We have had too many Korean healing fiction lately, so Plant Lady by Minyoung Kang is a pleasant diversion from it. I went straight from Korean healing fiction to Korean serial killer fiction. This was still somehow cozy enough.

A plant shop could be something else if the plant lady wants it to be. The female vigilante trope is something I am coming to like quite a lot. Plant Lady has definitely found pride of place among the serial killer books on my TBR.

So, with that let’s get into it!

The Plot of ‘Plant Lady’: What is the book about?

Yoo-hee left her cushy job to open up a plant shop of rare plants. While everyone questioned her decision, she, herself, was very confident about following her passion for plants. Her shop was not even in a popular part of town, so she was especially set up for failure. But fortune aids her and her shop acquires a good reputation and ends up actually popular.

Yoo-hee, however, is hiding a secret of her own. She is adept at getting rid of men who are a menace to women, herself and others she comes across. Getting rid of the bodies of the men have become extremely convenient for Yoo-hee as the plant shop has grown. She has become quite an expert on turning bodies into fertilisers. As a result, her plants are glorious and the business is thriving.

As the shop’s reputation grows and it attracts more customers, Yoo-hee meets more women like her. Other women being tormented by random men, their male colleagues, their romantic partners and even their fathers. As Yoo-hee gets to know about their plight, she makes the problems go away.

Soon the Plant Shop gains a reputation among women for being able to make their male-shaped problems disappear. While women begin to seek out Yoo-hee for this purpose more and more, the shop attracts attention from a male detective who is investigated one of the disappearances of a man. While he has no concrete evidence against the shop owner, she shows up at the scene of another similar crime where 3 men die in a fire.

This detective is hot on her heels while Yoo-hee is effectively sharpening her skills of evading the law. The latter part of the story focuses on the detective closing in on Yoo-hee and reading on to see if she succeeds in not leaving enough evidence to connect her to the crimes.

My Verdict: Should your read ‘Plant Lady’?

If you are bored of all the Korean healing fiction but want to read a more high-stakes book with the same cozy vibes, Plant Lady by Minyoung Kang should be on your TBR.

The Plant Shop is a sanctuary for both Yoo-hee and the subsequent women who find her for specific reasons. The vibe and atmosphere of the Plant Shop is carefully curated by Yoo-hee for being a safe place. The greenery, the rare plants and the quiet atmosphere of the shop contributed to creating this safe place. Yoo-hee’s calm demeanour and ability to tackle the problematic men for good works as a dependable vigilante.

Yoo-hee is competent at her day job of being a gardener and adept at giving gardening advice online. Her moonlighting as an assassin is written not so excitingly. She fights misogyny but the focus is on the tormented women. She is more a saviour, a fixer, than an avenger. The book is written in a nonchalant manner. Yoo-hee goes about the killings with an air of duty more than revenge.

This book fits in well with the current political movement of 4B in South Korea and highlights the deep-rooted prejudices against women in the society. From emotionally toxic men to men who are straight-up harassing the women in workplace, Kang Minyoung highlights the injustices of society based on gender.

This book was an interesting read for me largely owed to their contrast in the calm writing style and the grim subject matter. While this is technically a mystery thriller, I loved the understated writing of it that added to the story’s grim reality. Despite being a serial killer, Yoo-hee does not enjoy her tasks. But she is happy to rid the world of bad men who are never brought to justice.

The cozy vibes with its otherwise dark subject, the book is perfect for an Autumn read.

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