Han Kang’s novel "The Vegetarian" has been named the readers’ favorite winner of the International Booker Prize in a 10th-anniversary poll by the Booker Prize Foundation.
In a recent report, the foundation said the book topped the vote with nearly one-third of ballots cast from just under 10,000 respondents, outperforming all winners of the past decade. The online survey ran for about two months beginning in mid-February.
Written by Han and translated into English by Deborah Smith, the novel won the International Booker Prize in 2016, the first year under the prize’s current format.
"The Vegetarian" unfolds in three interlinked parts set in Seoul. It follows Yeong-hye, whose decision to stop eating meat after a bloody dream triggers a chain of unsettling and devastating consequences within her marriage and family.
Readers shared comments describing the book as “one of the most courageous depictions of the way misogyny, family and domestic violence intertwine.” Others cited its "daring and sharp questioning of ideologies linked to gender, consumption, human-centred thinking, and of course vegetarianism.”
In an interview with the Booker Prize Foundation, Smith said the 2016 win drew intense attention in South Korea, spurring large print runs and debate about translation and the cultural politics of literary prizes.
“As to the impact on my career, it’s difficult to separate out one event, even one as big as this, and say X caused Y. All the more so because it happened at the very beginning of my career. But it was a level of visibility that I wasn’t prepared for. Perhaps a slow and steady start might have made for a more sustainable career,” she said.
Han said she had not imagined the novel would reach such a wide readership.
“I never imagined that it would one day find so many readers,” she said, adding that winning the prize more than a decade later “felt rather strange (in a good way).” She credited the award with helping her work travel across cultures and languages.
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