If I Had Your Face by Frances Cha
An intimate and heartbreaking portrayal of four different women living in South Korea.
A fascinating insight into modern society in Seoul, where 60% of women in their 20s have had plastic surgery. The book interrogates what it means to ‘better oneself’, and how ‘perfection’ is such a troublesome thing to strive for.
It also dives deeper, highlighting some life’s complexities and desires (to be successful, loved and to fit in), and considers the effects of following our impulses.
THE OTHER DAY at my clinic, I finally saw the actual girl that I modeled my face after: Candy, the lead singer from that girl griup Charming. […] I went to sit beside her because I wanted to see how clear the likenesss was. I’d brought in photos of Candy when I had my first consultations with Dr. Shim. She had a slightly upturned bump at the end of her nose that makes her so uniquely, startlingly beautiful. Dr. Shim was the surgeon who gave it to her, which is the reason I had some to him.
The four central women are all complex and distinct, and their interwoven narratives are each melancholically beautiful. If I Had Your Face, a mixture of first-person narratives, feels a little like reading various diary entries, which creates a more intimate connection with the characters.
I was fascinated to learn about the patriarchal standards of Korean society (especially after reading about the quickly-retracted 2021 government guidelines for pregnant women, which included the phrase “don't look dishevelled.”), and learnt that in Korea misogyny takes the form of strict beauty standards with those who don’t fit this impossible mould often opting for plastic surgery.
Blurb: A glitteringly dark and unsettling novel about four young women struggling to survive in contemporary South Korea.
If I Had Your Face plunges us into the mesmerizing world of contemporary Seoul - a place where plastic surgery is as routine as getting a haircut, where women compete for spots in secret ‘room salons’ to entertain wealthy businessmen after hours, where K-pop stars are the object of all-consuming obsession, and ruthless social hierarchies dictate your every move.
Navigating this cut-throat city are four young women balancing on the razor-edge of survival: Kyuri, an exquisitely beautiful woman whose hard-won status at an exclusive ‘room salon’ is threatened by an impulsive mistake with a client; her flatmate Miho, an orphan who wins a scholarship to a prestigious art school in New York, where her life becomes tragically enmeshed with the super-wealthy offspring of the Korean elite; Wonna, their neighbour, pregnant with a child that she and her husband have no idea how they will afford to raise in a fiercely competitive economy; and Ara, a hair stylist living down the hall, whose infatuation with a fresh-faced K-pop star drives her to violent extremes.