Vegetarian (Kang)

Discussion Questions
Use our LitLovers Book Club Resources; they can help with discussions for any book:

• How to Discuss a Book (helpful discussion tips)
• Generic Discussion Questions—Fiction and Nonfiction
• Read-Think-Talk (a guided reading chart)

Also, consider these LitLovers talking points to help start a discussion for The Vegetarian...then take off on your own:

1. What is the relationship between Yeong-hye, "the most ordinary woman in the world," and her husband, Mr. Cheong. Why is her refusal to eat meat, so shocking to him?

2. The novel is structured in a tryptic format, with each section narrated by a family member who reacts to and interacts with Yeong-hye. As the three narrators confront her deepening madness, each also comes face to face with his/her own desires. What do they each come to understand about themselves and what they want from life? In what way are they transformed?

3. Talk about the way in which the author positions Yeong-Hye's vegetarianism—as a feminist choice and revolt against patriarchy. Are there another way to look at it?

4.The book is suffused with a mix of sex and violence. Do you find the physicality disturbing, shocking, repulsive, or something else? Why is there so much sex and brutality in this work; what might its purpose be?

5. What are your feelings about vegetarianism? Do you know vegetarians, or are you yourself one? What are the reason for eschewing meat? Is it a matter health, morality, religion, or basic distaste? If you are a meat eater, do you sometimes feel like the dinner acquaintance in the novel, who comments: "I'd hate to share a meal with someone who considers eating meat repulsive, just because that's how they themselves personally feel....don't you agree?"

6. Trace the stages of Yeong-hye's state of mind. Talk about her thoughts and the language which reflects them—as the passages range from journal-like entries to disconnected, abstract, almost impressionistic images.

7. The novel ends on an ambiguous note. What do you envision as the outcome? What do you think happens to Yeong-hye?

8. What is this book about anyway?

(Questions by LitLovers. Feel free to use them, online or off, with attribution. Thanks.)

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