Genre: Fiction
Publisher
: Penguin
ISBN: 9780593129463
Rating:
4.5/
5
As a Londoner, i'm
always intrigued by other major cities. I ask myself, 'why would
anyone visit here?' and 'where would you even begin?' when I see
crowds of tourists on my day to day travels. Which is why a trip to
Seoul was all the more intimidating. While I had been looking to
visit for the past 8 years or so, the process of putting together a
10-day itinerary that would allow me to delve as deep into the city as
possible, beyond the florescent glow of Myeong-Dong, left me in a
deadlock.
This is what drew me to
Frances Cha's debut novel, If I Had Your Face. I had the time
of my life in Seoul. Between visiting Joseon palaces, museums, the
city skyline from Namsan Tower and screaming on M Countdown,
sitting on a plane from Incheon back to London, I couldn't help but
feel i'd done the city a bit of a disservice. Had I focused on my own
imagined version of Seoul without giving much thought to everyday
Seoulites?
I ended up reading the
entire novel in one sitting. It illuminated parts and people of the
city which, as an outsider with very limited Korean skills, couldn't
really begin to comprehend.
Complex, dark and full
of tragic characters, If I had Your Face is a raw candid
snapshot of modern day Seoul and the young women living under its
lights.
Far from the glossy
streets of Gangnam, the four lives of Wonna, heavily pregnant and
struggling to meet the demands of raising a newborn, Kyuri, whose
pursuit of beauty and status leads to her work in a 'room-salon', her
flatmate Miho, an adoptee and art student entangled in the lives of
the Korean-American elite and finally Ara, a mute hairstylist with an
unhealthy obsession with her favourite idol.
While life in any city
can be claustrophobic, each chapter which focuses on a different woman
really hones in on the sense of gasping from air and struggling to
stay afloat at different points of womanhood, all under the same
roof.The financial insecurity of becoming a new mother in a country
with some of the longest working hours in the world, Wonna's story
focused heavily on the often unsaid troubles of womanhood alongside
massaging male fragility
Prevalent plastic
surgery and streets lined with clinics in Gangnam were probably one
of the most difficult things to contend with while away, which made
be gravitate towards Kyuri the most of the four girls. Her
motivations, her self-assuredness, coupled with her insecurities
which she confides in with Ara, unable to speak aloud following her
own personal trauma, was framed wonderfully throughout and spoke
volumes about the pressure of keeping up appearances while dealing
with the doubt and uncertainty of early adulthood.
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