163. South Korea

 The Vegetarian by Han Kang

A woman becomes vegetarian after having a nightmare. Her husband, family and the society around her find this unacceptable. 

This novel takes a look into the treatment of women and the mentally ill in South Korea. It is quite strange and unsettling, and as a westerner the misogyny in a novel set in modern day Seoul is quite shocking. We do sometimes forget that the freedoms and open-mindedness we take for granted are not shared by many other cultures in the world.

This novel won the International Booker Prize in 2016, translated by Deborah Smith.