I’ve been trying to get into different novels over the past few weeks but not getting far. If the subject matter doesn’t meet what I’m looking for in that moment, back it goes to the to-read bookcase. But If I Had Your Face was different.

This novel gripped me from the outset. At first, the concept of being “plunge[d] into the mesmerising world of contemporary Seoul” caught my attention and tempted me to request the novel. When it arrived, and I was pulled in, it became so much more than the subcultures of plastic surgery, ‘room salons’, and K-Pop stars.

Told by five women in alternating narratives (a literary trope that I’m a huge fan of since first reading Trumpet by Jackie Kay 15+ years ago), I found myself being both engrossed in their world(s) but also invested in what would happen and finding out what had happened to get them there.

Although the first few chapters felt that they could easily be standalone stories, the links between the women became clearer until the perfect last scene when they are pulled taut as they sit on the stairs of their apartment complex. Despite being worlds away, their stories were familiar and all-encompassing. I could see parts of myself. I could see parts of women I know. And that reflection drove me to read their stories, this novel, as quickly as I could.

The story of different women within one building and how their stories entangle, ‘If I Had Your Face’ is an exploration of Seoul that you do not see all that often, as we see the city through the eyes of different women as they grow up in a city that seems only just tolerate their existence.

The Male Gaze, negative body image, and misogyny that trickles through these women’s lives throughout the book demands your attention as these women combat it in their everyday lives - Miho and her hair/relationship, Nami and her body and how Kyuri is constantly trying to perfect herself to make sure she is a form of acceptable 'beautiful’ within the society she lives, it was uncomfortable sometimes, but good art does that.

The characters work together so incredibly well and tie together effortlessly, Cha creating a setting for all these characters in a way that so few can do so well creating an ending to this book that brings them together in union perfectly and it leaves me wanting to know what happened next to these women. (I wanna know Miho’s story next because I’m rooting for her!). This is not a book for happy endings, but about 100 pages in, you know that already.

If you want character driven stories that leave you breathless and not sleeping at 3am in the morning clutching your Kindle in despair, this is the book for you - every character is so alive in this book and it makes for such intense reading from start to finish and I loved it for it.

This is a book set in Seoul which features five young women living in an Officetel in contemporary Seoul. Four of them feature as alternating first party point of view characters.

Kyuri is a prostitute turned Ten Percent salon girl via sheer determination and copious amounts of plastic surgery. Miho an orphan who won an art scholarship to the US where she got involved with a Rich Korean artist (Ruby) and after Ruby’s suicide started dating Ruby’s rich Chaebol-heir boyfriend while using Ruby as a muse for her latest work. Ara’s parents work as servants on a large Hanok estate, she became a mute after an attack when she was at school and now works as a hairstylist – she is obsessed with the lead singer of a K-pop band. Wonna is married and desparate for a child although increasingly realising the economic challenge (if not impossibility) of having and supporting a child given her and her husband’s perilous economic situation. The fifth character Surin was a fellow-orphan with Miho (whose career she has always supported) and the middle-school friend of Ara (with who she now shares a flat) – her dream is to have surgery to become a top salon girl like Kyuri.

The style of the book is unremittingly bleak – all four characters could be said to fit the “unlikeable female” genre of say Eilleen Moshfegh (or perhaps more pertinently Patti Yumi Cottrell) – albeit in most cases with an obsession with beauty and appearance (rather than its opposite). It is I think deliberate that the only character with a balanced and optimistic view on life (if perhaps not with an ideal career aspiration) is the one not included as a POV character.

There are a number of aspects by which a book can be analysed: for example for literary fiction one can think of: use of language, detail of plot, characterisation and topicality/contemporary relevance.

The language in this book is simple – unusually I did not highlight any passages when reading the book for their turn of phrase or clever/unusual imagery.

Impressively though (and burnishing its literary credentials) this is not a book heavy on plot in the traditional set-up/confrontation/resolution approach. We are dropped into the character’s complex lives, with some glimpses into their difficult back stories and the challenges of their existing situation (but only via their first party, present day narration); and each of the characters faces something of a moment of confrontation/crisis; however there is little or no resolution – in fact all of the characters finish the book in a far more ambiguous and open ended situation than they started it.

By contrast the novel has a strong emphasis on character – all four first party narrators and the fifth linking character, are strongly drawn and memorable, and the switches of point of view are clear – even for a book that I read in a single sitting I never found myself double checking which character I was reading (which can commonly happen in this form of multiple POV novel). I also enjoyed the ways in which the characters secretly judge each other (for example Kyuri is horrified by aspects of Ara’s art, while Ara dismisses Kyuri as suffering from a victim complex).

In terms of topicality/contemporary relevance – I think the growing Western (and worldwide) Social-media lead interest in K-Pop (and in its darker side with the recent suicides) and K-beauty will gain this book a ready audience, and the title I think has been chosen to perhaps over-emphasise the extent to which this book is around beauty rather than a wider examination of society. However the picture it presents of Korean (and particularly Seoul) society is unremittingly bleak: a literally superficial view of beauty and character, characterised by almost routine use of plastic surgery; workplace bullying (verbal and physical) and sexism; a business based culture of evening alcoholism and use of prostitutes; infidelity; Chaebol-based corruption; rampant nepotism; property speculation; snobbery based on class, high school and region; discrimination against the unfortunate (orphans and disabled); generational conflict – particularly difficult mother-in-law/daughter-in-law conflicts; increasing suicide rates and so on. Perhaps made more stark by the lack of any balancing aspects. All of this of course fitting the genre from which the book originates. My concern here is that while I don’t think anyone would think Moshfegh or PYC is presenting a rounded (as opposed to a deliberately and provocatively one-sided) view of American society – the relative lack of English language books exploring Korean society may mean that this book is taken as completely representative.

Overall I found this a bleak but engrossing read which I read in a single sitting.

My thanks to Penguin Books for an ARC via NetGalley.

Initially I was drawn to this book because of the cover but the story and characters quickly dragged me into the story. I love it, couldn’t put it down for long. Can’t wait to see what else comes from this author.

I didn’t know plastic surgery was SUCH a big thing in South Korea and after finishing the book I just had to googled it. Turns out that South Korea has the highest rate of plastic surgeries per capita in the world.

This book gave a glimpse into this sub-culture I knew nothing about and there was a vapid sadness to Kyuri, Sujin and Nami’s frantic search for validation in all the wrong places.

But the book also showed other young women like Ara who preoccupies her life with obsessing over a popstar to forget her unfulfilling life. Or Weenu, a throw away girl child ended up marrying a man just to feel a sense of belonging, desperate for a child of her own.

Weenu’s story also demonstrated just how much Korean women are discriminated against in the work place and Miho’s story showed the huge divide between the average Korean and the uber rich.

I think this book will appeal not only to adult readers but also young women on the brink of adulthood who are bombarded with images of glamour and wealth all day long via social media.

The writing is very easy to digest and an extremely fast read. Not necessarily a literary read but an engrossing one.

Recommended

This book is an exploration of life for young women in modern South Korea. The writing style is frank and refreshing and the women's characters are well explored, even though in the end that made me left wanting more...of their stories, some finality. It reads like it's 50 or 60 pages long which is a good thing and I'm left with a thorough understanding of the lives, thoughts and personalities of each of this women and where they fit into each other's lives.

If I Had Your Face by Frances Cha was an entertaining novel that allowed me a deeper glimpse into South Korean society, specially the huge amount of pressure women are under to look a certain way and to have achieved a certain status within a very narrow timeline.

The four women described here are all flawed like real human beings are and I was interested in their journeys, specially Ara's as her story allowed insight into how South Korean society deals with disability. Would definitely recommend this novel to anyone interested in South Korea.

I was a bit disappointed with this book even though the storylines were very strong and poignant. It took a while for me to warm to the juvenile tone of voices in this story, making it difficult to read. I also struggled with the cultural references that should have been explained in a glossary or footnotes.

A fascinating book set in South Korea, the stories in it intertwine the experiences of four young women living in a Seoul that is intriguing in its setting and ruthless towards it inhabitants.

There is friendship and there is rivalry, and the sense of a fragile society built on illusion as each woman works her way through some of the issues they face as women within that society.

The book is written in a lovely engaging style, the characters are appealing in many different ways, and the glimpse it gives into such an alien society leaves you wanting to know more.

Thank you to Netgalley for this advanced reader's copy. Stunning book, The book centres around the lives of 4 women and the sisterhood they build. Each woman has their own tale and these together add another layer to our view of Korea. Compelling and complex, this book should be an instant hit.

This isn't my typical sort of read, but I was drawn into it due to that beautiful cover and I ended up really enjoying it. Korea is so different from any place I have ever experienced, and yet I was effortlessly drawn into that world thanks to Cha's skillful writing. A great read.

I found this completely absorbing and totally gripping. I loved it. This did not feel like a debut to me at ALL. Her prose is clean and sharp, her scenes vivid, her characters all the shades of grey and yet deeply.sympathetic. I wondered if she'd made the transition from writing short stories to writing full length, because there is not a word wasted here. Brilliant.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for this arc in exchange for an honest review. I‘m fascinated by Korea and was intrigued by the dark and harrowing world of plastic surgery so was excited to read this. Also the cover for this book is absolutely stunning and hard to resist. If I had Your Face was easy to read in one sitting. It follows several female characters in Seoul dealing with the pressures of being a woman in a patriarchal society. It was an uncomfortable read at times seeing these vulnerable women paying an extraordinary amount of money, often putting themselves in debt, to get plastic surgery and the months of recovery after.
This did feel like four short stories linked together, and I wished there had been more plot tying the characters tighter together. I personally felt there was too many characters and wanted to know more about the their backstories. On the whole a modern slice of life about the pressures of being a young woman in Seoul. 3.5/5

Frances Cha's fascinating debut set in Seoul, South Korea, is an intimate and heartbreaking portrayal of four different flawed women, their lives and friendships, who live in the same apartment building. The novel echoes many similar themes to another Seoul set book I read earlier this year that focused on a close circle of four female friends, the more humorous Sarong Party Girls by Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan. Cha writes of the harsh cultural norms and expectations that women are expected to adhere to, pandering to the fantasies of rich men, the misogyny and sexism, the class system and distinctions, the heavy emphasis on consumerism, and the bleak pressures of the economic environment. Women chase the exacting and strict standards of beauty required in the western influenced capitalist Korean society, where your face is your fortune, fueling the rise in extreme and expensive plastic surgery, which has become a feature of everyday life.

Kyuri is a gorgeous woman who has undergone numerous cosmetic procedures to compete amidst the fierce rivalries of the highly competitive market to successfully procure a position in entertaining rich businessmen in exclusive bars, or 'salon rooms'. Miho grew up in an orphanage and is a gifted artist who managed to secure a scholarship to study in New York, a dark and troubling experience. She is now back in Seoul, and has a complicated relationship with her wealthy boyfriend from a corporate background. The mute Ara is a hairstylist, caught up in her obsession with a K pop band, and more particularly the lead singer, Taein, whom she is hoping to meet. The married and traumatised Wonna worries about her family's economic future, how they will survive, and desperate to ensure that her daughter should not have to endure the circumstances and past that has been her lot.

Francis Cha's novel is character driven, so if you are looking for a plot driven read, you are going to be doomed to be disappointed. If you are looking for the traditional structure of a beginning, a middle and an end where all the threads are tied up, again you will be disappointed. This is more a glimpse into the lives and friendships of a group of friends with an ending that doesn't give or promise fairy tale happy conclusions. Instead, you get a significantly more realistic ending where the women will continue to face demanding and challenging lives. This is a compelling and insightful read of the complexities and difficulties of Korean women's life experiences, their friendships which can on occasion be competitive, yet ultimately supportive to the needs of their friends. It provides a eye opening and informative look at Korean culture and society, whilst underlining the universality of what it is to be a woman in our contemporary world. Many thanks to Penguin UK for an ARC.

More of 3.5 stars actually.
It’s interesting to read about Seoul and it’s habitants and lifestyle. There’s nothing really happening in this story as plot twists and turns, unfortunately.
It’s a story based more of four characters, childhood friends that are young and see the life very superficial as the only important thing is to look the best part through a million plastic surgery and live an empty life in my opinion.
The chapters are told in each character POV and at times I got annoyed because I felt a lot of loose ends with each one.
As said, it’s not a suspenseful story or a fast-paced one, it’s more like a day by day life story of four young women with no big dreams but to look beautiful and superficial.

Following the intertwined lives of four girls living in a small apartment block in Seoul, this brilliant book looks at gender stereotyping, class, youth, image and motherhood in contemporary South Korea. By turns fascinating, frustrating and moving, I loved this microcosm of Korean society and would hugely recommend it!

If I Had Your Face by Frances Cha. I was kindly given a digital copy of this through @netgalley and @penguinukbooks in exchange for an honest review.

If I Had Your Face is told from the points of view of four different women, in the ‘hyper-competitive city’ of Seoul. This is the first book I’ve read set in South Korea, and the cultural signifiers within the book were satisfying.
Kyuri is one of four characters - a young, beautiful, (slightly empty) woman who works in one of the top tier secret ‘Room Salons’ entertaining business men in the city. Kyuri has a brutal upbringing, and has built up massive amounts of debt from multiple plastic surgeries. Double eyelid surgery, nose jobs, cheekbone shaving “, double jaw surgery... the list goes on. The list goes on, as you see how the women in the story fight to be perceived in the way they want to be. The bubble that they live in seems highly superficial, which I think is more related to their age group, rather than Seoul itself. This book is extremely character driven, in terms of plot not a lot happens, so if you need fast paced drama then this isn’t for you. If you like character studies, and novels that look at the dark underbelly of society through the lens of ordinary people, then this is for you.

Although I enjoyed the changing perspectives throughout the novel (each chapter told by one of the four women), at points I wished I could continue further with certain characters instead of swapping back so quickly. Each of the four women is written well, but for me, there was in imbalance in who was actually interesting. Kyuri and Ara (a mute hairdresser) were the most interesting to me, although I remained slightly confused as to what had happened to Ara.
All that said, I found myself picking up this novel constantly, hungry to read more. Even though I read a paperback in the middle of reading this on my kindle, I found it easy to get back into.

I just wished the story could’ve gone on for longer, the ending left me wanting a sequel.

This novel is set in Korea, and told from a number of perspectives - it took me about 50% of the book to establish which character was which and how they knew each other. I kind of felt like splitting the characters stories meant the novel ended up with no real “plot”, as they were all on different trajectories, and I definitely felt, for the first half of the novel at least, that I had missed something (which maybe I had). I found Ara by far the most interesting character and would have loved the novel to have just been focused around her.

I am in charge of our Senior School library and am looking for a diverse array of new books to furnish their shelves with and inspire our young people to read a wider and more diverse range of books as they move through the senior school. It is hard sometimes to find books that will grab the attention of young people as their time is short and we are competing against technology and online entertainments.
This was a thought-provoking and well-written read that will appeal to our readers across the board. It had a really strong voice and a compelling narrative that I think would capture their attention and draw them in. It kept me engrossed and I think that it's so important that the books that we purchase for both our young people and our staff are appealing to as broad a range of readers as possible - as well as providing them with something a little 'different' that they might not have come across in school libraries before.
This was a really enjoyable read and I will definitely be purchasing a copy for school so that our young people can enjoy it for themselves. A satisfying and well-crafted read that I keep thinking about long after closing its final page - and that definitely makes it a must-buy for me! Will definitely use for our senior creative writing class, it will really make them think about crafting their writing

The description of the book immediately caught my attention as I enjoy reading stories set in East-Asia countries. The novel takes place in Seoul however it could be placed in any other modern capital city. This is a story about four different women living in the world obsessed with beauty.

I read it quickly and enjoyed it, although I have to say it was easy to get a bit lost in some parts due to quick changes between characters. The story itself seems realistic and easy to read. The characters could be the people you know if you live in a large city. Unfortunately, I didn't find any strong continuous storyline. The events in the book follow each other but don't settle in any way suggesting the end. The story could simply continue after the last page which I found a bit disappointing.

I would recommend this piece to anybody interested in what kind of struggles women have to handle in current society.

I would like to thank NetGalley for advanced copy.