Yeong-hye is scathed in this way. As a girl, she survives a brutish father. As a woman, she marries a loutish man, who describes her \u201cas completely unremarkable in every way.\u201d Equally unexceptionable is her life. She cooks, she cleans, she yields to her husband\u2019s priapic urges. She leaves nary a footprint on the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One night she has a dream, a violent, sanguine nightmare that resurrects a dormant memory of her and her older sister seeking shelter from their father in a copse of bleak woods. In the dream, she takes refuge from the darkness in a barn, only to find herself enmeshed in a labyrinth of \u201clong bamboo sticks strung with great blood-red gashes of meat, blood still dripping down.\u201d She tries \u201cto push past but the meat, there\u2019s not end to the meat, and no exit.\u201d The next morning, Yeong-hye declares herself a vegetarian.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is a fateful proclamation. She is surrounded by carnivores. Her husband pronounces her crazy, her father force feeds her meat, and her sister commits a horrific act that cannot be undone. In response, Yeong-hye, already a mere shadow of a being, turns further inward, her identify eventually receding so far that she is compelled to adopt another.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Vegetarian contains a cascade of extraordinary, revelatory scenes of exploitive selfishness, sexual indulgence, and, perhaps most tragic, realization that one\u2019s perceived strength might in fact be little more than self-protective cowardice. All are beautifully written, and in each a fa\u00e7ade falls. The debris forms a message: A hard as it might to be truly know oneself, it is degrees more difficult to truly know another. \u201cTo thine own self be true,” advises the Bard. \u201cYes, of course,\u201d Yeong-hye would reply, \u201cbut who is myself?\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Vegetarian is a very human book, which means at times it is uncomfortable to read. If you don\u2019t care for such emotional unease, it is not for you. But if you possess the knack, or the curiosity, for finding solace amid distress, then I highly recommend it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It is a fortunate person who attains adulthood unscarred by the complications of childhood. Some scars are superficial. These fade with time. Others, though, cut deep and retain the heat of hurt. They inflame emotions and force the bearer to … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[784],"tags":[770,855,954,952,953],"class_list":["post-2406","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-books","tag-book-review","tag-fiction","tag-han-kang","tag-korea","tag-trauma"],"yoast_head":"\nBookshelf \u2013 The Vegetarian, Han Kang - Tim Porter's Second Draft<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Vegetarian contains a cascade of extraordinary, revelatory scenes of exploitive selfishness, sexual indulgence, and, perhaps most tragic, realization that one\u2019s perceived strength might in fact be little more than self-protective cowardice. All are beautifully written, and in each a fa\u00e7ade falls. The debris forms a message: A hard as it might to be truly know oneself, it is degrees more difficult to truly know another.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/www.timporter.com\/seconddraft\/?p=2406\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Bookshelf \u2013 The Vegetarian, Han Kang - Tim Porter's Second Draft\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Vegetarian contains a cascade of extraordinary, revelatory scenes of exploitive selfishness, sexual indulgence, and, perhaps most tragic, realization that one\u2019s perceived strength might in fact be little more than self-protective cowardice. All are beautifully written, and in each a fa\u00e7ade falls. The debris forms a message: A hard as it might to be truly know oneself, it is degrees more difficult to truly know another.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/www.timporter.com\/seconddraft\/?p=2406\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Tim Porter's Second Draft\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/timporterphotography\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-06-26T23:02:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-06-26T23:07:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.timporter.com\/seconddraft\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/TheVegetarian-195x300.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Tim Porter\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Tim Porter\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.timporter.com\/seconddraft\/?p=2406\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/www.timporter.com\/seconddraft\/?p=2406\",\"name\":\"Bookshelf \u2013 The Vegetarian, Han Kang - Tim Porter's Second Draft\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.timporter.com\/seconddraft\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.timporter.com\/seconddraft\/?p=2406#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.timporter.com\/seconddraft\/?p=2406#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/www.timporter.com\/seconddraft\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/TheVegetarian-195x300.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-06-26T23:02:32+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-06-26T23:07:04+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.timporter.com\/seconddraft\/#\/schema\/person\/efd6f6b05808f784091b582e4231621d\"},\"description\":\"The Vegetarian contains a cascade of extraordinary, revelatory scenes of exploitive selfishness, sexual indulgence, and, perhaps most tragic, realization that one\u2019s perceived strength might in fact be little more than self-protective cowardice. All are beautifully written, and in each a fa\u00e7ade falls. The debris forms a message: A hard as it might to be truly know oneself, it is degrees more difficult to truly know another.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.timporter.com\/seconddraft\/?p=2406#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"http:\/\/www.timporter.com\/seconddraft\/?p=2406\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.timporter.com\/seconddraft\/?p=2406#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/www.timporter.com\/seconddraft\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/TheVegetarian.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/www.timporter.com\/seconddraft\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/TheVegetarian.jpg\",\"width\":973,\"height\":1500},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.timporter.com\/seconddraft\/?p=2406#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"http:\/\/www.timporter.com\/seconddraft\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Bookshelf \u2013 The Vegetarian, Han Kang\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.timporter.com\/seconddraft\/#website\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/www.timporter.com\/seconddraft\/\",\"name\":\"Tim Porter's Second Draft\",\"description\":\"Photography, Books, Journalism & Other Curiosities\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"http:\/\/www.timporter.com\/seconddraft\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.timporter.com\/seconddraft\/#\/schema\/person\/efd6f6b05808f784091b582e4231621d\",\"name\":\"Tim Porter\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.timporter.com\/seconddraft\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/964890359b5d3b9d2229d81cf1c545c03e5f2c1369af8c0b1cc43e74b6b4abef?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/964890359b5d3b9d2229d81cf1c545c03e5f2c1369af8c0b1cc43e74b6b4abef?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Tim Porter\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.timporter.com\"],\"url\":\"http:\/\/www.timporter.com\/seconddraft\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Bookshelf \u2013 The Vegetarian, Han Kang - Tim Porter's Second Draft","description":"The Vegetarian contains a cascade of extraordinary, revelatory scenes of exploitive selfishness, sexual indulgence, and, perhaps most tragic, realization that one\u2019s perceived strength might in fact be little more than self-protective cowardice. All are beautifully written, and in each a fa\u00e7ade falls. The debris forms a message: A hard as it might to be truly know oneself, it is degrees more difficult to truly know another.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"http:\/\/www.timporter.com\/seconddraft\/?p=2406","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Bookshelf \u2013 The Vegetarian, Han Kang - Tim Porter's Second Draft","og_description":"The Vegetarian contains a cascade of extraordinary, revelatory scenes of exploitive selfishness, sexual indulgence, and, perhaps most tragic, realization that one\u2019s perceived strength might in fact be little more than self-protective cowardice. All are beautifully written, and in each a fa\u00e7ade falls. The debris forms a message: A hard as it might to be truly know oneself, it is degrees more difficult to truly know another.","og_url":"http:\/\/www.timporter.com\/seconddraft\/?p=2406","og_site_name":"Tim Porter's Second Draft","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/timporterphotography","article_published_time":"2025-06-26T23:02:32+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-06-26T23:07:04+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.timporter.com\/seconddraft\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/TheVegetarian-195x300.jpg"}],"author":"Tim Porter","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Tim Porter","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/www.timporter.com\/seconddraft\/?p=2406","url":"http:\/\/www.timporter.com\/seconddraft\/?p=2406","name":"Bookshelf \u2013 The Vegetarian, Han Kang - Tim Porter's Second Draft","isPartOf":{"@id":"http:\/\/www.timporter.com\/seconddraft\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"http:\/\/www.timporter.com\/seconddraft\/?p=2406#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"http:\/\/www.timporter.com\/seconddraft\/?p=2406#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/www.timporter.com\/seconddraft\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/TheVegetarian-195x300.jpg","datePublished":"2025-06-26T23:02:32+00:00","dateModified":"2025-06-26T23:07:04+00:00","author":{"@id":"http:\/\/www.timporter.com\/seconddraft\/#\/schema\/person\/efd6f6b05808f784091b582e4231621d"},"description":"The Vegetarian contains a cascade of extraordinary, revelatory scenes of exploitive selfishness, sexual indulgence, and, perhaps most tragic, realization that one\u2019s perceived strength might in fact be little more than self-protective cowardice. All are beautifully written, and in each a fa\u00e7ade falls. The debris forms a message: A hard as it might to be truly know oneself, it is degrees more difficult to truly know another.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"http:\/\/www.timporter.com\/seconddraft\/?p=2406#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["http:\/\/www.timporter.com\/seconddraft\/?p=2406"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"http:\/\/www.timporter.com\/seconddraft\/?p=2406#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/www.timporter.com\/seconddraft\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/TheVegetarian.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/www.timporter.com\/seconddraft\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/TheVegetarian.jpg","width":973,"height":1500},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"http:\/\/www.timporter.com\/seconddraft\/?p=2406#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"http:\/\/www.timporter.com\/seconddraft"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Bookshelf \u2013 The Vegetarian, Han Kang"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"http:\/\/www.timporter.com\/seconddraft\/#website","url":"http:\/\/www.timporter.com\/seconddraft\/","name":"Tim Porter's Second Draft","description":"Photography, Books, Journalism & Other Curiosities","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"http:\/\/www.timporter.com\/seconddraft\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"http:\/\/www.timporter.com\/seconddraft\/#\/schema\/person\/efd6f6b05808f784091b582e4231621d","name":"Tim Porter","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"http:\/\/www.timporter.com\/seconddraft\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/964890359b5d3b9d2229d81cf1c545c03e5f2c1369af8c0b1cc43e74b6b4abef?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/964890359b5d3b9d2229d81cf1c545c03e5f2c1369af8c0b1cc43e74b6b4abef?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Tim Porter"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/www.timporter.com"],"url":"http:\/\/www.timporter.com\/seconddraft\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.timporter.com\/seconddraft\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2406","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.timporter.com\/seconddraft\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.timporter.com\/seconddraft\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.timporter.com\/seconddraft\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.timporter.com\/seconddraft\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2406"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.timporter.com\/seconddraft\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2406\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2409,"href":"http:\/\/www.timporter.com\/seconddraft\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2406\/revisions\/2409"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.timporter.com\/seconddraft\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2406"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.timporter.com\/seconddraft\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2406"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.timporter.com\/seconddraft\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2406"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.timporter.com\/seconddraft\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/TheVegetarian-195x300.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n