3 stars
This is a book that I would recommend both because it's an important read but also because there's a lot to analyse. I think the first third of the book was the strongest part, partly because we were in closest proximity to Yeong-hye. I was really enjoyed the idea of becoming vegetarian as part of the main characters rebellion against the patriarchal and capitalist social norms. I also saw the dream/nightmare that pushed her into vegetarianism as one that represented her guilt, she also had participated in the system of society, one where there are those that eat and those that are eaten. She had eaten meat, so she had hurt animals by eating them but also other humans by being part of this system. I interpreted her desire to almost return to a more simple state of being, a plant, as a response to the way she gets sexualised as a woman in this world, and as a form of dissociating from her body after being raped by her husband. After finishing the book I've seen other reviews and analyses that talk about payback as a theme, with the mc paybacking any debt she owes to society and that made me see her actions to become a tree/plant as more payback and punishment to society. Like in the yellow wallpaper, a book were madness becomes your escape from the pressure of societal restrictions, I think Yeong-hye has become so broken and tired in this world, that whilst she finds solace in her journey to become a plant, where nature heals, she is no longer bound by any humanly rule, usually most other players in society's system will abide by at minimum some of its rules, if only to survive, to preserve their human body. But Yeong-hye takes the most radical step in not caring for her human body anymore, inside she feels dead, so why maintain the exterior for the sake of others. As she pursues her desire to become a plant, it is now others who are worried and punished with the uncomfort of seeing a woman wither and kill herself away. This is something that most human beings are uncomfortable with, they see life as sacred, something to be preserved, and when they attempt to 'save' Yeong-hye the book gets us to question do they do it for her sake when it really seems like they do it for themselves? They are humans, but plants do not fear death, they welcome it as a chance to give back to the soil, for the nutrients remains to nourish the roots of others. Plants are the antithesis to capitalism, they do not take and benefit whilst others suffer, that is what humans and animals do. They receive only what is freely given to everyone else; sunshine and rain are freely given, not forced. And so plants don't fear death because they are not guilty of anything, something humans/animals cannot relate to. The main character's vegetarianism is an attempt to return to that guiltless state.

Outside of analysing the book, I didn't really love love the reading experience. I understand why it was necessary to have us read about the perspective of the mc from other characters, so that we have the responsibility to decide who and what she is. But I didn't enjoy being in the character's heads, in particular the brother-in-law. I understand it was about men will go to such lengths to sexualise women, even though he at times did not sexualise her, those were moments he always commented 'I didn't sexualise her here' which, in conjunction with his surprise when he made those remarks, made it seem like non-sexualisation was a rarity for him, and for society as a whole when it comes to women. The whole artist obsessed with sexualising women and concealing his desires behind 'the deeper meanings of art' was boring as was his obsession with the emptiness in her eyes. The whole man who is suffering from the system and its rules and gets all melancholy about it, but still participates in punching down and aligns with is rules when it comes to others, in particular women, was a perspective I had already read about.

I did enjoy In-hye's perspective but it mainly consisted of flashbacks and her final visit to the hospital. I wish we got to see more, especially now that In-hye who by the end of the book also knows the feel of the void that develops inside you once you are an outsider to the social norm clique, who has realised that by abiding to its rules she has not survived but trained herself better as a coward, as one who gives up. It would have been great to see her interactions with her sister after this realisation.

Despite it being quite short, it felt quite long to read. I think I love what the book was saying about the world rather than the story and the events that take place in it.