Reviews with content warning for Bullying - If I Had Your Face

I have to note that this book is INCREDIBLE, but it contains a lot of triggering content that could be really difficult to work through, so make a note of the content warnings before diving in!

Ultimately, Cha does a masterful job of bringing you through the lives of 5 Korean women as they work through what they crave for their lives. Through the voices of 4 different narrators (the 5th character, Sujin, while important to the story is not given her own chapters), you build up their history together to better understand who they are, where they come from, and how they're carving out a place in this world. By the end, you're rooting for all of them to get everything they've ever hoped for.

What I really loved was how real the whole story felt. I found myself completely lost in these characters' lives and simply wanting to be out to dinner with them. I can't speak to how realistic it is about Korean culture given that I'm a novice in that education, but it felt like you were watching friends live their lives...even if you didn't always love the choices they made.

All in all, I'd highly recommend it if you're looking for a piece of realistic literary fiction that focuses on the power of relationships and fate in your life, but again, be wary of the content warnings.

Content Warnings

cheesepuppy's review against another edition

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lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I love the set up of having multiple perspectives. It was easy to follow. Each character was interesting and it was neat how each story intertwined with the others

Content Warnings

aidrielle's review against another edition

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dark reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

i thought this book was a pretty good exploration of the different issues women face (being a woman living under a late capitalist society fucking sucks by the way, but we already knew that). i especially liked its exploration on pretty privilege--how it's not just a very real thing but also a systemic thing. to an extent, society rewards attractive people by giving them more opportunities in both their work and their personal lives. so no, people getting plastic surgery isn't just for vanity--not when society literally favors the pretty.

i also liked all of the characters!! i thought they were all complex enough to each warrant a full-length novel of their own (i would especially love a spin-off about ara's and sujin's teenage years).

that being said, though, i wish this book could have done more. like i said, it was more of an exploratory novel i guess. i wish it had dived a little deeper into how these issues could be solved, even if it's just in theory. after finishing the book i just found myself asking and? what now?

Content Warnings

yuna's review against another edition

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dark sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

This was a fail for me. Rampant ableism. I realize it was meant to be a searing critique on toxic beauty standards and sexism in Korea, but it felt like pandering Orientalism to a white, Western audience. It paints 50 million people with a pretty broad brush. I couldn't buy into the somewhat hopeful/optimistic outcome presented at the end because it didn't feel like the relationships were genuine or earned.

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