Summary of The Vegetarian: by Han Kang | Includes Analysis

By . IRB Media

Summary of The Vegetarian by Han Kang | Includes Analysis

Preview:

Set in South Korea, The Vegetarian by Han Kang tells the story of Yeong-hye, an ordinary woman who decides to stop eating meat. The novel—part satire, part surreal drama, part horror story—provides accounts of Yeong-hye’s vegetarianism and eventual anorexia nervosa from the perspectives of her domineering husband, lecherous brother-in-law, and concerned sister.

In part one, titled “The Vegetarian,” Mr. Cheong tells the story of his “unremarkable” wife’s breakdown. Mr. Cheong marries Yeong-hye because he believes she won’t challenge his orderly way of life. Yeong-hye proves to be a hardworking, undemanding wife. Her only quirk is that she doesn’t like to wear a bra, which disturbs Mr. Cheong.

Early one morning, Mr. Cheong finds Yeong-hye standing motionless in front of the refrigerator. She tells him that she’s had a dream. The next morning, she’s there again, this time busily stuffing meat into trash bags. When Mr. Cheong asks her what she’s doing, Yeong-hye again replies that she’s had a dream…

PLEASE NOTE: This is summary and analysis of the book and NOT the original book.

Inside this Instaread Summary of The Vegetarian:

Summary of the Book

Important People

Character Analysis

Analysis of the Themes and Author’s Style

About the Author

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• Language: English
• Publisher: IRB Media
• Release date: Jun 23, 2016
• ISBN: 9781683783572

. IRB Media

With Instaread, you can get the key takeaways, summary and analysis of a book in 15 minutes. We read every chapter, identify the key takeaways and analyze them for your convenience.

Book preview

Summary

Set in South Korea, The Vegetarian by Han Kang tells the story of Yeong-hye, an ordinary woman who decides to stop eating meat. The novel—part satire, part surreal drama, part horror story—provides accounts of Yeong-hye’s vegetarianism and eventual anorexia nervosa from the perspectives of her domineering husband, lecherous brother-in-law, and concerned sister.

In part one, titled The Vegetarian, Mr. Cheong tells the story of his unremarkable wife’s breakdown. Mr. Cheong marries Yeong-hye because he believes she won’t challenge his orderly way of life. Yeong-hye proves to be a hardworking, undemanding wife. Her only quirk is that she doesn’t like to wear a bra, which disturbs Mr. Cheong.

Early one morning, Mr. Cheong finds Yeong-hye standing motionless in front of the refrigerator. She tells him that she’s had a dream. The next morning, she’s there again, this time busily stuffing meat into trash bags. When Mr. Cheong asks her what she’s doing, Yeong-hye again replies that she’s had a dream.

Yeong-hye has dreamed that she was lost in a dark wood. When she came upon a barn, she entered it to find bloody meat hanging everywhere. She ran away but could still feel raw meat in her mouth. Then she saw a face that was at once her own and not her own but eerily familiar.

Months pass. Yeong-hye stops sleeping. She grows skeletally thin and eats only rice and kimchi. After she starts refusing to have sex with Mr. Cheong, he comes home