The Vegetarian cover art

The Vegetarian

Preview

Try Premium Plus free
1 credit a month to buy any audiobook in our entire collection.
Access to thousands of additional audiobooks and Originals from the Plus Catalogue.
Member-only deals & discounts.
Auto-renews at $16.45/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

The Vegetarian

By: Han Kang
Narrated by: Janet Song, Stephen Park
Try Premium Plus free

$16.45 per month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for $25.99

Buy Now for $25.99

Confirm Purchase
Pay using voucher balance (if applicable) then card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions Of Use and Privacy Notice and authorise Audible to charge your designated credit card or another available credit card on file.
Cancel

About this listen

An irresistibly weird and sensuous story of betrayals, transformations and social taboos.

Yeong-hye and her husband are ordinary people. He is an office worker with moderate ambitions and mild manners; she is an uninspired but dutiful wife. The acceptable flatline of their marriage is interrupted when Yeong-hye, seeking a more 'plantlike' existence, decides to become a vegetarian, prompted by grotesque recurring nightmares.

In South Korea, where vegetarianism is almost unheard of and societal mores are strictly obeyed, Yeong-hye's decision is a shocking act of subversion. Her passive rebellion manifests in ever more bizarre and frightening forms, leading her bland husband to self-justified acts of sexual sadism. His cruelties drive her towards attempted suicide and hospitalisation. She unknowingly captivates her sister's husband, a video artist. She becomes the focus of his increasingly erotic and unhinged artworks while spiralling further and further into her fantasies of abandoning her fleshly prison and becoming - impossibly, ecstatically - a tree.

Fraught, disturbing and beautiful, The Vegetarian is a novel about modern-day South Korea but also a novel about shame, desire and our faltering attempts to understand others, from one imprisoned body to another.

©2007 Han Kang. English translation copyright © Deborah Smith 2015 (P)2016 Random House Audio
Literary Fiction Literature & Fiction Psychological Marriage Fiction Disturbing Vegetarian

What listeners say about The Vegetarian

Average Customer Ratings
Overall
  • 3.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    12
  • 4 Stars
    14
  • 3 Stars
    9
  • 2 Stars
    5
  • 1 Stars
    3
Performance
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    11
  • 4 Stars
    13
  • 3 Stars
    6
  • 2 Stars
    3
  • 1 Stars
    2
Story
  • 3.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    10
  • 4 Stars
    12
  • 3 Stars
    6
  • 2 Stars
    4
  • 1 Stars
    3

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Not the Story of '0' Sadly

The Family members are Disgraceful in their Puritanical and Downright Ignorant Attitudes towards a Naive Woman who has Just Discovered the Power In Dreams and her own Flowering in the Domain of Free Will and If She had Been Allowed ,-the Reawakening in the Realm of her Sexuality. ....Bloody Sister ,what a Dropkick ! And Straightjacket for Body Painting ...? Methinks that there is more than Sexual Repression and Jealousy involved here. ..I titled the Above as I find all of the Characters in this Novel Bar the" Flower Power Painting Menage a Trois "* A bunch of Sadistic, Sinful , Sorry excuses of Humanity !
May they Rot in their Righteousness!!!🤺

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Weird and hard to follow

Maybe it was because I listened to this book but I found it hard to follow. I found some of the content creepy and uncomfortable.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.