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"I think they mean that the book about a woman that turns into a plant needs more wizards to be more human and literary"???
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Jun 30, 2016 19:58
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Finished up reading, and noticed that this thread hasn't really explored much of the implications in the sister's chapter. Did anyone else feel like the sister took advantage of her out of some type of punishment, or cruelty? She comes to her sister's house to find that her husband has raped/taken advantage of her mentally ill sister who's grasp on reality is scant, and instead of just arresting/punishing her husband, she has the emergency response team basically attack her sister. They grab her, strap her down, pull her away as she kicks and screams, and the sister silently watches from afar, admonishing her as if she deserves it, justifying that it's "for her own good". She seems to feel more regret for her husband's actions because it made her lose her husband instead of how her sister's been a victim in this situation. She thinks about how much of a good wife/daughter she's been, and thinks about how impotent she's been in any interaction where her sister's been a victim (with moments reflecting on her sister's husband, her own husband, and her father), and it always seems to steer back to how it's her sister's fault, and not her own for never helping or standing up for her. It's interesting, because she sits and tries to force-feed her sister things that are healthy and that her sister should enjoy, like watermelon, and she reflects on the memories that the foods bring of happier days, as if this will cure her sister from the inside out, but can't grasp the reality that the damage is done. It's always been someone else that's hurt her sister, as if her own impotence didn't contribute. Her sister's devouring itself from the inside from the world's cruelty, and she can only be bothered/work up the courage to see her once a week at most, once a month at least. There's a point where the sister thinks about how they had the same upbringing, but the father only abused Yeong-hye, never her or her brother. She reflects that she could have done something, but sees the cruelty as inevitable. As if standing up to the abuse or trying to seek help would only cause more cruelty, or be useless.
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Jul 6, 2016 11:56
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Mel Mudkiper posted:While I do not think her actions were as deliberate or malevolent as you describe, I do generally like this interpretation. I only meant the initial use of the emergency response team to attack the sister as malevolent. But I think that's more out of shock or grief at the situation, not an act of cruelty to consciously punish. I think it's boiling under the surface, but she's not aware that she HERSELF is being cruel to her sister. Kinda like how we will act for good intentions, but the actual actions are cruel/hurtful. (EDIT: Or the idea of sadism/cruelty being brought out by seeing reflections of ourselves we dislike. She sees her husband has hosed up her sister's life (again) and subconsciously sees herself lying on the floor, and it creates a masochistic urge.) That's how I see it: the sister seems to have good intentions, but her actions (or lack thereof) still contribute to the cruelty of the world. She also can't help but think about her own well-being above her sister, even though everything around her is showing her that she could very easily be in her position. She mentions briefly that she's going through her own mental breakdown, with insomnia and poor eating choices, but instead lingers on ideas of being without a husband or how her sister's deteriorating. I especially like the moment where she and Yeong-hye are going to the clinic, and the nurse has to ask them which is the patient. Franchescanado fucked around with this message at 12:43 on Jul 6, 2016 |
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Jul 6, 2016 12:40
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Maybe because the title/genre itself promises "Realism"? I tried looking through my GoodReads shelves for actual traditional fantasy books I've read and all I could find was The Hobbit, a few Discworlds and Bridge of Birds. The rest were magical realism.
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Jul 6, 2016 18:51
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Dude, if you didn't like The Vegetarian, and you like Fantasy, why are you wasting everyone's time posting in this thread, and not reading the new BOTM, which is relevant to you?
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Jul 11, 2016 22:30
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