None of the women have the required pedigree to be part of the true top class but for some of them, they are trying to reach it through work or association. But it’s also about class and where you come from. In this frantic world, it’s all about money and beauty. There is also Sujin, Ara’s flatmate and old friend who wants to become a room girl. She now has a wealthy boyfriend and her own studio, but at what cost? Ara is a hairdresser who is mute and deeply into a particular K-Pop artist. Miho is an orphan whose artistic skills have taken her to New York and back. She’s worked very hard to get where she is, including extensive plastic surgery but she learns that it’s tough to be a real person in her job. Kyuri works as a room girl at a top room salon – kind of like a hard drinking geisha meets top call girl.
Wonna has her own problems with her workplace and her husband and doesn’t begin to interact with the others until a moment of need later in the book. Three are single and good friends and the fourth is married and pregnant. Set in South Korea, the book is about four women in live in the same apartment building in Seoul. There was a lot of characters and a lot to get through, so some parts of the plot didn’t get as much page time as I’d like. While I enjoyed it, I didn’t spectacularly fall in love.
Coming back to this book was like reuniting with someone from ‘before’ with a sense of familiarity. Then a snap lockdown occurred and I lost interest in reading anything except news for a couple of days. I was at a bit of a loss as to what to read, so I thought I’d try this. If I Had Your Face is a book I saw on many ‘best of 2020’ lists by people whose bookish opinions I respect. Why I chose it: Read many excellent reviews. The not-so-good: Wasn’t as shocking as other reviews had led me to believe. The good: Different setting, different troubles. In brief: Four women are trying to keep their heads above water in their competitive lives in Seoul.
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