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A review by christinam
Skin Deep by Sung J. Woo
adventurous
mysterious
fast-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Woo weaves themes of ageing, beauty, identity, and ethics into one of the most interesting mystery novels I've read to date.
Beauty and ageing – “Ageing is a disease, and there is a cure" The idea that "youth is an automatic kind of beauty. An effortless beauty" is so peculiar. Especially because I don't think many people would label the type of beauty they're referring to as effortless. Furthermore, the focus on the alleged loss of beauty versus the knowledge and wisdom we gain as we age is something that I thought about long after I finished reading this book.
Identity – The main character, Siobhan O'Brien (Kim Shee-Bong) is a Korean-American adoptee. There are many scenes where flabbergasted individuals try to ‘figure out’ why she has an Irish name but Korean features by asking the tired question of “where are you really from”. Anytime her identity was questioned, her responses were always epigrammatically entertaining.
Ethics - Have you ever had to double-check a headline to confirm it's from a legit news source instead of The Beaverton or The Onion? That's how I felt reading this book. I couldn't tell if the mirror was being held up to say 'this is where we're headed' or 'this is where we are'. Woo's depiction of the beauty industry's lax compliance to ethics may seem farfetched. Perhaps they are, but I think the notion of 'the ends justify the means' is becoming a more common practice. Some of the unethical behaviour in this book made me uncomfortable because it caught me off guard and because it ventured past unethical and into illegal territory.
Beauty and ageing – “Ageing is a disease, and there is a cure" The idea that "youth is an automatic kind of beauty. An effortless beauty" is so peculiar. Especially because I don't think many people would label the type of beauty they're referring to as effortless. Furthermore, the focus on the alleged loss of beauty versus the knowledge and wisdom we gain as we age is something that I thought about long after I finished reading this book.
Identity – The main character, Siobhan O'Brien (Kim Shee-Bong) is a Korean-American adoptee. There are many scenes where flabbergasted individuals try to ‘figure out’ why she has an Irish name but Korean features by asking the tired question of “where are you really from”. Anytime her identity was questioned, her responses were always epigrammatically entertaining.
Ethics - Have you ever had to double-check a headline to confirm it's from a legit news source instead of The Beaverton or The Onion? That's how I felt reading this book. I couldn't tell if the mirror was being held up to say 'this is where we're headed' or 'this is where we are'. Woo's depiction of the beauty industry's lax compliance to ethics may seem farfetched. Perhaps they are, but I think the notion of 'the ends justify the means' is becoming a more common practice. Some of the unethical behaviour in this book made me uncomfortable because it caught me off guard and because it ventured past unethical and into illegal territory.