The Vegetarian
“A complex, terrifying look at how seemingly simple decisions can affect multiple lives…In a world where women’s bodies are constantly under scrutiny, the protagonist’s desire to disappear inside of herself feels scarily familiar.”
Vanity Fair
A 2016 Man Booker Prize Shortlist Selection
A Time Magazine Pick for the Best Books of 2016 So Far
A 2016 Publishers Weekly Best Books of the Year, Top 10 Selection
A Huffington Post Best Book of 2016
An Entertainment Weekly Best Book of 2016
Winner of Man Booker International Prize, 2016
Among shortlisted titles for PEN Translation Prize, 2017
Winner of Man Booker International Prize, 2016
Among shortlisted titles for PEN Translation Prize, 2017
Winner of Man Booker International Prize, 2016
Among shortlisted titles for PEN Translation Prize, 2017
Winner of Man Booker International Prize, 2016
Among shortlisted titles for PEN Translation Prize, 2017
Winner of Man Booker International Prize, 2016
Among shortlisted titles for PEN Translation Prize, 2017
Winner of Man Booker International Prize, 2016
Among shortlisted titles for PEN Translation Prize, 2017
Winner of Man Booker International Prize, 2016
Among shortlisted titles for PEN Translation Prize, 2017
Winner of Man Booker International Prize, 2016
Among shortlisted titles for PEN Translation Prize, 2017
Winner of Man Booker International Prize, 2016
Among shortlisted titles for PEN Translation Prize, 2017
“[Han Kang’s] intense poetic prose . . . exposes the fragility of human life.”—The Nobel Committee for Literature, in the citation for the Nobel Prize
A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
WINNER OF THE INTERNATIONAL BOOKER PRIZE
ONE OF THE NEW YORK TIMES’S 100 BEST BOOKS OF THE 21ST CENTURY
A KIRKUS REVIEWS BEST FICTION BOOK OF THE CENTURY
“Ferocious.”—The New York Times Book Review (Ten Best Books of the Year)
“Both terrifying and terrific.”—Lauren Groff
“Provocative [and] shocking.”—The Washington Post
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.
A Best Book of the Year: BuzzFeed, Entertainment Weekly, Wall Street Journal, Time, Elle, The Economist, HuffPost, Slate, Bustle, The St. Louis Dispatch, Electric Literature, Publishers Weekly
Praise