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La Dame aux plantes
LES HOMMES VIOLENTS FONT D'EXCELLENTS ENGRAIS.
Au cœur d’une petite ville tranquille, une jeune femme veille sur sa boutique de plantes…
Nichée à l’angle d’une rue du quartier de Dosan, en Corée du Sud, Plantes, Boutique, est un havre de paix. Sa propriétaire, Yuhui, y a recommencé sa vie. Sous ses soins attentifs, son incroyable collection végétale s’épanouit jour après jour. Pour ses clients comme pour elle-même, l’endroit est un refuge où pétunias et œillets d’Inde fleurissent en abondance, et où l’air semble lui-même chargé d’un pouvoir apaisant.
Le jour, Yuhui prodigue conseils et astuces de jardinage. Mais elle offre également, en dehors des heures d’ouverture, un service bien particulier : des femmes à bout de forces viennent en effet la voir pour lui parler d’un homme violent qu’elles rêveraient de voir disparaître de leur existence...
Ce travail supplémentaire est éprouvant, mais Yuhui connaît trop bien ce genre de problème. Elle en a croisé tout au long de sa vie, des hommes qui l’ont traitée avec mépris, elle comme ses précieuses plantes. Alors, quand la nuit tombe, elle troque son tablier contre une pelle et une binette avant de disparaître dans son jardin baigné de lune. Là, elle enterre non seulement les vestiges de la journée, mais aussi les restes sanglants de quelques rencontres qui ont mal tourné.
Tandis que des hommes commencent à disparaître les uns après les autres, l'inspecteur Dogyeong vient frapper à sa porte…
Véritable phénomène de société en Corée du Sud, La Dame aux plantes est un thriller féministe aussi troublant qu'addictif.
Minyoung Kang est écrivaine et rédactrice en chef du magazine de cinéma CAST. Elle vit en Corée. Best-seller international, La Dame aux plantes, son thriller féministe électrochoc mêlant humour noir, vengeance et satire du patriarcat, est en cours d'adaptation.
Au cœur d’une petite ville tranquille, une jeune femme veille sur sa boutique de plantes…
Nichée à l’angle d’une rue du quartier de Dosan, en Corée du Sud, Plantes, Boutique, est un havre de paix. Sa propriétaire, Yuhui, y a recommencé sa vie. Sous ses soins attentifs, son incroyable collection végétale s’épanouit jour après jour. Pour ses clients comme pour elle-même, l’endroit est un refuge où pétunias et œillets d’Inde fleurissent en abondance, et où l’air semble lui-même chargé d’un pouvoir apaisant.
Le jour, Yuhui prodigue conseils et astuces de jardinage. Mais elle offre également, en dehors des heures d’ouverture, un service bien particulier : des femmes à bout de forces viennent en effet la voir pour lui parler d’un homme violent qu’elles rêveraient de voir disparaître de leur existence...
Ce travail supplémentaire est éprouvant, mais Yuhui connaît trop bien ce genre de problème. Elle en a croisé tout au long de sa vie, des hommes qui l’ont traitée avec mépris, elle comme ses précieuses plantes. Alors, quand la nuit tombe, elle troque son tablier contre une pelle et une binette avant de disparaître dans son jardin baigné de lune. Là, elle enterre non seulement les vestiges de la journée, mais aussi les restes sanglants de quelques rencontres qui ont mal tourné.
Tandis que des hommes commencent à disparaître les uns après les autres, l'inspecteur Dogyeong vient frapper à sa porte…
Véritable phénomène de société en Corée du Sud, La Dame aux plantes est un thriller féministe aussi troublant qu'addictif.
Minyoung Kang est écrivaine et rédactrice en chef du magazine de cinéma CAST. Elle vit en Corée. Best-seller international, La Dame aux plantes, son thriller féministe électrochoc mêlant humour noir, vengeance et satire du patriarcat, est en cours d'adaptation.
224 pages, Paperback
First published June 20, 2024
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,003 reviews
August 12, 2026
i can understand liking plants more than people.
murder may be a step too far.
https://emmareadstoomuch.substack.com...
regardless, this book is pure chaos.
the first guy in this book dies for basically no reason — okay, he is mean to a plant — so i was thinking we were in for unhinged leafy defense serial killing.
but then the subsequent guys are killed for being, one after another, pure evil. abusive boyfriend, then abusive dad, then abuser of cats. so i'm like okay, this is actually feminist justice?
but then it was back to nonsense.
don't even get me started on the tragic backstory.
anyway.
bottom line: this was first a short story and it shows.
(thanks to the publisher for the e-arc)
murder may be a step too far.
https://emmareadstoomuch.substack.com...
regardless, this book is pure chaos.
the first guy in this book dies for basically no reason — okay, he is mean to a plant — so i was thinking we were in for unhinged leafy defense serial killing.
but then the subsequent guys are killed for being, one after another, pure evil. abusive boyfriend, then abusive dad, then abuser of cats. so i'm like okay, this is actually feminist justice?
but then it was back to nonsense.
don't even get me started on the tragic backstory.
anyway.
bottom line: this was first a short story and it shows.
(thanks to the publisher for the e-arc)
August 11, 2026
Nothing about a plant shop suggests murder. Yet in Plant Lady, a shovel, a hand hoe, and a patch of soil can mean something much darker than gardening.
After leaving her corporate job, Choi Yoohee runs a plant shop in a renovated old house. She pours her affection into her greenery; ferns, succulents, flowering plants that ask nothing of her except care. Unlike people, plants do not manipulate nor they gaslight. They simply grow and Yoohee finds comfort in its honesty.
But later, the Plant Shop is no longer just a sanctuary for flora. It becomes a refuge for women —those who were stalked by ex-partners, whose intimate images have been distributed without consent, those trapped by romance scams and foremost women suffocating under domestic violence. They come to Yoohee with their fear, their shame, their desperation. And Yoohee does not only listens... she also acts.
Being the feminist literature, this novel does not shun from the grim reality of violence against women. It is set in South Korea where misogyny is systemic and the men in this story are terrifying precisely because they are ordinary men who feel entitled, superior and believe their desires outweigh anyone else's safety.
Even so, what really caught me most me wasn't the cruelty of these men, but the responses of the victims in this novel. The women blame themselves and ask what they could have done differently to which this self-blame is heartbreakingly realistic because the internalization of a society that demands victims to be "perfect" before they deserve empathy. Just recently we were bombarded with the horrifying news of a missing bodies in Jeju as the police sergeant prematurely closing missing persons cases. Why? Because women's safety was never accounted for.
Kang captures this cultural context with precision. In Korea, women who speak out face relentless backlash. The imaginary "ideal victim" doesn't exist, and anyone who fails to fit that mold is attacked. This is not just a fiction but also a commentary on a world that punishes women twice. First for being hurt, then for how they react to that hurt.
Despite that, Plant Lady is as well not a realist novel.
As been said, Yoohee doesn't just offer support but also solutions. Permanent ones too. She finds the men who cause harm and she erases them. And not even with dramatic violence, but with methodical care. Into the garden they go, buried beneath her beloved plants, becoming fertilizer for new growth.
This is where the novel feels most like dark fantasy. In the real world, no woman can simply make her abuser disappear without consequences. The police would investigate. Evidence would accumulate. Justice—however imperfect—would eventually catch up. Kang even builds suspense by having detectives circle the shop, sensing something off but unable to pin it down. It is a tension that keeps you turning pages, even as you wonder how Yoohee hasn't been caught.
But the reason she isn't caught is less about clever plotting and more about what the novel wants to be. This isn't a thriller about the perfect crime but rather wish fulfillment. A world where the system that fails women is bypassed entirely, where the powerless reclaim power through horticultural vengeance.
On a side note, I also enjoyed the small detours into the world of plants. The novel gives us bits of information about what different plants can do, and those details make the shop feel more tangible rather than merely functioning as an aesthetic backdrop. The plants become part of Yoohee's character; with herself who remains morally grey throughout.
I never quite saw her as the magnetic, charismatic woman the novel seemed to suggest she was. But I did find her fascinating enough. There is something elusive to Yoohee that makes her difficult to read, and that uncertainty works in the novel's favour. She is tender without being innocent, violent without being presented as entirely monstrous. The warmth she shows toward the women and plants around her sits in uncomfortable contrast with what she is capable of doing to the men she believes deserve it.
Some readers may have questioned whether the men in this novel "die too easily," whether their fates feel disproportionate. But that criticism misses the point. As Kang writes in her author's note, she wanted to create a world where women are neither hurt nor killed. If that means the rules of the game have changed, then so be it.
In many ways, this novel is a response to a real world that still feels powerless to protect its women. By the end, I found myself thinking not just about Yoohee, but about all the women who might one day read this book and feel seen. Hopefully, this novel offers something radical: permission to fight back, even in silence, even through the patient, deliberate work of a gardener.
After leaving her corporate job, Choi Yoohee runs a plant shop in a renovated old house. She pours her affection into her greenery; ferns, succulents, flowering plants that ask nothing of her except care. Unlike people, plants do not manipulate nor they gaslight. They simply grow and Yoohee finds comfort in its honesty.
But later, the Plant Shop is no longer just a sanctuary for flora. It becomes a refuge for women —those who were stalked by ex-partners, whose intimate images have been distributed without consent, those trapped by romance scams and foremost women suffocating under domestic violence. They come to Yoohee with their fear, their shame, their desperation. And Yoohee does not only listens... she also acts.
Being the feminist literature, this novel does not shun from the grim reality of violence against women. It is set in South Korea where misogyny is systemic and the men in this story are terrifying precisely because they are ordinary men who feel entitled, superior and believe their desires outweigh anyone else's safety.
Even so, what really caught me most me wasn't the cruelty of these men, but the responses of the victims in this novel. The women blame themselves and ask what they could have done differently to which this self-blame is heartbreakingly realistic because the internalization of a society that demands victims to be "perfect" before they deserve empathy. Just recently we were bombarded with the horrifying news of a missing bodies in Jeju as the police sergeant prematurely closing missing persons cases. Why? Because women's safety was never accounted for.
Kang captures this cultural context with precision. In Korea, women who speak out face relentless backlash. The imaginary "ideal victim" doesn't exist, and anyone who fails to fit that mold is attacked. This is not just a fiction but also a commentary on a world that punishes women twice. First for being hurt, then for how they react to that hurt.
Despite that, Plant Lady is as well not a realist novel.
As been said, Yoohee doesn't just offer support but also solutions. Permanent ones too. She finds the men who cause harm and she erases them. And not even with dramatic violence, but with methodical care. Into the garden they go, buried beneath her beloved plants, becoming fertilizer for new growth.
This is where the novel feels most like dark fantasy. In the real world, no woman can simply make her abuser disappear without consequences. The police would investigate. Evidence would accumulate. Justice—however imperfect—would eventually catch up. Kang even builds suspense by having detectives circle the shop, sensing something off but unable to pin it down. It is a tension that keeps you turning pages, even as you wonder how Yoohee hasn't been caught.
But the reason she isn't caught is less about clever plotting and more about what the novel wants to be. This isn't a thriller about the perfect crime but rather wish fulfillment. A world where the system that fails women is bypassed entirely, where the powerless reclaim power through horticultural vengeance.
On a side note, I also enjoyed the small detours into the world of plants. The novel gives us bits of information about what different plants can do, and those details make the shop feel more tangible rather than merely functioning as an aesthetic backdrop. The plants become part of Yoohee's character; with herself who remains morally grey throughout.
I never quite saw her as the magnetic, charismatic woman the novel seemed to suggest she was. But I did find her fascinating enough. There is something elusive to Yoohee that makes her difficult to read, and that uncertainty works in the novel's favour. She is tender without being innocent, violent without being presented as entirely monstrous. The warmth she shows toward the women and plants around her sits in uncomfortable contrast with what she is capable of doing to the men she believes deserve it.
Some readers may have questioned whether the men in this novel "die too easily," whether their fates feel disproportionate. But that criticism misses the point. As Kang writes in her author's note, she wanted to create a world where women are neither hurt nor killed. If that means the rules of the game have changed, then so be it.
In many ways, this novel is a response to a real world that still feels powerless to protect its women. By the end, I found myself thinking not just about Yoohee, but about all the women who might one day read this book and feel seen. Hopefully, this novel offers something radical: permission to fight back, even in silence, even through the patient, deliberate work of a gardener.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
🌿 Plant Lady by Minyoung Kang🌿
✨💚Happy Release Date💚✨
I went into this expecting something feminine rage, but I was not prepared for how emotionally layered this story would be. The rage is there, but it is not the only thing driving this story. It never is.
This book really understands that rage does not come out of nowhere. It builds. It comes from repeated harm, from being dismissed, from being unheard, from surviving things that should have never happened in the first place. The author does not just show anger, instead as a reader you exprience all of the emotions.
There is grief here. Fear. Exhaustion. And that pivotal moment where survival turns into a decision. That is where rage enters. Rage is rarely the first response for women. It is something that builds. A result of everything that came before.
I know this is a story I will come back to. I need time to sit with it before I finalize my full review, but this was easily a 6 star read for me. I cannot stop thinking about it.
🪴 What to Expect
• Plant shop
• Vigilante justice
• Dark humor
• Missing Men
• Morally gray FMC
_ _ _ _
📅 Pub Date: August 4, 2026
📝 Thank you to Berkley Publishing Group and NetGalley for the advanced copy. All thoughts are my own.
✨💚Happy Release Date💚✨
I went into this expecting something feminine rage, but I was not prepared for how emotionally layered this story would be. The rage is there, but it is not the only thing driving this story. It never is.
This book really understands that rage does not come out of nowhere. It builds. It comes from repeated harm, from being dismissed, from being unheard, from surviving things that should have never happened in the first place. The author does not just show anger, instead as a reader you exprience all of the emotions.
There is grief here. Fear. Exhaustion. And that pivotal moment where survival turns into a decision. That is where rage enters. Rage is rarely the first response for women. It is something that builds. A result of everything that came before.
I know this is a story I will come back to. I need time to sit with it before I finalize my full review, but this was easily a 6 star read for me. I cannot stop thinking about it.
🪴 What to Expect
• Plant shop
• Vigilante justice
• Dark humor
• Missing Men
• Morally gray FMC
_ _ _ _
📅 Pub Date: August 4, 2026
📝 Thank you to Berkley Publishing Group and NetGalley for the advanced copy. All thoughts are my own.
Read
September 9, 2025Minyoung is right - men are pests!
September 3, 2026
Can horror and female rage be cozy? Because this one was.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
Me on This Book in Eight Ironic English Words: Disabled woman hears plants, is flattened into murder.
"In that instant, all anxiety seemed to have vanished from Hyunjin’s face. Yoohee was reminded of another customer last week who’d hugged a big bouquet of white roses and grinned as though she owned the whole world. Now all Yoohee had done was offer to add another ribbon, but the way Hyunjin’s eyes brightened made her seem like an entirely different person against the backdrop of the big monstera plant fanning out its leaves behind her." p32
In Short: This is an engaging exploration of an anxious character and her primary coping mechanism, her plants, from which she can hear preverbal articulations like screams and sighs.
I love books that explore characters who are complicated psychologically. While I don't always like stories in which mentally complicated people, especially women and kids, become murderers, it's a very popular concept right now.
The plants create a genuinely brilliant setting-as-character, since the novel imagines plants as possessing preverbal articulation—states of distress, pleasure, and strain rendered as sound rather than language, and isolated to the main character. She's special because she is a highly self-aware mentally ill person...until she isn't. Trope or intuition? Hard to say.
The story ultimately turns this complex character into a vigilante who projects her trauma onto the people she targets. Her boyfriend hurts her plants and makes them scream. One man abuses his daughter. Another abuses his wife's cat. Each act of harm becomes legible to Sooyee—and each time, she kills.
What begins as a psychologically nuanced portrait collapses into something far more reductive. Sooyee is no longer complicated; she becomes instrumental, her trauma functioning as justification rather than something to be explored. Stories with a shape like this neglect their most interesting character in favor of unhinging the plot—escalating toward violence instead of deepening the character.
Beyond that, I loved the questions and answers at the end of the book, and learning about the author's creative purpose increased my enjoyment of the book. The ends Kim favored here, to center women in a slasher in which women are not the victims, is admirable and does change the texture of the read.
"Content Warnings:" murder, anxiety,
Preread: I'm definitely into women's rage stories. I read enough of them that uniqueness typically ends up being the deciding factor for me. I thought this one would be unusual, given the plant angle. I was right, so far!
Thank you NetGalley and Berkeley for the arc!📚
"In that instant, all anxiety seemed to have vanished from Hyunjin’s face. Yoohee was reminded of another customer last week who’d hugged a big bouquet of white roses and grinned as though she owned the whole world. Now all Yoohee had done was offer to add another ribbon, but the way Hyunjin’s eyes brightened made her seem like an entirely different person against the backdrop of the big monstera plant fanning out its leaves behind her." p32
In Short: This is an engaging exploration of an anxious character and her primary coping mechanism, her plants, from which she can hear preverbal articulations like screams and sighs.
I love books that explore characters who are complicated psychologically. While I don't always like stories in which mentally complicated people, especially women and kids, become murderers, it's a very popular concept right now.
The plants create a genuinely brilliant setting-as-character, since the novel imagines plants as possessing preverbal articulation—states of distress, pleasure, and strain rendered as sound rather than language, and isolated to the main character. She's special because she is a highly self-aware mentally ill person...until she isn't. Trope or intuition? Hard to say.
The story ultimately turns this complex character into a vigilante who projects her trauma onto the people she targets. Her boyfriend hurts her plants and makes them scream. One man abuses his daughter. Another abuses his wife's cat. Each act of harm becomes legible to Sooyee—and each time, she kills.
What begins as a psychologically nuanced portrait collapses into something far more reductive. Sooyee is no longer complicated; she becomes instrumental, her trauma functioning as justification rather than something to be explored. Stories with a shape like this neglect their most interesting character in favor of unhinging the plot—escalating toward violence instead of deepening the character.
Beyond that, I loved the questions and answers at the end of the book, and learning about the author's creative purpose increased my enjoyment of the book. The ends Kim favored here, to center women in a slasher in which women are not the victims, is admirable and does change the texture of the read.
"Content Warnings:" murder, anxiety,
Preread: I'm definitely into women's rage stories. I read enough of them that uniqueness typically ends up being the deciding factor for me. I thought this one would be unusual, given the plant angle. I was right, so far!
Thank you NetGalley and Berkeley for the arc!📚
November 13, 2026
Can't a woman have a life-altering hobby/passion without random men fucking it up?! Mini Review of my audiobook experience today, full review soon.
August 16, 2026
Apparently all I need to root for a serial killer is a beautiful plant shop and a list of terrible men. Who knew?
Plant Lady is on the shorter side,the audiobook is only a few hours long, and normally with books this short, I worry that the story will either feel rushed or that there simply won't be enough time to develop everything properly.
Not here.
I don't know whether it was Minyoung Kang's writing style, Jennifer J. Kim's narration, or a combination of both, but the story flowed incredibly smoothly. I usually listen to audiobooks at around 1.75–2x speed, and even then, nothing felt rushed. It was such an easy and strangely pleasant listening experience considering, you know... murder. (cough)
And I absolutely loved Yoohee.
By day, she's tending to her beautiful plant shop, sharing gardening tips on social media, helping customers and making sure her plants are happy and healthy.
By night?
Oh well...
Let's just say Yoohee has some... extracurricular gardening activities.
She's a wonderfully morally gray character with very strong feelings about misogynistic and abusive men. And when the authorities repeatedly fail to protect women from those men, Yoohee decides she's perfectly capable of handling certain problems herself.
Am I supposed to be rooting for her?
Because I absolutely was.
There's something darkly satisfying about the contrast between this peaceful woman surrounded by beautiful, thriving plants and what she's capable of when someone crosses the wrong line. And let's just say her garden is doing exceptionally well. I'm sure it's completely unrelated. (Cough again...)
Then there's the detective investigating her, who drove me slightly insane. He couldn't find the evidence he needed but JUST. KEPT. PUSHING.
Sir.
Go home.
Find a hobby.
At one point I started wondering whether he might mysteriously contribute to the continued health of Yoohee's garden too. Alas...
The narration was also excellent. Jennifer J. Kim's performance suited the quiet, unsettling atmosphere perfectly and made an already short book incredibly easy to devour in one sitting.
Overall, I loved this. It's dark, strangely cozy at times, morally messy, occasionally funny and features a female character I probably shouldn't have been cheering for nearly as enthusiastically as I was.
But here we are.
Support your local plant lady!!!
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
https://turnthepagewithana.blogspot.c...
Plant Lady is on the shorter side,the audiobook is only a few hours long, and normally with books this short, I worry that the story will either feel rushed or that there simply won't be enough time to develop everything properly.
Not here.
I don't know whether it was Minyoung Kang's writing style, Jennifer J. Kim's narration, or a combination of both, but the story flowed incredibly smoothly. I usually listen to audiobooks at around 1.75–2x speed, and even then, nothing felt rushed. It was such an easy and strangely pleasant listening experience considering, you know... murder. (cough)
And I absolutely loved Yoohee.
By day, she's tending to her beautiful plant shop, sharing gardening tips on social media, helping customers and making sure her plants are happy and healthy.
By night?
Oh well...
Let's just say Yoohee has some... extracurricular gardening activities.
She's a wonderfully morally gray character with very strong feelings about misogynistic and abusive men. And when the authorities repeatedly fail to protect women from those men, Yoohee decides she's perfectly capable of handling certain problems herself.
Am I supposed to be rooting for her?
Because I absolutely was.
There's something darkly satisfying about the contrast between this peaceful woman surrounded by beautiful, thriving plants and what she's capable of when someone crosses the wrong line. And let's just say her garden is doing exceptionally well. I'm sure it's completely unrelated. (Cough again...)
Then there's the detective investigating her, who drove me slightly insane. He couldn't find the evidence he needed but JUST. KEPT. PUSHING.
Sir.
Go home.
Find a hobby.
At one point I started wondering whether he might mysteriously contribute to the continued health of Yoohee's garden too. Alas...
The narration was also excellent. Jennifer J. Kim's performance suited the quiet, unsettling atmosphere perfectly and made an already short book incredibly easy to devour in one sitting.
Overall, I loved this. It's dark, strangely cozy at times, morally messy, occasionally funny and features a female character I probably shouldn't have been cheering for nearly as enthusiastically as I was.
But here we are.
Support your local plant lady!!!
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
https://turnthepagewithana.blogspot.c...
September 17, 2026
I'm a bit disappointed.
The characters' development felt like an an afterthought.
The characters' development felt like an an afterthought.
January 22, 2026
Plant Lady started with an idea that immediately intrigued me. I also really liked the structure: six chapters, each working as its own closed-off story. I truly wanted to love this book.
Sadly, the writing style didn’t work for me. It felt very cold and detached, almost like reading a report. Even though the protagonist, Yu-hee, does shocking and extreme things, I never really felt the rage behind them .. more like feminine rage on Valium. 🙈 The characters lacked depth, which made it hard to care about what happened.
Overall, the book was simply too quiet for my taste. Some nuances may have been lost in translation, and knowing that the story was originally planned as a short story makes a lot of sense to me … I think it might have worked better in that form.
That said: the edition looks absolutely stunning 🌿🖤
Beautiful concept, beautiful book … just not the execution for me.
𝘶𝘯𝘱𝘢𝘪𝘥 𝘢𝘥 | 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸 𝘤𝘰𝘱𝘺
Thank you @team.bloggerportal & @penguinbuecher for the review copy!
🇩🇪
Ich hatte große Hoffnungen in dieses Buch …
Schönes Cover, spannende Idee, gemischte Gefühle. 🌿📖
Plant Lady hat mich am Anfang sofort neugierig gemacht. Die Grundidee ist interessant, und auch die Struktur mochte ich: sechs Kapitel, die jeweils für sich stehen. Ich wollte dieses Buch wirklich mögen.
Der Schreibstil hat mich leider nicht abgeholt. Er war sehr nüchtern und distanziert, stellenweise fast wie ein Bericht. Obwohl die Protagonistin Yu-hee extreme und schockierende Dinge tut, habe ich die Emotionen dahinter kaum gespürt – eher so etwas wie „feminine rage auf Valium“. Auch die Figuren blieben für mich ziemlich blass, sodass es mir schwerfiel, mit ihnen mitzufühlen.
Insgesamt war mir das Buch einfach zu leise. Vielleicht sind durch die Übersetzung ein paar Nuancen verloren gegangen, und da die Geschichte ursprünglich als Kurzgeschichte gedacht war, kann ich mir gut vorstellen, dass sie in dieser Form besser funktioniert hätte.
Was man aber definitiv sagen muss: Die Ausgabe sieht wunderschön aus 🌿
Tolle Idee, tolles Buch – nur die Umsetzung hat mich persönlich nicht überzeugt.
Sadly, the writing style didn’t work for me. It felt very cold and detached, almost like reading a report. Even though the protagonist, Yu-hee, does shocking and extreme things, I never really felt the rage behind them .. more like feminine rage on Valium. 🙈 The characters lacked depth, which made it hard to care about what happened.
Overall, the book was simply too quiet for my taste. Some nuances may have been lost in translation, and knowing that the story was originally planned as a short story makes a lot of sense to me … I think it might have worked better in that form.
That said: the edition looks absolutely stunning 🌿🖤
Beautiful concept, beautiful book … just not the execution for me.
𝘶𝘯𝘱𝘢𝘪𝘥 𝘢𝘥 | 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸 𝘤𝘰𝘱𝘺
Thank you @team.bloggerportal & @penguinbuecher for the review copy!
🇩🇪
Ich hatte große Hoffnungen in dieses Buch …
Schönes Cover, spannende Idee, gemischte Gefühle. 🌿📖
Plant Lady hat mich am Anfang sofort neugierig gemacht. Die Grundidee ist interessant, und auch die Struktur mochte ich: sechs Kapitel, die jeweils für sich stehen. Ich wollte dieses Buch wirklich mögen.
Der Schreibstil hat mich leider nicht abgeholt. Er war sehr nüchtern und distanziert, stellenweise fast wie ein Bericht. Obwohl die Protagonistin Yu-hee extreme und schockierende Dinge tut, habe ich die Emotionen dahinter kaum gespürt – eher so etwas wie „feminine rage auf Valium“. Auch die Figuren blieben für mich ziemlich blass, sodass es mir schwerfiel, mit ihnen mitzufühlen.
Insgesamt war mir das Buch einfach zu leise. Vielleicht sind durch die Übersetzung ein paar Nuancen verloren gegangen, und da die Geschichte ursprünglich als Kurzgeschichte gedacht war, kann ich mir gut vorstellen, dass sie in dieser Form besser funktioniert hätte.
Was man aber definitiv sagen muss: Die Ausgabe sieht wunderschön aus 🌿
Tolle Idee, tolles Buch – nur die Umsetzung hat mich persönlich nicht überzeugt.
November 13, 2026
WTF is going on in South Korea???
In Kim Ji-young, Born 1982, the misogynistic society caused this woman's total mental breakdown
In Molka, men's unchecked predatory sexual behavior, created a blue female rage monster
In Plant Lady, the unfair power dynamic and abuse (both physical and mental) created a female serial killer 😭
I smell a trend here. And it is not one that should be copied anywhere, let alone be thriving in what is considered a first world country.
Plant Lady is a fun novella about an unassuming young woman tired of all the social injustice she and the women she encounters are facing. She lives in a society wherein there is no justice for these crimes that she decided to do something about it. She has the perfect cover — being a plant entrepreneur. I mean who would suspect that?
This is a short book with fun illustrations so I won't be telling more lol. Got to say I enjoyed this thoroughly! Plant Lady is more of a collection of situations than a focused novel. However, the stories are in the same time and place and are under one narrative that links them together.
Recommended!
In Kim Ji-young, Born 1982, the misogynistic society caused this woman's total mental breakdown
In Molka, men's unchecked predatory sexual behavior, created a blue female rage monster
In Plant Lady, the unfair power dynamic and abuse (both physical and mental) created a female serial killer 😭
I smell a trend here. And it is not one that should be copied anywhere, let alone be thriving in what is considered a first world country.
Plant Lady is a fun novella about an unassuming young woman tired of all the social injustice she and the women she encounters are facing. She lives in a society wherein there is no justice for these crimes that she decided to do something about it. She has the perfect cover — being a plant entrepreneur. I mean who would suspect that?
This is a short book with fun illustrations so I won't be telling more lol. Got to say I enjoyed this thoroughly! Plant Lady is more of a collection of situations than a focused novel. However, the stories are in the same time and place and are under one narrative that links them together.
Recommended!
June 13, 2026
3.75 ⭐️
“She was the best gal around!”
“What about the people she murdered?!”
“What MURDAH??”
That meme/ interaction is my overall response to this book. I support women’s rights... and their wrongs
Plant Lady was a very quick read. It was organized into a few short stories — but still related with our FMC as the connecting link.
I loved the setting of the boutique store that was filled to the brim with a variety of plants, to the point it sounded like a jungle. The descriptions were so picturesque, and made me want to go buy more plants to decorate my home.
Overall, the writing did feel very out of body/ disconnected. I prefer to feel as if I’m in the characters’ shoes rather than watching from an outsider’s POV. Also I was very thrown off when we first switched POVs. I was not expecting that, and took awhile to comprehend what was going on.
Even though some violent events occurred, it felt pretty bland and monotone. The events were described, but I don’t think I felt many emotions besides the anxiety. They were eluded to, but it wasn’t very visceral. When we started getting into the portion where the detective was sniffing around it did start to get more interesting.
“She was the best gal around!”
“What about the people she murdered?!”
“What MURDAH??”
That meme/ interaction is my overall response to this book. I support women’s rights... and their wrongs
Plant Lady was a very quick read. It was organized into a few short stories — but still related with our FMC as the connecting link.
I loved the setting of the boutique store that was filled to the brim with a variety of plants, to the point it sounded like a jungle. The descriptions were so picturesque, and made me want to go buy more plants to decorate my home.
Overall, the writing did feel very out of body/ disconnected. I prefer to feel as if I’m in the characters’ shoes rather than watching from an outsider’s POV. Also I was very thrown off when we first switched POVs. I was not expecting that, and took awhile to comprehend what was going on.
Even though some violent events occurred, it felt pretty bland and monotone. The events were described, but I don’t think I felt many emotions besides the anxiety. They were eluded to, but it wasn’t very visceral. When we started getting into the portion where the detective was sniffing around it did start to get more interesting.
November 23, 2025
4,5 Sterne (mit Tendenz nach oben)
Habe es geliebt. Ich muss zugeben, die Autorin hat mich so weit gebracht, dass ich jeden einzelnen Tod dieser Abschaum-Männer gefeiert habe, wie die Hochzeit, die ich nie haben werde. Das ist Female Rage in Reinform und ich habe es gefeiert! Unsere Plant Lady hat aber auch echt die schlimmsten Exemplare vor die Flinte bekommen 😂 (Im übertragenen Sinne, die Tode waren viel besser inszeniert). Das im Kontrast mit dieser tollen Liebe zu Pflanzen und dann ist das ganze auch noch nuanciert und nicht splatterig – Wahnsinn. Ganz toll geschrieben. Ich empfehle auch sehr, das Nachwort nicht auszulassen, das hat mich nochmal ganz anders getroffen. Richtig gut, ich hatte zwar ein paar Probleme mit den Namen, aber das liegt nun wirklich an mir.
Habe es geliebt. Ich muss zugeben, die Autorin hat mich so weit gebracht, dass ich jeden einzelnen Tod dieser Abschaum-Männer gefeiert habe, wie die Hochzeit, die ich nie haben werde. Das ist Female Rage in Reinform und ich habe es gefeiert! Unsere Plant Lady hat aber auch echt die schlimmsten Exemplare vor die Flinte bekommen 😂 (Im übertragenen Sinne, die Tode waren viel besser inszeniert). Das im Kontrast mit dieser tollen Liebe zu Pflanzen und dann ist das ganze auch noch nuanciert und nicht splatterig – Wahnsinn. Ganz toll geschrieben. Ich empfehle auch sehr, das Nachwort nicht auszulassen, das hat mich nochmal ganz anders getroffen. Richtig gut, ich hatte zwar ein paar Probleme mit den Namen, aber das liegt nun wirklich an mir.
2026
September 11, 2026Halloween TBR
Manse March TBR
Women in Translation TBR
📱 Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley Books
Manse March TBR
Women in Translation TBR
📱 Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley Books
October 10, 2026
A fun and strangely cosy female revenge story where awful men get what's coming to them. This book has a very episodic structure, so there's no actual plot that runs through the whole narrative. The main character does not really develop as a person, and the investigation that runs throughout the book does not mean all that much by the end. I do enjoy seeing sh*t men getting what they deserve, and I liked Yoohee's weird yet charming nature. The book does a good job of endearing you to the individual women who come to the plant shop, and the revenge continuously feels very satisfying. However, there's not much else to it. No great emotions, no big mystery, no complex characters, no over-arching development. That does make for a somewhat dissatisfying reading experience, but not necessarily a bad one. It's a fun short read that is well written and has a good premise at the heart of it all.
August 9, 2026
I read this all in one day and it was exactly what I needed.
The plant shop was so cosy, and I loved hearing about the ways to care for different plants. You could tell how much hard work and care the main character poured into her passion.
I liked the contradiction of how the shop becomes a sanctuary for many a woman, and it being how she eventually heard about their woes and decides to 'help out.'
The structure of this follows the familiar, almost interconnected short stories format of many East Asian translated books. And then at the end we get more insight into her own character. That plot structure worked out for me.
I especially loved the author's note at the end about why she chose to tell this story. Don't miss out on it!
It has nice black and white illustrations on the chapter title pages.
The plant shop was so cosy, and I loved hearing about the ways to care for different plants. You could tell how much hard work and care the main character poured into her passion.
I liked the contradiction of how the shop becomes a sanctuary for many a woman, and it being how she eventually heard about their woes and decides to 'help out.'
The structure of this follows the familiar, almost interconnected short stories format of many East Asian translated books. And then at the end we get more insight into her own character. That plot structure worked out for me.
I especially loved the author's note at the end about why she chose to tell this story. Don't miss out on it!
It has nice black and white illustrations on the chapter title pages.
August 25, 2026
Very much an entry in the Good For Her canon. Ultimately the interconnected short stories feel of it let me wanting much more depth.
November 10, 2026
Plant Lady was such a great and interesting read! I really enjoyed the story and how everything unfolded throughout the book. The characters were another highlight for me, and I loved how the artwork was incorporated throughout the story. It added something unique to the reading experience and complemented the story beautifully.
August 22, 2026
I REALLY wanted to like this one. The short story features Yohee, who runs a plant store in South Korea and has a history of terrible luck with shady men.
While I strongly champion pro-women themes, women's safety, and female protection—and truly loved the author's note and core concept—I struggled to feel that same deep connection while reading the story itself. The book is structured into six distinct chapters, each uniquely named after a different plant. I appreciated the premise, but the execution just didn't quite land for me.
While I strongly champion pro-women themes, women's safety, and female protection—and truly loved the author's note and core concept—I struggled to feel that same deep connection while reading the story itself. The book is structured into six distinct chapters, each uniquely named after a different plant. I appreciated the premise, but the execution just didn't quite land for me.
August 2, 2026
You know how Asian healing fiction has become popular of late (think "We'll Prescribe You a Cat" and "Before the Coffee Gets Cold")? Yeah, Plant Lady is like that only filled with feminine revenge on all the men doing wrong by women. I always enjoy a heartfelt, inspiring read...
Thank you to Berkley Publishing Group | Berkley and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this ARC.
Thank you to Berkley Publishing Group | Berkley and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this ARC.
August 17, 2026
The biggest problem I had with this book was that I never understood the main character well enough to understand her actions. I was really intrigued by the premise and absolutely loved the cover, so I had high expectations going in. Unfortunately, the writing felt so bare-bones that I never felt properly introduced to the protagonist. We get very little background information about her, and while that could have been an intentional choice, it didn’t work for me because without understanding who she is or what shaped her, many of her decisions simply didn’t make sense. The situation also escalated incredibly quickly. Things happened one after another without enough development or context to make them feel believable, so instead of building tension, the story often left me wondering how we had gotten there in the first place. I’m also not sure whether this was an issue with the translation or simply the author’s original writing style, but the prose felt very simple and underdeveloped. There wasn’t much description or atmosphere, and I often felt like the book was telling me what happened rather than actually allowing me to experience it. I usually love female rage novels, which was one of the things that initially attracted me to this book, but I wouldn’t really classify this as one. The premise had so much potential for exploring anger, frustration, and the experiences that lead someone to that point, but the short length and lack of character development didn’t give those ideas enough room to breathe. Overall, I think this was a case of a great premise that simply wasn’t developed enough. I wanted to love it, but I was left wishing the book had given me more.
August 16, 2026
The author’s note says this started off as a short story and honestly I think it should’ve stayed as one
August 22, 2026
A novel that screams, "YES ALL MEN!" very loudly and unsubtly.
This is female revenge horror painted in very broad, bloody strokes, and to me it doesn't satisfy because there's so little attempt at character. Yoohee doesn't really grow or change much, and the rest of the characters come in and out in the short story-like format that seems very popular right now in Asia (Before the Coffee Gets Cold, The Kamogawa Food Detectives, etc.) but that I don't care for. So yeah, picture that type of "feel-good" book, just with more torture.
This is female revenge horror painted in very broad, bloody strokes, and to me it doesn't satisfy because there's so little attempt at character. Yoohee doesn't really grow or change much, and the rest of the characters come in and out in the short story-like format that seems very popular right now in Asia (Before the Coffee Gets Cold, The Kamogawa Food Detectives, etc.) but that I don't care for. So yeah, picture that type of "feel-good" book, just with more torture.
July 23, 2026
This was so good. Whimsical, fun, murderous and inventive. This was bingeable and VERY quick. Definitely would recommend.
October 10, 2026
Cozy, murderous, and predictable
October 22, 2025
Yu-hee liebt Pflanzen – Menschen dagegen weniger. In ihrem kleinen Pflanzenladen findet sie Ruhe, aber auch die Kraft, sich gegen das zu wehren, was ihr und anderen Frauen angetan wurde.
Minyoung Kang schreibt ruhig, klar und trotzdem mit so viel Gefühl. Es ist kein lautes Buch, sondern eins, das man leise liest – und das lange nachwirkt.
Die Pflanzen in diesem Buch sind mehr als Deko. Sie spiegeln das Leben wider – Wachstum, Verfall, Erneuerung. Sie stehen für das, was Yu-hee sich selbst zurückholt: Kontrolle, Würde, Freiheit.
Ich mochte, wie ehrlich und gleichzeitig poetisch dieses Buch mit Themen wie weiblicher Wut, Schmerz und Heilung umgeht.
Ein feminines, stilles, starkes Buch – anders, aber genau das macht es so besonders.
Minyoung Kang schreibt ruhig, klar und trotzdem mit so viel Gefühl. Es ist kein lautes Buch, sondern eins, das man leise liest – und das lange nachwirkt.
Die Pflanzen in diesem Buch sind mehr als Deko. Sie spiegeln das Leben wider – Wachstum, Verfall, Erneuerung. Sie stehen für das, was Yu-hee sich selbst zurückholt: Kontrolle, Würde, Freiheit.
Ich mochte, wie ehrlich und gleichzeitig poetisch dieses Buch mit Themen wie weiblicher Wut, Schmerz und Heilung umgeht.
Ein feminines, stilles, starkes Buch – anders, aber genau das macht es so besonders.
October 22, 2026
I really enjoyed this. Although I understand the idea of the healing fiction genre, it has never completely appealed to me (similarly cozy fiction). That said, there is something universal about the general aesthetic.
Here we have those incredibly appealing aesthetic ingredients: cozy plant shop, smart and independent woman proprietor, stray cats lounging in care and comfort. The added bonus that for me makes the story is the horror element: elimination of pests (ie unpleasant men making life terrible for women). Lovely.
Unlike animals or humans, plants did not move around. They took root wherever their seed landed. It was a game of luck in which, unfortunately, they never had a choice. But even in the harshest of conditions, they remained resilient, and Yoohee admired that. To her, a plant was a comforting presence, like a steadfast friend.
This notion of resilience and the idea of making the place where you land a safe and thriving home reminded me of what I thought after reading the book Usurpation by Sue Burke, where sentient plants decide whether to take up the cause of saving the humans who live around them. In my review of that book I wrote:
“What would the world look like if it could be helped by the perspective of plants, beings who cannot run away from their problems because they live stationary lives. Every neighbour must be dealt with, community preserved for the betterment of the whole, every problem met and solved where you are.”
In Plant Lady we see a similar reflection, the idea of taking solace and strength from plants, and protecting our place and community. Perhaps Yoohee’s methods are extreme, but also maybe not?
Here we have those incredibly appealing aesthetic ingredients: cozy plant shop, smart and independent woman proprietor, stray cats lounging in care and comfort. The added bonus that for me makes the story is the horror element: elimination of pests (ie unpleasant men making life terrible for women). Lovely.
Unlike animals or humans, plants did not move around. They took root wherever their seed landed. It was a game of luck in which, unfortunately, they never had a choice. But even in the harshest of conditions, they remained resilient, and Yoohee admired that. To her, a plant was a comforting presence, like a steadfast friend.
This notion of resilience and the idea of making the place where you land a safe and thriving home reminded me of what I thought after reading the book Usurpation by Sue Burke, where sentient plants decide whether to take up the cause of saving the humans who live around them. In my review of that book I wrote:
“What would the world look like if it could be helped by the perspective of plants, beings who cannot run away from their problems because they live stationary lives. Every neighbour must be dealt with, community preserved for the betterment of the whole, every problem met and solved where you are.”
In Plant Lady we see a similar reflection, the idea of taking solace and strength from plants, and protecting our place and community. Perhaps Yoohee’s methods are extreme, but also maybe not?
September 6, 2026
A woman who owns a plant shop and gets rid of problematic men? Honestly, this lady has my dream job.
This was short, weird, dark, and so much fun. Underneath the murder and plants, though, I really liked what this book was saying about what happens when the systems that are supposed to protect women and other vulnerable people just… don’t. There’s something incredibly satisfying about the fantasy of being able to remove dangerous men from the world when no one else is going to do anything about them—and then actually getting away with it.
I also loved that Yoohee isn’t presented as some completely unhinged serial killer. In her mind, she’s taking care of a problem. Some things need to be nurtured and helped to grow, and some things need to be removed. As someone who loves plants almost as much as I love books, obviously this entire concept worked for me.
It’s a quick read and I could have happily spent more time in this story, but I had such a good time with it. Four stars, and I would absolutely shop at the Plant Shop. 🌱
This was short, weird, dark, and so much fun. Underneath the murder and plants, though, I really liked what this book was saying about what happens when the systems that are supposed to protect women and other vulnerable people just… don’t. There’s something incredibly satisfying about the fantasy of being able to remove dangerous men from the world when no one else is going to do anything about them—and then actually getting away with it.
I also loved that Yoohee isn’t presented as some completely unhinged serial killer. In her mind, she’s taking care of a problem. Some things need to be nurtured and helped to grow, and some things need to be removed. As someone who loves plants almost as much as I love books, obviously this entire concept worked for me.
It’s a quick read and I could have happily spent more time in this story, but I had such a good time with it. Four stars, and I would absolutely shop at the Plant Shop. 🌱
August 4, 2026
I wanted to read this based on cover alone. She looks so ominous in a room full of gorgeous plants. I knew she was going to be up to something nefarious 🤣.
I LOVED the FMC. She was up to good, sure, but in the best way. Feminine rage is always needed but she doesn’t even seem to have the rage you usually expect. She’s so calm, self assured, and just… righteous.
The women in the story were all so relatable and heartbreaking. It made you want the revenge for the swift or not, as long as it was done.
I LOVED the FMC. She was up to good, sure, but in the best way. Feminine rage is always needed but she doesn’t even seem to have the rage you usually expect. She’s so calm, self assured, and just… righteous.
The women in the story were all so relatable and heartbreaking. It made you want the revenge for the swift or not, as long as it was done.
August 10, 2026
I support women's rights, more relevantly to this book… I support women’s wrongs
More or less a collection of short stories/ episodic structure that is centred around a plant shop owner who helps get rid of certain men
An emotional read, filled with desperation, vulnerability, and a slow building rage
More or less a collection of short stories/ episodic structure that is centred around a plant shop owner who helps get rid of certain men
An emotional read, filled with desperation, vulnerability, and a slow building rage
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