If I Had Your Face - Becca In A Book

Summary

Four young women living in Seoul, South Korea. These women come from all walks of life, but all struggle with the same issues of their culture and their contemporary society.

My Thoughts

Wow, this book was such a wonderful and surprising read and I am obsessed…. I’ve been wanting to read this book for awhile because it was something very different from my comfort zone and I thought this would be a good read to test the waters. I’m going to be honest and I bought the book mostly for the cover, but the insides matched the outside in every way and everyone should read it now!

The setting of this book is some place I’ve been wanting to visit for such a long time and I loved experiencing it through this amazing and very unique story. I grew up with a lot of South Korean friends and have had students come from there and have learned a lot about South Korean culture and have always been fascinated by it. They have told me some VERY interesting cultural practices and beliefs and this book brought it all out and more. They have spoken to me about the very high and sometimes ridiculous expectations for women from beauty to the importance of the bond between the wife and the mother-in-law. This book illustrates that in a very real, raw, and beautiful way.

However, these obstacles that are all over this book that these characters face are completely to any woman living in any place. Every girl could honestly relate to these problems and it was refreshing to see how these characters handled them. These women were so surprising and I loved them all so much! The book is told in multiple perspectives and they were all so extremely interesting because we received background about themselves and the way they see the same incident. They all came together to create such a wonderful and captivating story.

The multiple perspectives of this book were so interesting because the characters had such a wide range of opinions about the other characters that made me question a lot of the incidents that occured in the book. They honestly thought that the others were weak or in need of help or pity, but every character was strong and powerful people who knew what they wanted. Each character represented a profile that women are given the power to make their own lives. Their jobs didn’t define who they were, but where they wanted to go.

I just loved this book so much because although it was surrounded by bad luck, the bond and perseverance of the women was such a bright and lovely spot of the book. It was so heartwarming! I loved this book so much and would love to read more from this author.