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slaywithsteph's review against another edition
dark
emotional
hopeful
relaxing
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
I would live my life so much better than you if I had your face.
Following the lives of four Korean women, this book is a slice-of-life without much plot. There’s little character growth but ample character exploration.
As a non-Korean, I cannot say if the author successfully details the obsessive — and sometimes surgery-heavy — world of Korean beauty standards, but it feels realistic to me.
However, what really brought it down for me was the book felt unbalanced in that I’m not sure why Wonna’s story existed in this. It’s not that she wasn’t interesting; it’s that she felt out of place with the other characters. Though, I do love the concept of a girl down the hall being included, it just felt like her entire storyline was so jarringly different, it felt like she was piece-mealed into the book. Maybe a fourth POV could have tied her in better? But I digress.
I went in with zero expectations, and so I was startled by several moments throughout the book. It took me until the final chapters to even realize this was likely a slice-of-life book, so I spent a lot of time wondering where the plot was going to come in.
Overall, I think Cha succeeded in what she wanted to do with the three main characters, and I very much appreciated how relaxing this was to read.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Dysphoria, Misogyny, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Classism, Body shaming, and Miscarriage
Korean beauty standards, beauty standardsleannanecdote'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
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
amandadelbrocco's review against another edition
dark
informative
sad
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? Yes
3.0
A horrifying look at the Korean beauty industry. Overall I found it very informative but had a hard time keeping the different characters straight as their stories all melded together in my mind.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Dysphoria, Body shaming, and Classism
grunbean's review
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
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
4.5
I wasn’t sure when I this was picked for my book club’s monthly read, but I quickly fell in to this novel.
I think it’s best not to say too much, as I think the journey I took with the characters in their chapters was the best part of this book. What’s important (and not too revealing) to know is that these complex women have lives that bring them together in the end. And there is something beautiful in how Frances Cha has done this. The women aren’t perfect, and there are ideas I would challenge, but that’s what makes this book so real.
If you have experienced what it is like to live as a woman in society, this book will strike a chord.
I think it’s best not to say too much, as I think the journey I took with the characters in their chapters was the best part of this book. What’s important (and not too revealing) to know is that these complex women have lives that bring them together in the end. And there is something beautiful in how Frances Cha has done this. The women aren’t perfect, and there are ideas I would challenge, but that’s what makes this book so real.
If you have experienced what it is like to live as a woman in society, this book will strike a chord.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Body shaming, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Medical content, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Dysphoria, and Infidelity
wellreadmed's review against another edition
challenging
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Suicide, Violence, Child abuse, Dysphoria, and Miscarriage
korio's review
challenging
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
4.5 stars. My feelings changed about this one several times while I was reading it. I never didn't like it, I just jumped back and forth between and three and a five repeatedly. It's multi-POV, and at first I thought my feelings were changing based on whose POV I was reading, meaning that I'd have a better idea of my overall feelings once I finished the book, but around the 200 page mark, I realized it wasn't EXACTLY that. Sort of that, but not quite.
None of the woman featured in the book is a particularly likable character, but not unlikable, either - they're all very real and relatable, but also unrelatable. That makes no sense as a sentence, but they all take their turns jumping between "I am this woman" and "I know this woman." When I was reading each woman's POV, if she wasn't echoing thoughts and experiences I felt like I've had myself, then I felt like I could say, ah, well, at least I can say I've met someone like this, or I've seen someone go through this, and none of it stretched the bounds of credulity at all. All the women were living what felt like real, average, everyday lives of women - the book is essentially plotless - but at the same time, it never felt boring or basic or I know all this, skip it.
The reason I think I jumped back and forth with how I felt about it so much was because a couple of the women I found most interesting in the first half of the book were held far back and seemed deliberately kept at arm's length - Ara and Wonna - and I wished to get a lot more from them, while we were getting quite a lot from Kyuri and Miho, who were not exactly BORING, but felt much more... I don't know, it seems almost UNKIND to say common, shallow, or basic. My feelings about both of those things definitely changed in the last third, though.
None of the woman featured in the book is a particularly likable character, but not unlikable, either - they're all very real and relatable, but also unrelatable. That makes no sense as a sentence, but they all take their turns jumping between "I am this woman" and "I know this woman." When I was reading each woman's POV, if she wasn't echoing thoughts and experiences I felt like I've had myself, then I felt like I could say, ah, well, at least I can say I've met someone like this, or I've seen someone go through this, and none of it stretched the bounds of credulity at all. All the women were living what felt like real, average, everyday lives of women - the book is essentially plotless - but at the same time, it never felt boring or basic or I know all this, skip it.
The reason I think I jumped back and forth with how I felt about it so much was because a couple of the women I found most interesting in the first half of the book were held far back and seemed deliberately kept at arm's length - Ara and Wonna - and I wished to get a lot more from them, while we were getting quite a lot from Kyuri and Miho, who were not exactly BORING, but felt much more... I don't know, it seems almost UNKIND to say common, shallow, or basic. My feelings about both of those things definitely changed in the last third, though.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Suicidal thoughts, Sexism, Pregnancy, Misogyny, Emotional abuse, Dysphoria, and Body shaming
sseoryn's review
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
i would have given it 4 stars if it weren't for the pace, the ending is somewhat satisfying, but in a way that's good bcs it gives the reader a chance to decipher their own versions of endings for each character. i would've liked to see more culture in it though, if it weren't for the characters names, occasional korean slangs i would have thought im just reading any ordinary contemporary english novel. i think it would have been a tad bit more interesting if they included ruby's pov, and maybe nami and hanbin yk? it would be really thought provoking and give a bit more insight to readers to know what goes on in a suicidal person's mind, a loving boyfriend who cheated, and a young girl who gave in early to *that* industry, personally i feel like frances wasted a lot of page count, especially on sujin? im not even sure if i got her name right, that's how much lack of background story frances gave on sujin, i couldn't get to know her as well as i knew other characters.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abortion, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Bullying, Child abuse, Dysphoria, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Infertility, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, and Pregnancy
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