The Vegetarian by Han Kang
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I'm gonna call this a New Weird fiction. Not just because of the time it was written, but because it has so many of the earmarks. It reads as a trad fiction on the Eastern side of the divide -- modern, strong subtext figuring in sex, anorexia, and power mis-divisions -- but it's all the rest that happens that really gets my goose.

It's really a rabbit hole of quasi-schizophrenia, of the feel of dark-fantasy, of not truly knowing what is real. A good horror, in other words. But it's the other tension, the feeling like she might be the one who was always right, all the time, that really slams that nail into the wood.

I very much recommend this for anyone who wants a psychological horror along very unusual lines.

Of course, if you're very aware of a plant-like horror sub-genre, you'll feel right at home here. I keep thinking of The Fountain (movie), and Vandermeer. Enjoy!

View all my reviews