The Vegetarian, by Han Kang

Strange book. Koreans often produce disturbing works, it seems (they made the Netflix series Squid Game for example, as well as series about zombies, bullying at school, etc.).

Here, we have a woman described as “very ordinary” by her husband (there isn't much love in their marriage) who decides overnight to stop eating meat because of her dreams, which we get a glimpse of and which are quite traumatic indeed. No one around her understands her and everyone panics a little, especially when she starts to lose weight visibly. It all culminates in a family dinner where her father forces a piece of meat into her mouth and she slits her wrists in front of everyone.

And it doesn't end there. It gets stranger and stranger: we are treated to shocking sexuality and overt mental illness, ending with a reflection on a person's right to decide to let themselves die, without being kept alive by force.

I didn't like it, but it didn't leave me indifferent. Last night I dreamed that I had a serious, terminal illness and only had a few weeks to live. I can confirm that I have no desire to die.