68th Meeting (Book Club) - The Vegetarian (2/3)

Place: Zoom, Online

Participants: Paige, Sneha, Violet, Aditi, Vivien & 100.

We started with sharing our overall impressions on Part 2 (몽고반점). In general, our common view was that this novel is not pleasant to read - more specifically, grotesque. Although Part 2 was less violent than Part 1, it could be more traumatic to the readers because the degree of exploitation by Younghye's brother-in-law was much more serious than what her husband did to her in Part 1 (also, the brother-in-law was much more twisted than Younghye's husband).

We proceeded the discussion by raising questions like whether what Younghye was a part of was an artistic performance or a sexual exploitation', 'whether Younghye's inner world was sympathised by the brother-in-law', what Younghye's passiveness implies, and how the violent nature of a patriarchal society continues to dominate Younghye's life after she became free from her marital relationship.

Afterwards, we tried interpretations on various images and symbols, such as Mongolian spot, flowers painted on her body, and the face in Younghye's dream.

Lastly, we were asking about what would explain this novel's high reputation - but we decided to wait until we finish Part 3 next month! - <100>