@Changbee Publishers
@Portobello Books
This book won the Man Booker International Prize for the year 2016.
We go through life expecting it to run smoothly and on predictable lines. We are born, we go to school, find a job, marry, have children and in turn, watch our children go through the same cycle. What if the life throws us a curveball? How do we react?
Life throws a curveball at Young-hye and it affects the lives of two families, Young-hye and her husband, her sister In-hye and her husband find themselves shaken by a dream that Young-hye has one night.
Young-hye dreams of a violent massacre of life which suddenly turns her off meat. She throws out all eggs and meats out of her house and refuses to cook or eat them. Her husband is immediately affected as he is fond of his non-vegetarian diet. He feels his wife is being unreasonable and stubborn. He is supported by Young-hye's parents who try to talk her out of her newfound vegetarianism.
Her parents decide to convince Young-hye again when they meet at a dinner at her sister's place. When their pleas fall on deaf ears, her father loses his temper and tries to force-feed some meat to Young-hye. This pushes her over the edge and she tries to commit suicide. This is the watershed moment to which other family members reactin different ways.
The novella is narrated in three books, representing the varying viewpoints of three people in Young-hye's life. The first section, The Vegetarian is narrated by Mr. Cheong, Young-hye's husband. The second section, Mongolian Mark is narrated by her brother-in-law, who is an artist and finds a strange fascination for Young-hye after the suicide incident. The third, and the most intense part, is narrated by In-hye. She cares for Young-hye after her suicide attempt and tries to go deep into the psyche of her sister in an attempt to understand her.
The different voices of the narrators make us feel differently about the affliction of Young-hye. At the end of it we realize that without deep love there can be no understanding. In-hye has to go to the core of herself to understand what Young-hye is feeling.
The novel left me feeling emotionally wrung out. It has been translated from Korean to English by Deborah Smith. It is an excellent translation. The language is spare and evocative. The author does not fear to look deep within the minds of her characters and lay them bare for us. As can be seen from the example here.
This is the first novel I have read by a Korean author. Previous to this, The only Far-Eastern novelists I have read before this are Japanese authors Haruki Murakami and Banana Yoshimoto whose works also dabble in the internal workings of the mind. There is such a connection between these authors and Kafka. If you get goosebumps from reading about Gregor Samsa, then The Vegetarian should be a mandatory read for you.
