# books / The Vegetarian - Han Kang

First Read: January 2025

If it wins a Nobel Prize, one ought to read it.

The Vegetarian is a jarring, unyielding story of a person slowly consumed by a mental illness, told from the perspectives of 3 family members.

Yeong-hye becomes a mirror for the struggles of her family, who each in turn find a way to take out their issues & frustrations on her, in disappointing, exploitative and brutal ways.

The message I take away, more than any other, is how little we truly pay attention to one another; how self-centred our inner monologue can be. Even when those who depend upon us need us most.