What a read. Shocking. Surreal. Grotesque in parts. Mesmerizing in its prose and feverish in its narration. Makes you squirm, shudder and recoil in discomfort. Makes you question how much autonomy a woman truly has over her body, let alone her mind. Makes you confront human fragility and punctures your definitions of reality and mental health. If there’s a thin line between sanity and insanity, then this book exposes how thin, unstable, and at times non-existent that line actually is. No wonder this is a story that people either love—or love to hate.

Like a nine-course meal, there is much to savour—but the flavours curdle quickly, turning fetid, leaving an aftertaste that lingers long after the last word.

Set in South Korea and translated into English, the novel begins with a woman’s sudden decision to turn vegetarian—a seemingly simple act that spirals into violent repercussions for her and her family, setting off a domino effect of obsession, delusion and depravity.

The Vegetarian is not a book one can easily stomach. Powerful and repulsive at once, read it at your own risk—nothing here is easy to swallow.