Read it in a breeze!
It is a beautiful novel about contemporary Seoul and millennials living in South Korea, and the beauty culture and how it affects women there.
The novel follows the lives of 4 women, 3 of whom are friends, that live in the same apartment complex.
It is very fascinating to see how they live their lives, from a westerner's point of view, knowing very little about South Korean culture, but it is also a beautiful novel about ordinary women and how they deal with relationships with men, bosses/co-workers and their careers.
I would definitely highly recommend it, as I read it in a very short time and couldn't put it down!

I thought that this may be a book that would elude me, having never been exposed to Korean culture or the massively popular Kpop trend. But I think that the author has written a story that will resonate with all women, because it speaks to the female role in a society that remains dominated by men. If I Had Your Face shoots from the hip when examining how a woman's worth is measured by her perfection in the high beams of the male gaze- beauty that only copious amounts of surgery and touchups can achieve, not too outspoken, not too smart, and rich but not more rich than her male counterpart. The book is also brutally honest when breaking down the barbed nature of female relationships, being at once ruthlessly competitive but also fiercely loyal. Despite being a work of fiction, every character rings true right off the page. I'm so glad I took a chance on this one, and can't believe it is a debut. I look forward to more work from Frances Cha.

What an utterly compelling novel. I loved it from the beginning to the end. It is a page turner that you won’t want to put down
It is written very well with a perfect pace to the storyline
Excellent book

If I Had Your Face by Frances Cha is a novel about four young women in contemporary Seoul and the friendship between them.

The gorgeous cover made me grab this, along with the chance to get an insider view of female lives in Seoul. Some of it is shocking, particularly the extreme plastic surgery that has women shaving their jaws to meet someone else's ideal of female beauty even if it means they can't eat... but at heart I found this sticks to a formula: the four female friends who support each other through everything.

All the women speak with the same voice and there's something a little muddy about the writing so that it lacks clarity and vitality, as if we're hearing everything through a muffled layer. Worth a read, though, for the insight into Korea and young Korean lives.