The Vegetarian, a novel by Han Kang.

I bought the book in English last summer in London just a few months before it was translated into Italian. I was interested in the subject and the title intrigued me, so I decided to take the book also considering the great reviews I read about it. At first I was a bit skeptical and did not know whether to continue reading or not, especially because I found the first of the three parts of the book very, very slow. But then something in the rythm changed and I really started to enjoy it.

The Seoul of this book is a completely different kind of reality from the one we are used to. It's made of hierarchical and strictly codified social relationships, both in the family and among colleagues. The author immediately outlines the anonymous characters in a fast and flawlessly way. Women, main character Yeong-Hye included, are seen by their husbands as obedient creatures, good at cooking, family-oriented and home caring. Men instead are described by the author ad as hollow and pathetic individuals.

We find therefore a failed artist, a violent father who uses his fists to impose his will, and the husband of the protagonist: the classic clerk who works as an employee and is unable to handle the anger and frustration resulting from the sudden refusal of his wife to eat meat. Yeong-Hye's change takes place after a dream, a hunting dream that will lead her to choose not to feed herself with living things anymore. This choice of her ends creating a social embarrassment within the family. A peaceful act of rebellion against social dictates paradoxically engages a chain reaction among the protagonists. Yeong-Hye's life becomes the scene of a whole series of physical and psychological violence perpetuated by her family against her body and mind . But she, like a plant, begins a passive resistance that will lead her toward a metamorphosis.

Recommended for lovers of contemporary and Asian literature, curious and all those ones who are interested in issues related to the relationship between food choices and social relationships.