Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

If I Had Your Face by Frances Cha

34 reviews

kutreen's review against another edition

dark informative inspiring medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Usually I don't like books that switch between various perspectives but I loved that all of the characters were friends or knew each other in various capacities and that their lives intersected often. I liked learning about pressures related to beauty, marriage, and women's careers in Korea, as well as about class differences, from women whose difficult childhoods have left them to learn to fend for themselves and make unlikely connections to survive.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence, Miscarriage, Medical trauma, Infidelity, Infertility, and Abandonment

Minor: Injury/Injury detail, Child abuse, and Sexual content

rionstorm's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

A kind of sad, kind of gentle slice of life. I wish the book was slightly longer, so we could have seen a bit more of what the girls lives are like once they've all had their development arcs and become more intertwined in eachothers lives.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Body shaming, Miscarriage, Medical content, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Sexism

Moderate: Forced institutionalization, Classism, Grief, Violence, Infertility, Pregnancy, and Child abuse

rexpostfacto's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Classism, Body horror, Body shaming, and Child abuse

Moderate: Death of parent, Drug use, Toxic relationship, Pregnancy, Eating disorder, Grief, Medical content, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, and Suicide

Minor: Violence, Miscarriage, Xenophobia, and Sexual content

neens_m's review against another edition

challenging hopeful reflective slow-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism and Pregnancy

Moderate: Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, and Miscarriage

leannanecdote's review against another edition

challenging dark hopeful reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Misogyny, Sexual harassment, Alcohol, Drug use, Dysphoria, Fatphobia, Grief, Sexism, Infertility, Infidelity, Sexual assault, Eating disorder, Cursing, Blood, Classism, Death of parent, Physical abuse, Medical content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, Ableism, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Self harm, and Abandonment

ashley_turch's review against another edition

dark reflective slow-paced

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

5.0

Literally could not put this down. I was captivated the entire time. I LOVE a multiple POV and this did it so well. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Abandonment, Classism, Body shaming, Child abuse, Sexism, Infidelity, Medical content, Physical abuse, and Fatphobia

Moderate: Cursing, Infertility, Death of parent, and Violence

sakisreads's review against another edition

emotional hopeful tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

✨ Thrifted ✨

This book has a bit of a slow start so I wasn’t sure how much I’d get into it… But I’m glad I persevered! 
Based around Ara (a mute woman who works at a hair salon), Kyuri (a room salon worker), Miho (an artist whose move back to Seoul is fraught with relationship complications), Sijun (Ara’s protective best friend) and Wonna (the woman who lives in the apartment above the girls), this book had the resonance of ‘Girl, Woman, Other’. We explored beauty, family, feminism, and so much more!
I gave it 3.5 stars because it was, as mentioned above, a bit of a slow burner but once you got into it you couldn’t stop 👏🏼 

Some of my favourite moments included are below 👀

When Ara shoved that assistant Cherry’s head down the toilet, I somehow felt vindication for her 😂

I loved when Miho finally realised Hanbin was not the prince she needed and she was able to find power in her ‘cliché’ moments (e.g. Cutting off some of her hair, deciding to leak photos to the paps…) 🙊

I am also a huge fan of Korean food so all of their descriptors of kalgukksu, KFC etc. made me hungry 😅

Content warnings included below!
Thank you ✨

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Toxic relationship, Self harm, Grief, Miscarriage, Body shaming, Gaslighting, Misogyny, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcoholism, Blood, Bullying, Death, and Fatphobia

kellyofcali's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

I enjoyed this novel, which used a group of a few young women to paint a picture of existing as a young woman in modern-day Korea...a world of inequality, plastic surgery, but also moments to hope and strength. I quickly became invested in the characters' lives, and my main gripe was that the ending fell a bit flat, leaving it more of a vignette than a full narrative. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Classism, and Abandonment

Moderate: Bullying, Medical content, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Sexism, Body shaming, Infidelity, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Body horror, Child abuse, Violence, Forced institutionalization, and Miscarriage

arieslofi's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Sexism, Eating disorder, Pregnancy, Alcohol, and Addiction

Moderate: Vomit, Violence, Physical abuse, Child abuse, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Abandonment, Infidelity, and Infertility

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Rape, Sexual content, and Suicide

risemini's review against another edition

dark reflective sad fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Abandonment, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Infidelity, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Addiction, Alcohol, and Sexism