The Vegetarian, Han Kang, trans. Deborah Smith (2015)
The titular character fascinated me, made me hope, hard, that the final chapter would be from her point of view. Kang's decision makes sense, thematically. Of the questions this novel raises — most obviously about female agency and the social dynamics of diet — what hit me hardest is its exploration of the limits, social and existential, of sanity. The book suggests that Yeong-hye, who cannot tolerate the human world she was born into, has something to teach us. But what that lesson is, readers must discern for themselves.