January 2025: The Vegetarian

📖 Join Our Book Club!

“Any book worth banning is a book worth reading.” ―Isaac Asimov

Hi book lovers!

Welcome to Unbanned Book Club! Unbanned Book Club (UBC) is a safe space where we read banned books, hear the unheard voices, and discuss without judgments.

UBC is proud to be partnering with Books Inc. Pruneyard. Grab your copy today and get a 15% discount on our book club selections! Join us in supporting local book stores!

📚 Featured Book: The Vegetarian by Han Kang

📌 Synopsis:
Before the nightmares began, Yeong-hye and her husband lived an ordinary, controlled life. But the dreams—invasive images of blood and brutality—torture her, driving Yeong-hye to purge her mind and renounce eating meat altogether. It’s a small act of independence, but it interrupts her marriage and sets into motion an increasingly grotesque chain of events at home. As her husband, her brother-in-law and sister each fight to reassert their control, Yeong-hye obsessively defends the choice that’s become sacred to her. Soon their attempts turn desperate, subjecting first her mind, and then her body, to ever more intrusive and perverse violations, sending Yeong-hye spiraling into a dangerous, bizarre estrangement, not only from those closest to her, but also from herself.

Celebrated by critics around the world, The Vegetarian is a darkly allegorical, Kafka-esque tale of power, obsession, and one woman’s struggle to break free from the violence both without and within her.

🗨️ Discussion Points:

• Exploration of Bodily Autonomy and Control
• Symbolism of Meat and Vegetarianism
• Mental Health and Trauma
• Interplay of Violence and Eroticism

💞 Giving Back:
To give back to the Books Inc community, we will be collection donation. Suggested donation amount $5 - $10. At the event, we will purchase as many next month's book as we can with the donation collected, and raffle it to all participants of this event. Any surplus funds will go to Meetup organizer fees.