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Cindy's Reviews > The Vegetarian
The Vegetarian
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The Vegetarian is a short, sad, and simple read that still managed to leave an impression on me. It does its job of getting readers to reflect on culture and our control of women’s bodies. However, it doesn’t provide anything new to the theme - I think having the story in the POV of Yeong-Hye rather than the other unlikable characters would have helped add more nuance. I don’t particularly care for the gross men, and we have plenty of stories that are about the male gaze already. It would have been nice to truly see the in-depth struggle of the woman herself.
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Reading Progress
May 18, 2017
–
Started Reading
May 18, 2017
– Shelved
May 19, 2017
–
Finished Reading
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by
Beatriz
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rated it 3 stars
Feb 02, 2020 05:52AM
I totally agree. The story would have felt much less alienating had it actually been in the POV of the 'vegetarian'. Love your insights and videos!
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I pretty much agree though I personally like books that have a unlikable or unreliable narrator I think it adds a very interesting perspective and helps the reader decide things for themselves. Definitely a personal preference thing! 😁
just finished this and i also was left wishing and wanting a version that centered Yeong-Hye’s POV as well. I was so curious about her internal journey and felt like she was always just out of grasp. which might have been the whole point, but i wanted to hear her story because that’s what i was most curious to learn more deeply about.
THIS!!! This is exactly how I've been feeling but couldn't decipher because the book left me so confused and upset.
I did not like this at all. Having read "Kim Ji-young, Born 1982", I think that Cho-Nam Joo treated her topic of how women in Korea are suppressed by society a lot better and in a way that does not exploit suffering that much.
I feel like it was probably part of the point or something that we didn't get her POV but I still wish we did
Writing from every other POV rather than Yeong-Hye's was most definitely a purposeful decision by the author and an important part of her under-laying message in the book. It's supposed to get under your skin and make you uncomfortable.
