The Vegetarian

A Novel

By: Han Kang, Deborah Smith - translator

Narrated by: Janet Song, Stephen Park

FROM HAN KANG, WINNER OF THE 2024 NOBEL PRIZE IN LITERATURE

“[Han Kang’s] intense poetic prose . . . exposes the fragility of human life.”—The Nobel Committee for Literature, in the citation for the Nobel Prize

A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
WINNER OF THE INTERNATIONAL BOOKER PRIZE
ONE OF THE NEW YORK TIMES’S 100 BEST BOOKS OF THE 21ST CENTURY
A KIRKUS REVIEWS BEST FICTION BOOK OF THE CENTURY

“Ferocious.”—The New York Times Book Review (Ten Best Books of the Year)
“Both terrifying and terrific.”—Lauren Groff
“Provocative [and] shocking.”—The Washington Post

Before the nightmares began, Yeong-hye and her husband lived an ordinary, controlled life. But the dreams—invasive images of blood and brutality—torture her, driving Yeong-hye to purge her mind and renounce eating meat altogether. It’s a small act of independence, but it interrupts her marriage and sets into motion an increasingly grotesque chain of events at home. As her husband, her brother-in-law and sister each fight to reassert their control, Yeong-hye obsessively defends the choice that’s become sacred to her. Soon their attempts turn desperate, subjecting first her mind, and then her body, to ever more intrusive and perverse violations, sending Yeong-hye spiraling into a dangerous, bizarre estrangement, not only from those closest to her, but also from herself.

Celebrated by critics around the world, The Vegetarian is a darkly allegorical, Kafka-esque tale of power, obsession, and one woman’s struggle to break free from the violence both without and within her.

A Best Book of the Year: BuzzFeed, Entertainment Weekly, Wall Street Journal, Time, Elle, The Economist, HuffPost, Slate, Bustle, The St. Louis Dispatch, Electric Literature, Publishers Weekly

Great Storytelling

Where does The Vegetarian rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

The Vegetarian is a beautifully written book. The performances of Janet Song and Stephen Park bring you into the middle of the troubled life of Korean woman and her family. They make you feel as though you are listening to a great movie. The book is among the best that I've listened to so far.

What did you like best about this story?

The author draws you into the story of a woman unravelling in a restricted relationship and society, For an American listener, it provided a glimpse of Korean life.

What does Janet Song and Stephen Park bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Janet Song and Stephen Park made the characters come alive. The actors created a world that complemented and enriched the story.

If you could rename The Vegetarian, what would you call it?

Alone

Wonderful novel, bad readers

This is a fantastic, if challenging, novel that is utterly hamstrung by a poor performance. I am a fan of Stephen Park but he was a poor choice for this role and the random sentences thrown in read by Janet Song are so weirdly jarring. I have no idea what the director for this audio recording was thinking. Do yourself a favor and just read it, it's not long.

Relevant

Relevant to the traumatic and development of a mental condition that festers before your very ears. The health care workers don't care.

Food for thought

The review makes a lot of questions it doesn't end up answering leaving the reader with multiple conflicts in their head.

The writing,

Beautiful, even in translation. the writing was exquisite. Tfe story was haunting, tragic. I wish that I could read it in the original.

Pronunciation!

A remarkable story. The protagonist, the Vegetarian, combines in her character contentment and strength of will belied by her physical condition.
It surprised me that the publishers did not listen carefully to the performance of the readers. The male reader needs to take care! In the most compelling moments his pronunciation of BUTTOCK would break the author's spell. Please dear publisher have a listen! Yours Sincerely, Jitu Pasricha

Excellent

this was A very intriguing novel. i liked the vivid descriptions that led up to this individuals mental collapse. she was so entrapped in her delusions that others around her began to question their own realities. Very well done

tragic af

hella sad. lots of sad events and sad people in a sad world. like super touching tho.

Not so good. just exhausting.

started out interesting but I struggled to finish. Not good enough for me to recommend it.

Compelling and Confounding

Sincerely enjoyed the story. The performance could have used a more specific or varied translation from Korean to English. In certain spots I feel like the turn of phrase was “flattened” but this could just be the only way to translate the project and there is no way to keep higher fidelity. Interesting ending and it’s a story with layers of symbolism to pull apart.