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3.83 AVERAGE
3.83 AVERAGE
Another distressing, depressing look at the lives of women in SK, but unlike Kim Ji-Young that I read earlier in the month, this one has a narrative, with specifics and particulars of these women, and much better writing.
Several women living in an apartment complex cross paths and share stories and experiences, a lot of them focused on how they look and how their looks help them move through society. I found that the character of Woona doesn't quite fit into the overall narrative and if she wasn't there, it didn't feel like the story would lose a lot.
For me personally, it was also a delight to have one of the women be deeply into kpop fandom.
Several women living in an apartment complex cross paths and share stories and experiences, a lot of them focused on how they look and how their looks help them move through society. I found that the character of Woona doesn't quite fit into the overall narrative and if she wasn't there, it didn't feel like the story would lose a lot.
For me personally, it was also a delight to have one of the women be deeply into kpop fandom.
Reading the audiobook of this was wonderful because all four narrators did such a lovely job. I was invested in all four women's stories, and the ending was so sweet. Absolutely fantastic read.
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book spent a lot of pages ultimately saying nothing at all. Very disappointing read, as this had been on my TBR for a while. Felt like the characters could have been fleshed out a bit more, Wonna was kind of a pointless addition imo, and felt like so many ideas were swimming around at the start that didn’t get tied up. For example, when Ara beats up Cherry severely, then the outcome is only briefly mentioned later in the book .
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This was originally on my PSRC list a couple years ago, but I never got around to reading it. I kept it on my library list to check back in on, and finally, I checked it out and fell in love with the way Frances Cha writes. I was left speechless by the end, wishing that there was more to their stories, but I couldn't be upset in the least in the way she left things. I just didn't want to stop reading.
I created a four page document of all the quotes I grabbed and fell in love with, but I will try to share a smaller selection(I assure you it is a smaller selection from all that I captured) here for now, but I can promise you they will not do justice to the detailed lives these girls lead.
ARA
I created a four page document of all the quotes I grabbed and fell in love with, but I will try to share a smaller selection(I assure you it is a smaller selection from all that I captured) here for now, but I can promise you they will not do justice to the detailed lives these girls lead.
ARA
“When I get home that night, I find a sheet of paper on the table. It is her will. We had read many news stories about patients who died from flecks of jaw bone getting lodged in arteries, causing them to choke to death on blood filling up in their thoughts while they slept. I made her stop after the first few articles, but secretly, I read them all.” (pg28)
“’She liked you because you were talented and pretty,’ says Sujin. ‘I never used the art room. She only liked kids who were special in some way because it made her feel good about looking after us.’” (pg155)
“’You have to grow up with parents whose lives become better as time goes by, so you learn that you must invest effort for life to improve. But if you grow up around people whose situations become worse as time goes on, then you think that you have to just live for today. And when I ask young people, What about the future? What will you do when the future comes and you have spent everything already? They say they will just die. And that is why Korea has the highest suicide rate in the world.’” (pg241)
KYURI
“I wanted to reach over and shake her by the shoulders. Stop running around like a fool, I wanted to say. You have so much and you can do anything you want. I would live your life so much better than you, if I had your face.” (pg42)
“You work, work, work until your body is ruined and there is no way out but to keep working.” (pg99)
“She does not know what this work does to you—how you cannot hold on to your old perspective. You will not be able to save your money because there will never be enough of it. You will keep doing things you never expected to do. You will be affected in ways you could never imagine. I know, because that is what had happened to me. I never would have thought I would end up like this, with no money to speak of, a body that is breaking down, and an imminent expiration date.” (pg187-188)
WONNA
WONNA
“I grew up not knowing the difference between a bearable life and an unbearable life, and by the time I discovered there was such a thing, it was too late.” (pg47)
“When I was particularly bad, she told me that she would send me to the orphanage in the next town over and no one—especially my parents—would even notice. /‘Time to throw away.’” (pg51-52)
“I read somewhere that miscarriages are babies self-terminating when they know there will be a problem. It hollows me out, the way that they would rather kill themselves than be born to me.” (pg124)
MIHO
MIHO
“My aunt gave birth in the fall, five months after I had been deposited at the Loring Center, to a baby boy that they named Hwan. I did not know she was pregnant until one day she showed up at the Center and her shirt was stretched taut to bursting by her overlarge belly, unmistakably with child. I never met him, my boy cousin, because after he was born they didn’t come again. But by then, the Center was home to me.” (pg132)
“There is something about this picture—of her in a lace-edged slip, in front of her oval mirror, slowly wiping off the colors of her face in anger—which is riveting. I have a violent urge to run to my room to get my camera, to capture this so I can work with it later.” (pg210)
“I will suck everything I can from him. I will be wild and unleashed. I will now take from him what I can. /I will not come out of this with nothing.” (pg215-216)
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
After finishing it I'm sad it's not a bit longer but I guess it's somewhat better like this. Leaving the characters hopefully brighter future open to our imaginations.
4.5 stars. A super gripping and engrossing read- Cha is an excellent writer and I look forward to reading more from her. I took away points because I felt that some of the stories were incomplete (Miho and Wonna). Wonna’s story felt somewhat superfluous while Miho’s story almost reached a catharsis and then...nothing. Overall I super enjoyed this book, even though I was somewhat disgusted by the male characters and their misogyny, classism, and power.
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Such a beautiful story of building community and a wonderful exploration of sexism and classism in Korea. I just wish it was longer so I could get to know the characters more because I got to the end and felt like there were so many loose ends to continue with.