The vegetarian : a novel
Record details
- ISBN: 9780553448184
- ISBN: 0553448188
-
Physical Description:
188 pages ; 22 cm
print - Edition: First U.S. edition.
- Publisher: London ; New York : Hogarth, [2015]
- Copyright: ©2015
Search for related items by subject
Subject: | Women Korea (South) Fiction |
Genre: | Psychological fiction. |
Available copies
- 1 of 1 copy available at Kenton County.
Holds
- 1 current hold with 1 total copy.
Location | Call Number / Copy Notes | Barcode | Shelving Location | Status | Due Date |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Erlanger Branch | HAN K (Text) | 33126020620484 | Adult Fiction | Available | - |
- Library Journal Reviews : LJ Reviews 2015 September #2
In this latest from award winner Kang, Yeong-hye makes the decision to stop eating meatâwhich in her strait-laced society turns out to be positively scandalous. This book reached the second spot on the London Evening Standard's best sellers list, and rights have been sold to nearly a dozen countries.
[Page 54]. (c) Copyright 2015 Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. - Library Journal Reviews : LJ Reviews 2015 December #1
Kang, a South Korean writing professor with Iowa Writers Workshop training, makes her English-translation debut with this spare, spectacular novel, in which a multigenerational, seemingly traditional Seoul family implodes. Yeong-hye, the youngest of three adult children, repeatedly announces "I had a dream," violent, bloody, and surreal, which causes her to stop eating meat; eventually, she eschews everything but water. Her sudden change in diet (vegetarianism remains uncommon in Korea) goes far beyond her own physical metamorphosis, as documented in three distinct sections by her self-absorbed businessman husband, her obsessive video artist brother-in-law, and her distraught shop-owner older sister. While Yeong-hye remains the crux of the disturbing narrative, her voice is rarely heard. Instead, she's ignored, interpreted, spoken over, and silenced to devastating effect. VERDICT In a culture in which mental illness is met too often with dismissal or denial, Kang's novel is sure to draw both scrutiny and applause, in no small part owing to London-based Smith's seamless translation. Family dysfunction amid cultural suffocation is presented with elegant precision, transforming readers into complicit voyeurs. Fans of authors as diverse as Mary Karr and Haruki Murakami won't be able to turn away. [See Prepub Alert, 8/27/15.]âTerry Hong, Smithsonian BookDragon, Washington, DC
[Page 94]. (c) Copyright 2016 Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.