Publisher: Ballantine Books
“If I had your face” portrays the life of 4 women living in the same apartment building and gives a glimpse into the Korean world of salons, face lift surgeries, classism. It portrays the impossibly set high standards of beauty in the country wherein cosmetic surgeries seem to be the most common thing.
Kyuri the high class salon girl. Ara, the hairdresser. Miho, raised in an orphanage and now the artist. Wonna, the married neighbour. All the four women are struggling to make sense of their existence and are living their personal traumas. There is a haunting despair to their stories. Raw, hurt fabric woven onto the landscape of their existence.
This book intrigued me as it gave me my first glimpse into Korean world. However, it was difficult to catch up at times, as it meanders from character to character and their story to story. The character of Wonna is completely dispensable, while Sujin their flatmate who is trying out cosmetic surgeries to look beautiful is not given the prerogative of story telling in first person.
All the women, though victims of unprivileged backgrounds and societal prejudices are chalked as strong women who battle it out daily to live another day.
But what I really loved was the end …. no sad finale, no happy conclusions…just a sense of continuation….. all characters go on trying to making sense of their lives, their difficult and challenging existence.. …and emerging triumphant…..each moment, each day.
Preeta Chag 