Ms. Hen Reviews If I Had Your Face

 

If I Had Your Face

Frances Cha

Corycian Content

2020

Ms. Hen decided to read this novel because it was recommended to her. She didn't know what it was about, but when she started reading, she became fascinated by the stories of the young women and their lives in Seoul, South Korea. She could not put this book down.

This novel is told from different viewpoints of four young women in South Korea, Ara, Kyuiri, Miho, and Wonna, who live in an inexpensive apartment in a neighborhood with lots of bars. Kyuri is a beautiful room salon girl, who entertains men and drinks with them. Ara is a mute hairdresser, who had lived in an orphanage with her friend Sujin, who is bent on becoming a room salon girl. Miho is an artist who lived with Ara and Sujin in the orphanage; she had lived in New York, and she has a rich boyfriend. Wonna is the married woman who lives upstairs, and observes the girls coming and going.

Sujin gets advice from Kyuri about where to get plastic surgery so she can become a room salon girl. She gets the surgery, but it takes a long time for her to heal. Ara is obsessed with a pop band, but when she meets them in person, it does not go as she planned. Kyuri works in a room salon of "ten percent" girls, that is the prettiest ten percent in the city. Miho creates art inspired by her friend in New York, Ruby, but she won't let her boyfriend see it, because Ruby is his ex-girlfriend, and she thinks it might upset him.

Ms. Hen thought this novel was fascinating. She believes it's one of those works that's a window - that is a window to another world, that people would not necessarily see unless they were in that world. Ms. Hen pities the young women who think they need plastic surgery to be more beautiful. She thinks that when someone is young, they shouldn't need plastic surgery. And the room salons! The young women are glorified prostitutes, but this is considered a desirable life for some, because they make a lot of money.

Almost all the men in this novel are dastardly. It makes one wonder why the young women are so obsessed with looking good - Ms. Hen thinks it's because they are shallow, and only care about looks. There is no feminism in this world - an unmarried woman approaching forty is never taken seriously. Ms. Hen is glad she doesn't live in this society, but she does find it compelling.

Miho is contemplating her life, and she remembers, "In America, one of my professors said once that the best art comes from an unbearable life - if you live through it, that is." Ms. Hen likes this philosophy, and she adheres to it. Happy people aren't brilliant, that's what Ms. Hen thinks. And people with perfect lives could never create anything worthwhile.

All throughout the novel, the girls are eating chicken, which Ms. Hen adores. They get drunk and order chicken wings late at night. In the last chapter, the girls are sitting with Wonna and she says, " 'The baby always demands fried chicken at 1 am.' " The girls agree, and they order the chicken. Ms. Hen likes that this is the last image of the novel.

Ms. Hen read this novel in three days, which is unusual for her. She usually takes a week or so to read a book, but this was so good, she could not put it down. Reading about how difficult other people's lives are on the opposite end of the world enlightens Ms. Hen. Life is hard everywhere, and it's always refreshing to learn about it from a different perspective.