‘The Vegetarian’ (Hogarth Press, 2007, 188 pages), by Han Kang

The Vegetarian is a wrenching tale of a woman who begins to have horrific dreams, which she concludes are the cause of her eating meat, so she gives up all animal products in an attempt to stop the lunacy. She eventually descends into pure madness, taking the reader on a no-restrictions ride with her.

The novella The Vegetarian is written by awardwinning South Korean author Han Kang. Born in Gwangju, South Korea, Kang grew up in a house with a literary background. Her career kicked off after one of her early poems was featured in a literary magazine. Later, she released a plethora of short stories — several of which became The Vegetarian. While many of her works are written in her native tongue, a select few have been translated into English — including The Vegetarian and Human Acts.

While The Vegetarian has some underlying relation to her personal life, it is not as personal as Human Acts, which explores the Gwangju Democratic Movement of 1980, in which an unknown amount of civilians lost their lives in an attempt to achieve democracy. That book follows five characters and their daily lives leading up to their deaths, beyond their deaths or until they embrace their situation. As with The Vegetarian, there are copious, powerful visuals that make for a riveting read.

Han Kang does an amazing job at allowing the reader to connect with all aspects of the characters’ lives. (When praising these works, we should also praise the translators.) Han Kang is currently teaching creative writing at the Seoul Institute of the Arts while she also works on new projects.

Diego Guerrero will be a junior at Los Alamos High School. Contact him at diego.guerrero@ studentlaschools.net