Yeong-hye in an mental hospital just dying. She refuses to eat, she does not wish to cooperate with any staff, she has reached her limit.
The comparison to a tree is also interesting. I don't really think I understand it, and it feels like the most abstract part of the book, but it is there from day one, when Yeong-hye refuses meat, and then when she is happy about having flowers on her body and talking about only needing sunlight to exist, not wanting to speak.
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