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balamoogle 's review for:
If I Had Your Face
by Frances Cha
I absolutely ate this book up in three days and WISH it were 200 more pages though the fact it was so short was a testament to it's tightness and Cha's succinct storytelling ability. I coincidentally read it while in Seoul, where the novel takes place, so it felt very atmospheric. These characters were addicting, interesting, compelling, and well-rounded. Especially Ara who really struck me as someone I'd want to be friends with. Dear Ara. A few of the characters were too preoccupied with outside appearances, but that is very on the nose for Korean women in their 20s and it felt very true to life!
I have always had an aversion about people who have had plastic surgery and I think it was really eye-opening to read Kyuri and Sujin's stories especially. They were the two most focused on looking a certain way because of the jobs they wanted and it really took me aback to read Kyuri's opinion on people with no plastic surgery. She threw the word "ugly" around with abandon and while reading, I kept thinking that she lives in a completely different world. It made me think more deeply about the plastic surgery obsession in Korea and the women who really become deeply plastic for the sake of seeming perfect. Even though Koreans can tell immediately that it's not natural beauty. Growing up in America, I think we are programmed to view plastic surgery as very shallow and demeaning (unless it's for reconstructive purposes) whereas in Korea, almost half of the people have had it.
I kept thinking while reading this that this is such a real Seoul story. Growing up in a smaller town (Cheongju has 800,000 people so it's not as small as Ara proclaims) and then moving to Seoul is what many young Koreans do. I wouldn't say they all have this same path, considering one of them is a salon room girl, but their conversations and the plot felt so vibrant and real. I adored this book and want to read it again the next time I go to Seoul.
To end, here is a quote I loved from Miho about Korea:
"For all its millions of people, Korea is the size of a fishbowl and someone is always looking down on someone else. That’s just the way it is in this country, and the reason why people ask a series of rapid-fire questions the minute they meet you. Which neighborhood do you live in? Where did you go to school? Where do you work? Do you know so-and-so? They pinpoint where you are on the national scale of status, then spit you out in a heartbeat." (68)
And one more quote I loved from Ara about Korea:
"It now feels strange to her that in Korea, if you try to strike up a conversation with someone you have not been introduced to, people look at you as they would at a large rat, but if even the flimsiest of introductions is made by the most peripheral of acquaintances, they fuss over you like a long-lost sibling." (167)
I have always had an aversion about people who have had plastic surgery and I think it was really eye-opening to read Kyuri and Sujin's stories especially. They were the two most focused on looking a certain way because of the jobs they wanted and it really took me aback to read Kyuri's opinion on people with no plastic surgery. She threw the word "ugly" around with abandon and while reading, I kept thinking that she lives in a completely different world. It made me think more deeply about the plastic surgery obsession in Korea and the women who really become deeply plastic for the sake of seeming perfect. Even though Koreans can tell immediately that it's not natural beauty. Growing up in America, I think we are programmed to view plastic surgery as very shallow and demeaning (unless it's for reconstructive purposes) whereas in Korea, almost half of the people have had it.
I kept thinking while reading this that this is such a real Seoul story. Growing up in a smaller town (Cheongju has 800,000 people so it's not as small as Ara proclaims) and then moving to Seoul is what many young Koreans do. I wouldn't say they all have this same path, considering one of them is a salon room girl, but their conversations and the plot felt so vibrant and real. I adored this book and want to read it again the next time I go to Seoul.
To end, here is a quote I loved from Miho about Korea:
"For all its millions of people, Korea is the size of a fishbowl and someone is always looking down on someone else. That’s just the way it is in this country, and the reason why people ask a series of rapid-fire questions the minute they meet you. Which neighborhood do you live in? Where did you go to school? Where do you work? Do you know so-and-so? They pinpoint where you are on the national scale of status, then spit you out in a heartbeat." (68)
And one more quote I loved from Ara about Korea:
"It now feels strange to her that in Korea, if you try to strike up a conversation with someone you have not been introduced to, people look at you as they would at a large rat, but if even the flimsiest of introductions is made by the most peripheral of acquaintances, they fuss over you like a long-lost sibling." (167)