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If I Had Your Face

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If I Had Your Face

Written by: Frances Cha
Narrated by: Frances Cha, Sue Jean Kim, Ruthie Ann Miles, Jeena Yi
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About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

'Gripping' Curtis Sittenfeld * 'Electrifying' Taylor Jenkins Reid * 'Remarkable' Kevin Kwan * 'Stunning' Sunday Times * 'Brilliant' Pandora Sykes

In South Korea, where impossible beauty standards and ruthless social hierarchies dictate your every move, four women are balancing on a razor's edge:

Kyuri, a beautiful 'room salon' girl paid to entertain wealthy businessmen after hours.
Miho, an artist whose life becomes enmeshed with the offspring of the super-wealthy elite.
Ara, a hairstylist whose obsession with a K-pop star leads her to violent extremes.
Wonna, their neighbour, pregnant with a child that she can't afford.

Set in the drinking dens and beauty salons of Seoul, If I Had Your Face is an electrifying debut novel about female strength, resilience and the solace that friendship can provide.

'Cha's writing always crackles . . . Touching, compelling and icily cool' Observer

'Fascinating, eye-opening, compelling - like the film Parasite, If I Had Your Face is also an exposé of the class system in South Korea' Independent

'Absolutely stunning. . . Assured, bold, and electrifying' Taylor Jenkins Reid, Sunday Times bestselling author of DAISY JONES & THE SIX

'One of the buzziest debuts of the year, If I Had Your Face transports readers to glittering, futuristic Seoul... Essential reading' Vogue

'Culturally fascinating, emotionally layered, gripping and smart' Curtis Sittenfeld, bestselling author of PREP and AMERICAN WIFE

'Glittering, engrossing' Helen Oyeyemi, author of GINGERBREAD

'Remarkable, brilliantly crafted and devastatingly exquisite' Kevin Kwan, bestselling author of CRAZY RICH ASIANS

LONGLISTED FOR THE DYLAN THOMAS PRIZE 2021

© Frances Cha 2020 (P) Penguin Audio 2020

 City Life Coming of Age Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Urban Women's Fiction

Critic Reviews

Absolutely stunning . . . Assured, bold, and electrifying, If I Had Your Face marks the entrance of a bright new voice in fiction (Taylor Jenkins Reid, New York Times bestselling author of DAISY JONES & THE SIX)
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. (Helen Oyeyemi, award-winning author of GINGERBREAD)
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. (Rowan Hisayo Buchanan, Costa-shortlisted author of 'Starling Days')
Troubling, kaleidoscopic, and hugely enjoyable (Nell Zink, author of THE WALLCREEPER, NICOTINE and MISLAID)
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. (Ann Napolitano, author of DEAR EDWARD)
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 (Rosie Price, author of WHAT RED WAS)
Compelling, understated, casually brutal, and very cynical. I love it. (Hanna Jameson, bestselling author of 'The Last')
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. (Sharlene Teo, author of 'Ponti')
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 (Rebecca Watson, author of 'little scratch')
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. (Janice Lee, NYT Bestselling Author of THE PIANO TEACHER)
All stars
Most relevant
I absolutely enjoyed this book! It has an easy narrative, interesting characters and very realistic portrayal of the life of four women from Seoul. If you are looking for a happy ending or something lighthearted, this is not the book for you. That said, this book touches upon some very important aspects of life as a woman, living in a misogynistic, patriarchal society. Ultimately the four women, come together to find happiness and each other in this unsual friendship.

Kyuri is a beautiful woman with a job at a room salon, where she entertains businessmen while they drink. She has a very realistic yet witty sarcastic approach to life which may seem cold-hearted at times.

Her roomate, Miho, is a talented artist who grew up in an orphanage but won a scholarship to study art in New York. Returning to Korea after college, she finds herself in a precarious relationship with the super-wealthy heir to one of Korea's biggest companies. She is the idealist and releases her pent-up emotions through her art.

Also in their apartment building lives Ara, a hair stylist for whom two preoccupations sustain her: obsession with a boy-band pop star, and a best friend who is saving up for the extreme plastic surgery that is commonplace. She is disabled, but that doesn't let it affect her positive take on life.

And Wonna, one floor below, is a newlywed trying to get pregnant with a child that she and her husband have no idea how they can afford to raise and educate in the cutthroat economy.

good read 4.5 stars

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The performances, storyline and writing are ON POINT. You will not be able to stop listening to this one.

The best book I’ve read on Audible

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