The Vegetarian: A Total Waste of Potential

Han Kang’s The Vegetarian actually had the potential to be a deep social critique, but it completely loses itself in the shallow, dysfunctional minds of its characters. Telling the story through the husband, brother-in-law, and sister instead of the main character could have been a great way to add depth, but honestly, it was just disappointing. These perspectives don’t lead to any real intellectual or emotional insight; they just force the reader to endure one-dimensional observations. This network of relationships could have been a strong foundation to explore a woman’s roles and the way society judges her. Instead, we’re just stuck with the narrow-minded and honestly "stupid" thoughts of characters that don't seem to serve any purpose at all.

The rebellion against Korean cultural norms through vegetarianism sounds interesting on paper, but the book gets lost in an unnecessary, almost utopian absurdity that feels totally detached from reality. There are far more powerful ways to describe this kind of pain in real life, so this approach actually makes the story weaker. Since all those uncomfortable perspectives never turn into a real manifesto or a meaningful statement, you're just left feeling empty by the end. I kept waiting for these complex character bonds to go somewhere, but instead, I just read the thoughts of shallow people and closed the book saying: "So?? Why did I even bother?"