If I Had Your Face

Reviews

Absolutely stunning . . . Assured, bold, and electrifying, If I Had Your Face marks the entrance of a bright new voice in fiction Each voice in this quartet cuts through the pages so cleanly and clearly that the overall effect is one of dangerously glittering harmony. The tale told here is as engrossing as a war chant, or a mosaic formed with blades, every piece a memento sharpened on those unyielding barriers between us and our ideal lives. If I Had Your Face is hilarious, cuttingly observant, feminist, and all-around delightful. It is hard to write a book about four protagonists and make you care for all of them-yet somehow Cha succeeds. Troubling, kaleidoscopic, and hugely enjoyable It's difficult to believe this is Frances Cha's first novel-she's a masterful storyteller. I couldn't put IF I HAD YOUR FACE down; I was riveted by the stories of four young women navigating life in the extreme, competitive environment of modern Seoul. I loved reading about a world I knew nothing about, and from the first page, it was clear Cha was the best possible guide. I highly recommend this novel. Wonderful... unsettling and deeply affecting - the writing is beautifully spare, and captures with such clarity what it means for these four young women to be taught to hope for everything and yet continuously to receive nothing Compelling, understated, casually brutal, and very cynical. I love it. If I Had Your Face is a vivid, eviscerating depiction of social realism in contemporary Seoul. Frances Cha renders gender and class struggles with forensic detail, in a luminous voice both knowledgeable and compelling. I love the way Frances Cha rotates between mindsets to look at how beauty and privilege influence the way women live, whilst maintaining a sly lightness Make way for Frances Cha, an entrancing new voice who guides us into the complexities and contradictions of modern-day Seoul... I devoured it in a single sitting, and so will you. I loved this book. It offers a fascinating window on a place and culture I knew little about, and yet from the first page it was intensely relatable - I recognised these women like friends, colleagues or sisters. Invigorating in its honesty and near-filmic in its descriptive power, If I Had Your Face is brilliantly-drawn tableau of the universalities of womanhood, the pressures we grapple with, and the way female bonds can carry us through. Cha's striking first novel follows four young women in Seoul, South Korea trapped in a sphere of impossible beauty standards A story of four women in Seoul and the way that economic and social realities determine the paths available to them An intimate, panoramic debut... An enthralling read from the very first page. A provoking, ultimately inspiring tale of women pushing back against oppressive customs both traditional and new . . . Frances Cha, like her quartet of narrators, has a rebel's heart One of the buzziest debuts of the year, If I Had Your Face transports readers to glittering, futuristic Seoul, where four young women are grappling with a culture devoted to extreme plastic surgery and so-called room salons, in which men "pay to act like bloated kings" while being waited on by cosmetically "enhanced" girls. Essential reading in what Jia Tolentino memorably called the age of Instagram face. If you loved Crazy Rich Asians or Daisy Jones And The Six then this is going to be right up your street An insightful, powerful story from a promising new voice Cha's timely debut deftly explores the impact of impossible beauty standards and male-dominated family money on South Korean women Mesmerizing... weaves together the complexities and contradictions of modern-day Seoul, in an ultimately uplifting story of women living in defiance of oppressive customs A gripping tale at once unfamiliar and unmistakably universal Expand reviews