Book Review Title: The Vegetarian Author: Han Kang Translator: Deborah Smith [from Korean] Publisher: Granta, London, 2018 Pages: 183 Insanity can provide infinite opportunities to a novelist. The protagonist of Nobel laureate Han Kang’s Booker-winner novel, The Vegetarian , thinks of herself as a tree. One can argue with ample logic and conviction that trees are far better than humans. “Trees are like brothers and sisters,” Yeong-hye, the protagonist, says. She identifies herself with the trees and turns vegetarian one day. Worse, she gives up all food eventually. Of course, she ends up in a mental hospital. The Vegetarian tells Yeong-hye’s tragic story on the surface. Below that surface, it raises too many questions that leave us pondering deeply. What does it mean to be human? Must humanity always entail violence? Is madness a form of truth, a more profound truth than sanity’s wisdom? In the disturbing world of this novel, trees represent peace, stillness, and nonviol...
Indeed! :)
ReplyDeleteGood one.
ReplyDeleteWhy is the umbilical chord coming out of his ass?
ReplyDeletewhat a fabulous depiction of the current situation through cartoon based on mythology.
ReplyDeletewell.. even I think of depicting humans of the age with mythological gems of hinduism.. but then I feel even if I compare negative shades of mythology with the villains of the date .. would insult the villains of mythology who had some ideologies to follow and the heroes can never be compared ..no matter how much we try..
ReplyDeleteSelfish are both the leaders..and its better to select the less selfish given a choice .. :)
Well depicted cartoon .. all i wish i could read one of our national languages and would have known the talent's name who made it !! :)
Jack, the cartoonist is Raju Nair, fairly well known in Kerala.
Deletehaha...superb... :)
ReplyDeletehaha...great! but recent progress has now reversed the rolls.
ReplyDeleteWow nice and humorous... love ur post
ReplyDeleteWow, an exact and superb comparison :)
ReplyDeleteNice cartoon!
ReplyDeleteyes true...they are not worthy of this comparision at all!!!!!!!
ReplyDeletethe cartoon is actually very deep. It has shown a great comparison. Thanks for sharing it here :)
ReplyDeleteRicha
On the face of it yes, there seems like there is an analogy. But as you rightly pointed out, neither of them can be compared to characters Vyasa(or whoever) portrayed. Nevertheless, a more apt cartoon would have been a Hanuman (Modi) hiding behind his saviors Ram&Lakshman(RSS) who are shooting down Bali(Advani) who himself is a bhakth of the same gods who help Hanuman eliminate him.
ReplyDeleteEven a cartoon is an aesthetic expression. This cartoonist had every right to think this way, I'm sure.
DeleteNice one indeed.........
ReplyDeleteKenfolios
Hasn't anyone' religious sensibilities been offended yet? That would be a surprise!
ReplyDeleteRE
Nice interpretation.
ReplyDeleteAn apt and humorous potrayal of the conflict of the top BJP leaders angling for the primeministerial berth!
ReplyDeleteAnd Bhima will win the blessings of Hanuman and get his Sougandhika!
DeleteHello, this is slightly off the topic here but I thought there is a need to get this in picture...Outlook survey on 'Most influential Indians 2013' and once you log in the most horrible thing I came across was for each state they have 5 nominations...delhi is ruled by Gandhi's it seems and Gujarat has no place for Modi...To me this looked like a really biased survey. And it's not fair on people who dont know these details. Once the results are out we all will get busy tweeting/ blogging/ writing without knowing fully on how it was conducted... Need you to look into this and share comment on this....
ReplyDeleteHahha excellent - Raju Nair has surpassed Amul Poster Ads this time. Rules are the same, motive of winning is intact, be it war or politics.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Vyoma. It's nice to see your comments. Welcome to this space.
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ReplyDeleteThis is really a wonderful piece of creative writing. I really liked it.
ReplyDeleteYou can read similar things on our website too.
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