Joe and Frank. When I catch you.

Reread this today for a philosophy class and it was even better than my first read. I will probably be back here once I write my paper on it to excitedly rant 😛😛

Recently, I was interviewed for a program, and I was lucky to have had an incredibly thoughtful and positive conversation. During this interview, most notably, I was asked for a book recommendation. I had already mentioned my love for Jane Eyre before this question, so I was told to get creative, and I decided I would talk a book that challenged me: The Vegetarian.

I never actually got to writing a review for this book, honestly I did not know if I was ready to, and this is not really going to be a review either, but I did want to share some reflection I finally got to have during this interview!

When I first mentioned the title and premise to my interviewer, his attention was immediately caught on the fact that South Korea is a very "non-vegetarian culture", which I think is so important here. Renouncing meat in a society that sees the food as not only a dining necessity, but a cultural and symbolic one, is, to me, a clear illustration of refusing to conform. Growing up Korean-American, with immigrant parents, in small town America, shaped my identity in a very complicated and often confusing way. My South Asian interviewer said that he had also grown up under immigrant parents in America, but as vegetarian and religious, before disaffiliating. What we could agree on, however, was that defying society, especially in cultures such as ours that can be incredibly beautiful, but also ruthlessly strict, Young-Hye was a woman who deserved to fly.

I definitely, like many others, saw the story as an allegory for a woman in a socially conservative and historically well... torn apart and colonized country, defying what society told her to be. And it ensued so much violence and horror in her life. To Yeong-Hye's family, especially the men in her life, her newfound autonomy was an inconvenience. Her aversion to misogyny (her dreams) was only more reason to objectify her body and mind.

It was tragic to me that we never got a point of view from our protagonist. For most of the book, we were inside the minds of the cruel men in Young-Hye's life, the kind that a patriarchal society breeds. I think this is part of why the book is so disturbing -- we are confronted so harshly with the consequences of a society built upon pained history, austere expectations, and judgement. When a woman's independent decision to her diet is reason for the men in her life to abuse her, a woman's independence is a rebellion and threat to not only society, but her own life.

Man I just started this book and my heart is already breaking for Charlie 😭😭😭

I just finished this book and I have so many thoughts on it, but I first have to share the quote that I still can not move on from, from the preface, “Conventionality is not morality. Self-righteousness is not religion. To attack the first is not to assail the last. To pluck the mask from the face of the Pharisee, is not to lift an impious hand to the Crown of Thorns.”

There were countless moments where I was moved by the writing and the story, and starting off my reading of the novel with such a beautifully written preface, containing this quote that literally made me get up out of my reading chair, Charlotte Brontë you have my utmost respect and admiration.

I really enjoyed getting to know Jane Eyre, and although I see so many people comparing this with Wuthering Heights (one of my favorite novels of all time), choosing which one they prefer, I have to say for now, I think they are just different. And they both have their beauty to them.

This was an absolute wonderful book to start off my 2026 (albeit I started it in 2025), and I will more than likely be picking it back up later this year.

Hopefully I get to read a novel by Anne soon as well!