After Reading Vegetarian, Broadcaster Tyler's Book Review Called "Foolish"...Reexamined

Late Buzz Over Han River Man Booker Award Winner's Pre-Award Broadcast Content

Tyler Rasch, a broadcaster who read the representative work of 2024 Nobel Literature Prize winner Han Kang, 'The Vegetarian,' has gained attention for his review. In a past broadcast, his outburst of anger toward the protagonist woman's husband after reading The Vegetarian has recently drawn delayed attention from netizens.

Tyler giving a review of 'The Vegetarian' on a 2016 broadcast program
[Image source=KBS1 broadcast capture]

Recently, an online community posted a post titled 'Tyler Angry After Reading The Vegetarian.' The captured image by the post author is from the KBS1 current affairs program 'TV Book' aired on May 10, 2016, where Tyler appeared and reviewed The Vegetarian. The broadcast aired ahead of Han Kang's Man Booker Prize win at the time.

At that time, Tyler expressed frustration toward the husband in the novel who could not understand his wife, who declared becoming a vegetarian to avoid harming other lives. He said, "He is annoying." He also described him as "a person who cannot empathize at all" and "an idiot-like existence." Regarding the passage that described, "Her mind felt like a deep trap inside," he directly wrote the impression, "So you are the problem."

[Image source=KBS1 broadcast capture]

Announcer Park Eun-young, who also appeared on the broadcast, read The Vegetarian together. At that time, she said, "I interviewed Han Kang a year ago," and "Her personality is really similar to the novel." Han Kang, who appeared on the actual broadcast, also answered that she had practiced a vegetarian diet eating only milk and eggs for four years.

The Vegetarian centers on the protagonist 'Young-hye,' who suddenly refuses to eat meat one day and begins to have conflicts with her family. The book is divided into three parts: the first part is narrated from Young-hye's perspective, the second story deals with her husband's point of view, and the final third part concludes the story from the perspective of Young-hye's sister, Eun-hye.

Meanwhile, from right after the Nobel Prize announcement until the 13th, the sales of books written by Han Kang exploded. It is known that more than 500,000 copies were sold at major bookstores such as Kyobo Book Centre and Yes24. This is an increase of 910 times compared to the period just before the Nobel Prize (July 7?9).