The feeling that she had never really lived in this world caught her by surprise. It was a fact. She had never lived. Even as a child, as far back as she could remember, she had done nothing but endure. She had believed in her own inherent goodness, her humanity, and lived accordingly, never causing anyone harm. Her devotion to doing things the right way had been unflagging, all her success had depended on it, and she would have gone on like that indefinitely. She didn't understand why, but faced with those decaying buildings and straggling grasses, she was nothing but a child who had never lived.

This book was immensely popular back in 2016 when it won the International Man Booker and I initially picked it up shortly after it was announced the winner but put it down after the first chapter. At the time, I didn't feel like anything needed to be added to it and that it would've worked really well as just a short story - which oddly enough, it was inspired by Kang's short story The Fruit of My Woman and I wonder now how much of that was present in The Vegetarian. After reading and loving Human Acts last year, I decided to give this one another go and I'm very glad that I did.

While I'm still of the opinion that the first chapter is the strongest, I do think the following two parts were necessary and brilliantly executed. The Vegetarian is a book that looks you in the eye and dares you to flinch, recoil, or even look away - on the surface, it is a story about a woman who has seemingly lost her grasp on reality after a dream that leaves her repulsed by meat, much to the outrage of her husband and family. At its core, this is an examination of the control, or lack thereof, that women have over their own bodies and the ways in which men and society seek to take autonomy away from them.

There is a surreal undercurrent in The Vegetarian that I wasn't really expecting, and I found that aspect of the book fascinating although I could see why some people wouldn't like it. It does sap (no pun intended) a bit of the reality from the story but I thought Kang knitted them effectively together and I loved the ambiguity it lent to the book's climax.

Like I previously said, I thought the first part of the novel was the best and I'm still convinced it would've made an amazing short story but can now appreciate The Vegetarian as a whole. I think it'll be one that you can read again and again and leave with something new every time, so I look forward to revisiting this one in the future as well as exploring Kang's upcoming works.