If I Had Your Face by Frances Cha is a great concept! I really enjoyed the plot, very different than most books.

This novel is an immersive dive into the fierce anxieties and hopes of young women in an unforgiving world where beauty is currency and success depends on your facial symmetry and who you know.

The novel takes place in Korea, mostly in trendy neighborhoods of Seoul, but also into the small backwoods town where a few of the girls grew up. At issue is a suffocating patriarchy that simultaneously punishes women for becoming mothers, but also bemoans the dropping birthrate.

Kyuri (my favorite of the girls) has a coveted and high profile job working in a room salon, offering party companionship to wealthy men in the evenings. It was unclear to me if all the women in room salons were prostitutes or not; Kyuri certainly is. Extraordinarily beautiful due to the multiple plastic surgeries that have put her in significant debt, she is living the good life, but is very aware that she has a shelf life.

Ara, her neighbor, is mute as a result of a brutal attack suffered when she was young. Being not as pretty as the other girls, she finds work as a hair dresser. Her thoughts are consumed with Taein, a k-pop star.

Miho, Kyuri's roommate, is a naturally beautiful artist whose thoughts are generally somewhere else. Although she began life as a penniless orphan, her artistic talents have found her swept into the world of the wealthiest Korean young people, such as her extravagantly wealthy boyfriend, whose devotion puzzles the other girls.

Wonna, a chronically unhappy married woman who also lives in the building, is an interesting study in contrasts. Pregnant and consumed with anxiety, she longs for belonging and love, but a childhood of abuse has taught her only to lash out.

I felt a sisterly kinship to these young women as they struggled in their relationships and careers, cheering with them in their successes and experiencing their righteous indignation when wronged. It tells a tale of sisterhood that transcends culture and will resonate with women the world over, and is recommended for anyone looking for a good, dark study of humanity.

I love reading books about women in other countries than in the US. I feel like it's a "value-added" perk of the book. Women are women everywhere but their individual stories vary and are really influenced by their environment. This is one such story.

It takes you into the world of extreme looks and appearance focus in South Korea. We all know they have the best beauty products and now we know why--the pressure on women to be beautiful is quite high. The amount of plastic surgery and debt incurred is staggering. This is a very character-driven book and the plot is slight but I felt like I got to know a very specific culture very well.

I didn't have strong impressions going into this, and I got so much more than I could've dreamed. I mostly picked it up because I love books by women about women, and if said book happens to take place somewhere I've never been, all the better. I'd already read mixed reviews on it, and all I really knew was it was about four Korean women existing in beauty-obsessed Seoul (that, and that the cover was, somewhat ironically, too gorgeous to ignore). Sign me up! Having finished it, I have to say that I'm not sure if it is just my eternal soft spot for books about women from the voices of women, but I enjoyed this so, so much. I will say that this is a book that anyone can enjoy and everyone should attempt, but it's going to resonate more strongly with women.

I've always been fascinated by beauty fads and trends in Korea, but I never imagined how deep that rabbit hole goes. I never noticed the weird undercurrent of competition when I'd read articles or skim current trends, though it makes sense. These things are universal on some levels—society against femininity, women against women, the woman resigned only to the roles of wife or mother, the judgment of the beautiful, the judgment of the unbeautiful (I recognize this isn't a word, but it is more effective than "ugly" simply because even average or even pretty women who don't fit the mold are never going to be considered beautiful, and the pressure to meet a standard that is ultimately just impossible to meet. In regards to the insane standards resting on the shoulders of these women, I found a sense of recognition, even if not in exactly the same vibe. I got the strong impression that the Korean standard is different, a league all its own, and the lengths these women have to go to in order to accomplish their goals is both impressive and upsetting. The leagues you have to go to meet their society's standards are extreme, and simply impossible. There is no amount of cosmetic surgery, after a certain point, to consistently keep your face trendy. Trends are always changing, and the surgeries only get more and more extreme. Beyond that, it's just exhausting to read the ways these women struggle to navigate their roles. These pages are steeped in sacrifice, some more subtle than others.

There's so much pressure on all of them, pressure to get married, and marry well, to navigate family, to move up, to have children, to raise children to be better than them, to be successful, whatever that means, and above all: to be beautiful. And everything has room for improvement. There's a lot of emphasis on roles and place within a society where if you weren't lucky enough to be born male, you had better be beautiful, rich, or well-married. Their anxieties are all valid and understandable, very real issues that plague us—working however you can to pay off a debt, bringing children into the world and all the fears that come with that, juggling relationships, surviving in a world designed to operate against them at every turn.

Cha's writing is very straightforward. It isn't really flowery or purple, and she doesn't dwell long on details. The pace is perfect, and I absolutely devoured this book. I was on a sort-of vacation that involved a lot of walking and moving, and yet I was in my hotel, completely exhausted, still burning the midnight oil to finish it. It's four distinct first-person perspectives—those of Kyuri, Wonna, Ara, and Miho—which might bother some people as I know not everyone is fond of first-person, but Cha uses it well in this. It has an epistolary vibe, but I liked that. Each character is very personable. You never question who's who when you're reading. I imagine people will have characters they prefer, whose chapters they'll look forward to more, but once I started it was difficult to put down no matter who was speaking. This is doubly impressive when you consider that it isn't super heavily plot-driven. Sure, each individual character has her own business she's sorting through, but know going into it that you're essentially reading this for the characters. This is not a bad thing. In fact, I'm impressed by how absorbing this is for a character-driven narrative since I tend to take those more slowly.

It's a strong, female-driven narrative with a solid ending. Granted, it wasn't an easy, everything-is-wrapped-up happily ever after sort of ending. You know all four women still have a long way to go, but it was appropriate for the story. Somewhat open, but nothing is left unsaid. A solid 4.5 stars, and I'm still trying to decide if I want to go ahead and bump that up to 5 stars. If you're on the fence about this one, you should absolutely give it a chance.

Thank you so very muchly to NetGalley, Ballantine Books, and Frances Cha for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A compelling debut novel a novel based in Seoul Korea .An involving page turner a story of 4 women a look at Korea’s obsession with plastic surgery.So well written so entertaining an author I will be following.#netgalley#randomhouse

I loved this book! A beautifully written but accessible story about 4 women in Korea, struggling against society's expectations and limitations. I was deeply engaged with the characters' lives, and Cha does a perfect job of keeping you guessing but answering your biggest questions about the characters. Fantastic, impressive debut!

This book started wonderfully and really pulls you into the storyline. It was interesting to read about Koreans fascination with plastic surgery. The one thing I had issue with was the ending as it seemed abrupt. Overall it captured my attention and I found it hard to put aside.

I would like to thank Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy free of charge. This is my honest and unbiased opinion of it..

I didn’t know what to expect from this book. I don’t read a lot of contemporary fiction, but this one caught my eye for a few reasons. First, the cover. I’m a sucker for bright colors so that caught my attention right away. Second, I’m always on the lookout for books that take place in other countries. It’s an excellent opportunity to learn something new. And third, there’s nothing I love more than a female-centric narrative.

The four main characters of If I Had Your Face are all women living in the same apartment building in Seoul. Ara is a mute hair stylist and K-pop fan whose roommate and lifelong best friend has been saving up for plastic surgery. Kyuri is a jaded, beauty-obsessed woman who works in a room salon and distrusts men. Wonna is a newlywed with a doting husband who endured abuse as a child and is now trying for a baby of her own. Finally, Miho, Kyuri’s roommate, is an artist with a wealthy boyfriend and a secret obsession with her former best friend.

The characters are easily my favorite part of this book. They feel like real women, complex and fully formed. Cha writes from a first-person perspective, which is usually not my preference, but it worked beautifully here. Each of the four main character felt completely distinct; I could easily distinguish whose chapter I was reading at any given time. Despite their flaws, I developed a deep connection with each of them because I was able to understand their feelings and motivations, and by the end of the book I was extremely attached to them.

The themes of If I Had Your Face center around the patriarchal standards of Korean society, which I found enlightening and thought-provoking. Although misogyny is present in every country and culture, it manifests itself in different ways. In Korea, misogyny takes the form of strict beauty standards and gender norms that women are expected to adhere to. Many women who don’t fit this impossible mold opt for expensive cosmetic surgery. Their value is measured by their looks and by their roles as wife and mother. Institutions like room salons fulfill wealthy men's fantasies of being waited on by beautiful young women.

The only aspect of this book that I felt ambivalent about was Cha’s writing style. She writes very frankly, with minimal embellishment and an intimate vibe, like you’re reading the main characters’ diaries. For the most part, it worked, because it fit the tone of the book and its contemporary setting and subject matter, but there were occasional moments when I wished for more explanation and depth. Other than that minor flaw, this was an absolutely enthralling story, and one I highly recommend.

This book is about life in contemporary Seoul through Ara, Kyuri, Miho and Wonna's points of view. I was quickly drawn to the story of their daily lives, struggles, relationships and their backgrounds. The characters are realistically portrayed, human and flawed just like anyone. I particularly loved the bond shared between Ara and Sujin. Through their stories, we also get an insight into their culture, social hierarchy and society's obsession with beauty. The plastic surgery industry thrives on this obsession and the book highlights the lengths to which some women will go, to live up to society's standards of beauty. Though such drastic plastic surgery might not be as common in many parts of in the world, the pressure on women to live up to certain standards of beauty is universal.

Absolutely and terrifyingly wonderful.This book follows the life of four amazing women.Each so very different from the other but their stories just fit right in with each other like different color threads in an intricate embroidery pattern. The obsession with plastic surgery was what made this book terrifyingly wonderful to me. There were moments of "She did what?!"
A truly fascinating ride through culture,fashion,norms,social hierarchy in Korea until you turn the page and come crashing down When you realize the story is over. I hope there is a second book.I have to know what happened to their stories.

Unfortunately, this title did not grab me and hook me as I hoped that it would. Something about the writing style was a little bit off for me. While the description of this story intrigued me enough to want to read it, when I started reading it, the story fell flat. I was excited to read this book because I thoroughly enjoy watching K-Dramas and listening to K-Pop, but this story did not pique my interest. I may give it another go later on down the line.

I read this in one night. I wanted to get another book under my belt and I was so excited to get this. I was really worried that this wouldn't live up to the expectations I had, but it did. This was bold, honest and really worth the read. It was charming in its own way, and I loved the characters. Super easy read and seamless movement of narrators. It reminded me of Girl Woman Other that I just finished and loved. This was absolutely wonderful and I would highly recommend it.

I was fascinated by each character from the beginning, as well as the seemingly obsession with plastic surgery in the Korean culture. This read was hard to put down as I eagerly awaited to read how the author would finish the book. The ending ended VERY abruptly, almost as if the author needed to add an additional chapter, and I was left hanging.