Member Reviews

I received this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review – thanks so much to Netgalley for sending this to me!

On paper (no pun intended) If I Had Your Face sounds like a book that really shouldn’t work. It’s a slice-of-life type novel following four women – Ara, Kyuri, Miho and Wonna – and their every day struggles, largely due to the pressures of the South Korean beauty industry. Sex worker Kyuri is in horrendous debt thanks to her many surgeries; artist Miho is obsessed with her dead friend, who happens to be her current boyfriend’s ex; hairdresser Ara is a former gang-member who lost her voice in a fight and is infatuated with the most popular member of a K-Pop band, and Wonna is a lonely woman so terrified she’ll lose yet another baby that she refuses to acknowledge either her pregnancy or her long-suffering husband.

There’s very little plot to the novel, it truly is a slice of life in every sense of the word, and because of this it doesn’t follow the traditional structure one would expect. Each woman’s story gets its own climax, but none of them are particularly ground-breaking. Despite this, the novel works, and is surprisingly compelling. It was a pretty slow read, but the character work is so excellent that I barely noticed the lack of plot. The way the women interact with each other – they all live in the same building so their lives fairly regularly intersect – was fascinating, and I really enjoyed their different dynamics. I also loved the setting; I’m not familiar with South Korea but I found the setting to be vibrant and colourful, an amazing backdrop to this story.

If you like a plotty novel, then I’d recommend giving this one a miss, because like I said it’s not massively eventful. That being said, these women are all complex with rich backstories, which made this very enjoyable to read. The only character I didn’t really connect with was Wonna, largely because she had a lot less page time than the other women. She felt a little bit like a ghost on the very edge of the narrative, which could be intentional; she’s the oldest, arguably has the least glamorous life, and is pretty detached from others in general. Her strongest desire is to have a child in order to assuage her loneliness, but that desire never fully came through for me. I felt quite distanced from her. I think she contrasted very interestingly with my personal favourite character, Kyuri, a ‘room girl’ who was headstrong and opinionated and really leapt off the page.
Overall I had a great time reading this. It wasn’t what I expected, and I wasn’t sure it was going to click with me, but something about it just works. If you enjoy character driven narratives, then this one is well worth the read.

Was this review helpful?

Set in Seoul, If I Had Your Face follows four very different young women who live in the same building. Ara is a mute hairdresser who has an unexpected violent side, heightened by her obsession with a K-pop star. Kyuri is a former prostitute who, having transformed her looks with plastic surgery, makes lots of money at an exclusive 'room salon', but also has huge debts. Miho, outwardly the most successful of the characters – an artist who has returned to Korea after a scholarship in New York – is haunted by memories of her late friend Ruby, whose boyfriend she is now dating. Wonna is married and pregnant; she wants to be a mother, but is both terrified of losing the baby and convinced she can't really afford to bring up a child.

This is a South Korea in which women's roles are changing – marriage and birth rates are at an all-time low – while career options are still limited. Even those who would prefer to follow a more traditional path are hampered by financial constraints and lack of support (Wonna is told she can only take three months' maternity leave). Young women like our protagonists, all of whom come from disadvantaged backgrounds, often see physical beauty as a way out of poverty, and to that end they treat cosmetic surgery as a kind of investment. As the novel's title suggests, this obsession with beauty becomes a persistent, slightly exhausting theme.

My main problem with If I Had Your Face only became apparent once I'd finished it: some really odd things are glossed over so everyone can be given a vaguely upbeat ending. I'm thinking in particular of Ara, who savagely beats a girl who pisses her off at work – an incident that's barely mentioned after it occurs, and seems to have been forgotten by the end. Both Miho and Wonna have interesting storylines which aren't fully developed. Miho's story, especially, feels like it's building up to a payoff that never comes.

Altogether, I think this book is best enjoyed as something light and fluffy; it doesn't delve too deep into its characters' most troubling attributes, nor their most intriguing ones. That's not to say it's without literary merit, though, and I found Frances Cha's portrait of Seoul society enlightening as well as entertaining.

Was this review helpful?

I'm torn between giving this 2 or 3 stars.. This book was pretty much just ok. It was something to kill time really.

Was this review helpful?

A brilliant debut set in Seoul, South Korea, that tackles themes of beauty and social hierarchy. Led by a cast of perfectly flawed female characters, this book totally transported me.

Highly recommended!

Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Was this review helpful?

This was such a wonderful story of strong female characters. The crafting of their lives was so vivid that I really felt as if I was with them. The topics were so relevant and it was a pleasure to learn more about Korean culture. I enjoyed to Google the food they ordered and everything felt unbelievable authentic. The pressure to be beautiful is nowadays immense and the cultural critique was done well. Also marriage and getting kids was discussed and how difficult it is currently. This really resonated with me since I have the exact same fears as them.
This book also made me cry multiple times and how the women fought for themselves just really motivated me.
And please let this be a series since I want to read more...
A huuuuge recommendation for everyone into drama and Korea and interested in beauty surgery and critique on the society.
Go read this book! I am so happy I could read it as an ARC.

Was this review helpful?

The writing style is a little jarring - it takes a while to actually get into the novel, there's no world building or informational paragraphs, you're just sort of thrown into the deep end - it's subject matter is well researched. I couldn't really get into it, but I suspect it'll be a positive book for other people. The reviews already say enough.

Was this review helpful?

A fascinating insight into life for young women in South Korea. The obsession with perceived standards of beauty (and the lengths gone to, in order to emulate them) is pretty saddening. Frances Cha explores a variety of themes, both universal and culture centric, through the characters' friendships, backgrounds and daily lives. "If I Had Your Face" is a first class debut novel and a riveting read.

Was this review helpful?

The author uses a quartet of complex South Korean women to illustrate the lives of many ordinary women in the country. It's not a particularly easy read with almost casual violence and accepted misogyny, and the need to be a survivor contrasting with what sometimes feels like writing from a teenage magazine about beauty, make-up and Kpop.
A skilful, thoughtful debut novel, although I did find the ending quite abrupt.
Thank you to netgalley and penguin books for an advance copy of this book

Was this review helpful?

This book follows the lives of 4 young women in modern-day Seoul. It was fascinating and horrifying in equal measure. I have recently read Sarong Party Girls and thought I’d learnt about this culture, but this went much deeper and further.

I learnt so much that I didn’t know about K-Pop, plastic surgery and ‘room salons’, which I’d never even heard of.
Although on the surface the characters were unlikeable they all had a vulnerability to them, which made them sympathetic.

My only one negative would be that I felt that the book finished too suddenly – I felt that there could have been some more wrapping up in at least a couple of the stories. Otherwise – fantastic!

Was this review helpful?

If I Had Your Face is an incredible debut. It's a hard-hitting gritty look at a side of South Korean society that outsiders don't often get to see. That said, it's a book that will resonate with women across the world. A truly engaging read that will stay with you long after the final word.

Was this review helpful?

As somebody that grew up immersed in South Korean culture (K-pop, Korean dramas, the Hallyu wave, idol celebrities), I jumped at the chance to read and review If I Had Your Face by Frances Cha. Touted an electrifying read by fellow authors, in If I Had Your Face we follow four female protagonists, struggling to survive in South Korea. Each woman has a truly complex backstory and they’re all interlinked in very distant ways. Cha’s glittering writing style unfailingly takes you deep into the soul of every character, even as the POV switches from character to character, each chapter. I can’t believe this is her debut. Whether you’re similarly enmeshed in Korean culture as I am, or you simply quite enjoy BTS’ newest releases, this is a dark, somewhat unsettling and truly compelling read. I think I read it in five sittings and I think it’ll be one that resonates with many, staying with them for years for its comments on contemporary Seoul society.

Was this review helpful?

A fascinating dive into a gritty underbelly of a society where appearances are more important than healthy relationships. Through the lives of 4 young (even if society says they are not!) women you are told about the troubles they face trying to live a normal life in a misogynistic society, where money is king and beauty is everything. Having worked in South Korea myself as an English teacher, I've seen this side of South Korea that is not shown to the rest of the world. It is a world that goes beyond the polished beautiful facades of K-pop and K-drama stars and shows the struggle normal people have dealing with societies high standards.

From aiming to get the perfect face shape, finding the perfect husband, having children, to the drunken business men stumbling on the streets, Francesca Cha perfectly reveals the innermost imperfections of South Korean society in a brilliant read.

Was this review helpful?

In If I Had Your Face Frances Cha uses the four main characters to explore the patriarchal hierarchy of South Korean society.

The author has managed to create fully formed characters who use beauty, violence and manipulation to navigate complex lives and establish their place in society. It is often a bleak read, but all of the characters have an innate sense of strength and self preservation that allows them to deal with abandonment, the need for physical perfection and family expectations.

This is a wonderful debut from France Cha and I am excited to read more of her work.

Was this review helpful?

Set in Seoul, south Korea, we follow a circle of close female friends who know from a young age that to get on in life they will have to have facial surgery. These are not disfigured girls, this is the general practise of young Korean women. For such a small country, south Korea comes third in the world for the number of plastic surgery operations with over a million procedures per year.

The story follows each of the girls in turn and we learn of their early life as well as their working lives and friendships with each other. They are beautiful and superficial which in turn makes them unlikable as characters, yet their lives and cultural differences are intriguing and mesmerising.

Was this review helpful?

Thank you Netgalley and the publishers for letting me read this e-arc.
This is a coming of age story of four Korean girls. The book tackles issues of patriarchy in a very interesting manner that kept me addicted to it. The characters were all interesting and unique, each with their own troubles. It is a multiple POV book and at times I did feel like it was bogging me down. Even though what these girls undergo personally is so alien to me, their journey was very relatable. One of the few negatives is that the writing was not working me and that can be subjective, but story was so captivating that I couldn't put the book down.

Was this review helpful?

This one wasn't for me unfortunately. These sorts of books are a let down recently. I need to be more selective in what I request going forward.

Was this review helpful?

Frances Cha’s ‘If I had your face’ is a beautifully written novel, that left me suffering book grief when it finished.

Written from the perspective of four women, Kyuri, Miho, Wonna and Ara, along with their friend Sujin, ‘If I had your face,’ depicts the impact of a culture focussed on beauty, money and status. It is a life where a good marriage to someone in a prestigious company is the primary aim; even if that involves turning a blind eye to their infidelity and regular visits to the ‘room salons’ disguised as shops. It is a life where being called an orphan is a derogatory term, rather than something that demands sympathy. It is also a life where status is coveted, and guarded, making it ‘who you know’, rather than what you know.

I have read several books about North Korea but know very little about its southern counterpart. I therefore found myself regularly looking on the internet to see if Frances Cha’s story is complete fiction or based on truth. South Korea does indeed boast the highest number of cosmetic procedures per capita worldwide. Its birth rate is the lowest in the developed world and female suicide is the highest when compared to other OECD countries. Frances Cha is a former travel and culture reporter for CNN in Seoul, and she has woven her understanding of the country’s difficulties into this book.

Throughout, I was drawn into the lives of the characters. Particularly Wonna, an artist who tries to rebel against the demands made by others with respect to beauty and perfection but can only do so because she is beautiful. I enjoyed finding out about their lives and was satisfied by the ending, even though I did expect more of a conclusion. I guess that wouldn’t be true to life though!

I will definitely look out for more Frances Cha books in the future.

Was this review helpful?

I was initially attracted to If I Had Your Face due to the surge in the cultural phenomenon of plastic surgery in Korea. This, in itself, raises issues around self-confidence and the individuals' need to feel perfect. The popularity of plastic surgery in Korea is soon demonstrated within the novel to be a result of societal pressures, particularly on women, to match a certain idea of what it is to be a woman. The four main characters within this novel each struggle with the conflict of being happy yet also meeting societal ideals.

Kyuri entertains rich businessmen in 'salon rooms' and feels the need to spend a large amount of her money on plastic surgery in order to attract these men. This raises the patriarchal constraints upon Korean society, as it is clear within the novel that men dictate what is considered 'beautiful', which is further solidified due to their attraction to Kyuri and their disdain in the sight of a woman who is not yet healed from her own plastic surgery.

Wonna, though married, feels the increasing pressure to become a mother. This pressure is intensified due to her past with several miscarriages, leaving her to drive herself crazy in superstitious belief in the hope that this will save her unborn child.

The other characters in the novel explore their own harsh experiences within Korean society. The novel is an enlightening look into Korean society and the struggle of every-day people occupying it. The prose is even more shocking due to the lack of emotional detail from each character within it. We are given first person narratives, yet the narratives seem to be quite descriptive and intent upon providing essential details with a lack of emotion that isn't as often flaunted in Westernized narratives. This highlights the horrific normality of the pressures of the patriarchal society in Korea due to the lack of highly emotive responses.

Thank you to Penguin UK for the ARC.

Was this review helpful?

'Unless you are born into a chaebol family or your parents were the fantastically lucky few who purchased land in Gangnam decades ago, you have to work and work and work for a salary that isn’t even enough to buy a house or pay for childcare, and you sit at a desk until your spine twists, and your boss is somehow incompetent and a workaholic at the same time and at the end of the day you have to drink to bear it all.'

If I Had Your Face (네 얼굴이 있다면) by Frances Cha paints a rather exaggerated, but still telling, picture of the life of young women in Seoul. It's essentially the Korean equivalent of portraying London life via TOWIE meets Man in Chelsea.

The main focus is on four girls, 수진, 규리, 아라 and 미호 living in a 오피스텔 in 강남구, out-of-towners with troubled backgrounds, and their lives that revolve around trying to date 재벌 scions or K-pop idols, working (or aspiring to work) in room salon hostess bars and an obsession with cosmetic surgery (rather like the US obsession with cosmetic dentistry):

'“Sometimes I just can’t stop thinking about how ugly she is. I mean, why doesn’t she just get surgery? Why? I really don’t understand ugly people. Especially if they have money. Are they stupid?” She studies herself in the mirror, tilting her head to the side until I right it again. “Are they perverted?”'

The novel's first person narration rotates between three of the characters (oddly not 수진).

A fifth resident in the same block is 원나, married, working, and after several miscarriages, now expecting her first child and dealing with both the difficulties of managing a career with children (albeit Korea unlike the US has mandated paid maternity leave) and the social pressure of aspiration:

'Bora sunbae is talking about how she “had to” book the kids’ suite and the children’s activities package at a hotel in Jeju.'

Although, for me, the inclusion of 원나's story rather diluted the book's focus and also invited an unfavourable contrast to Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982. I also found Mina by 김사과 a more literary and penetrating treatment of the strains of life for young people, albeit from the perspective of a younger and rather more studious generation.

2.5 stars

Thanks to the publisher via Netgalley for the ARC

Was this review helpful?

Frances Cha’s impressive debut novel explores the lives of five women (four of whom are narrators) living in an office-tel building in contemporary Seoul.

Ara is a mute girl in her early twenties working as a hairdresser and fantasising about meeting a popular Kpop boy band singer. Her neighbour Kyuri has undergone several plastic surgeries in order to be beautiful enough to entertain rich men at a high end ‘room salon’. Miho is her flatmate and an artist dating an heir to one of Korea’s big corporations. Ara’s flatmate and best friend Sujin connects them, she grew up in an orphanage with Miho and befriends Kyuri whose bought beauty she sees as a ticket to a better life. On the floor below lives thirty-something Wonna, married, pregnant and desperately worried about managing financially once her baby is born. The novel follows them as they try to survive in the big city.

Their lives are not easy in a country where family background, beauty and education are seen as the guideposts for advancement and success for women, with a good marriage still being the pinnacle. Most had no means to go to university, coming from poor provincial families or orphanages so both Kyuri and Sujin see beauty and extreme plastic surgery as their only way up the socioeconomic ladder. University educated Wonna managed to secure an office job but it is a low paid, junior position. When her boss finds out about her pregnancy, she is ordered not to take more than 3 months maternity leave. Miho is a token orphan recipient of a prestigious scholarship to study art in the US selected primarily because the university was heavily criticised for only sponsoring rich kids. She befriends some of these rich kids while in New York, an heiress who commits suicide and whose privileged boyfriend she later dates but she has no illusions about belonging in his world. And Ara’s lack of opportunities is further confounded by her disability, the hair salon manager makes her juggle several clients at the same time while her junior assistant sniggers behind her back. The overall picture that Frances Cha presents is that of a very modern society but one that still sees women as inferior, especially if they come from poor or provincial families. In this, I found If I had Your Face similar to the excellent Kim Jiyuong, Born 1982 by Nam-Joo Cho, which will be published in March.

Frances Cha writes very well and has a lot to say about discrimination, inequality and society’s obsession with fame, wealth and beauty. This is a character driven novel, rather than one with an overarching story and this makes it more impactful. I found it absorbing, hard to put down and particularly liked its ambiguous ending. The characters were well developed and compelling although I’d have liked to see one point of view character from a different background for balance. Other than that, If I had your face is a great book and I’m looking forward to reading what Frances Cho does next.

Thank you very much Penguin Books, Viking and Netgalley for the advance copy!

Was this review helpful?