Han Kang’s literary prowess has been a point of interest of mine for the last few months, with Humans Acts and The White Book coming across my recent reads and now The Vegetarian making it to the list. The Vegetarian, like her other works, is not a light-hearted story, nor is it a simple read. It is full of dark, gruesome, and sometimes disturbing imagery, and features the representation of mental illnesses and rape. It is worth checking trigger warnings online before you get into the book. Nevertheless, it is certainly a foreign novel worth picking up if you have the stomach for it.

Before the nightmares began, Yeong-hye and her husband lived an ordinary, controlled life. But the dreams—invasive images of blood and brutality—torture her, driving Yeong-hye to purge her mind and renounce eating meat altogether. It’s a small act of independence, but it interrupts her marriage and sets into motion an increasingly grotesque chain of events at home. As her husband, her brother-in-law and sister each fight to reassert their control, Yeong-hye obsessively defends the choice that’s become sacred to her. Soon their attempts turn desperate, subjecting first her mind, and then her body, to ever more intrusive and perverse violations, sending Yeong-hye spiraling into a dangerous, bizarre estrangement, not only from those closest to her, but also from herself. Celebrated by critics around the world, The Vegetarian is a darkly allegorical, Kafka-esque tale of power, obsession, and one woman’s struggle to break free from the violence both without and within her.

As usual, Han Kang’s evocative imagery, description, and sensory focus mark The Vegetarian as a truly gripping and immersive read. What’s more, the natural themes and links within the novel carry a haunting beauty to it – flowers, trees, rain and sunlight touching the turbulent, isolating, and difficult life of this woman and her family. While I found myself frowning at many of the actions and reactions in this novel, I was also blown away by the way in which these scenes were written. Her words are mesmerising, her skill undoubtedly excellent, and even if I didn’t like the content of her work I would still read it for how she writes about it.

The characters are complex, questioning things about themselves and others, and often questioning the limits of their power and control. There are lines that blur and are crossed, sometimes unwillingly, sometimes intentionally, and sometimes without knowing and without a way back. Seeing this struggle in different ways with these characters is really interesting, and again while I don’t agree with the actions of the characters the reasoning and understanding behind it for each character is intriguing and builds on each of these characters.

With one more Han Kang novel on my list – We Do Not Part – I am ready to step away and read some other foreign literary fiction novels from different authors. I like the themes and imagery of Korean literature, and I think it would be a good time to venture into Japanese literature as well as literature from various European countries. the cultural and social differences and similarities make for interesting and engaging aspects of the language and storytelling, and from what I have read of several Korean works by a handful of novelists so far, there is a lot of amazing work out there to stumble across.