BOOK REVIEW | THE VEGETARIAN BY HAN KANG

Title: The Vegetarian
Author: Han Kang
Published: 2016
Language: Korean
Pages: 192
Rating: 4/5
Translator: Deborah Smith


Before the nightmare, Yeong-hye and her husband lived an ordinary life. But when splintering, blood-soaked images start haunting her thoughts, Yeong-hye decides to purge her mind and renounce eating meat. In a country where societal mores are strictly obeyed, Yeong-hye's decision to embrace a more “plant-like” existence is a shocking act of subversion. 



I was really excited to finally pick up 'The Vegetarian' since it has been on my wishlist for so long. I am really curious to read more translated fiction and had never read a book from South-Korea. I think that the book starting with someone becoming a vegetarian is a really interesting start for a book about mental health. 

This book had plots and twists of which I never could imagine them happening when I imagined what this book would be about. What I really liked about this story is that you can see the mental illness 'being born' you see how it develops and grows within our main character.

This book is separated in 3 parts, and in the second part we also experience sexual desire, but again not as we are used to. We experience it not about lust objects and sexual desire from human to human but about the power of an individual. 

This was a book like no others.

BOOK REVIEW | ER IST WIEDER DA BY TIMUR VERMES

Title: Daar is hij weer (Er ist wieder da)
Author: Timur Vermes
First published: 2012
Language: Dutch (translated from German)
Pages: 320
Rating: 3/5

It's summer 2011 and Hitler awakens on a abandoned field in Berlin, Germany. There is no war, no party and no Eva. Hitler walks through this version of Berlin, which for him is unknown. Soon people begin to recognize him, as a imitator, finding him very funny. Hitler starts to be a happening, he goes viral on YouTube, and people begin to listen. But Hitler has another programme with even greater ambition – to set the country he finds a shambles back to rights.

I borrowed this book from my father, someone who likes to read books about World War II and most things involving it. When I decided to read it, I asked him what he thought about it and he thought it was quite a disappointing read.

I also did not like it as much as I hoped. I expected that Hitler, waking up in 2011, would discover social media. I really thought that he was going to use the internet to make himself 'big' again. This did not happen.

The characters were also quite week in my opinion. Especially Hitler, he was very obedient and sometimes he tried to be mean, but in my eyes he was just a softy.

Although the story was really original, the story wasn't executed the way I wish it had been.

MID-YEAR READING CHALLENGES 2016

When I started picking up reading at the end of last year again, I wasn't as serious and addicted to it as now. I had only one goal; to read 50 books (which I had done before so I knew it wasn't that much of a challenge). Now that we are halfway through 2016 I want to set my self some specific reading challenges for the rest of 2016, starting today.

CLASSICS
I want to read 5 more classics this year. I feel like I am really lacking on my knowledge of classics and I really want to read and appreciate them.

HISTORICAL FICTION
I also want to read 5 historical fictions. I want to find out more about this genre because I really think that this could be a favourite genre of my. I never experienced a lot with genres beside contemporary and light-fantasy but I think that this has real potential to be one of my favourite genres.

DUTCH FICTION
I want to read 2 Dutch books. I only choose two books because for one, Dutch books are twice or triple the price of the English books I read, and second, I only can think of two that I really want to read. For 2017 I might take this challenge to a higher level and set an higher goal, but for now, two books it is.

TRANSLATED FICTION
I want to read 7 translated fictions. I want to get to know a wider variation of authors, stories, settings etcetera.

POETRY
I want to read 5 books of poetry. I used to write my own poetry, but I almost never ever have read poetry. Actually, I only read two books of poetry. Five books of poetry might be a bit to high but I see how far I can come.


Do you have any mid-year reading challenges?