Reviews tagging 'Gaslighting'

If I Had Your Face by Frances Cha

5 reviews

bookishconnections's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

I’m rarely stumped by a book but this book stumped me.

The characters are all very diverse and outsiders looking in, they all have different personalities as well as hopes and dreams.

This was quite shocking at times, but an interesting book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Gaslighting, and Classism

Minor: Miscarriage

sakisreads's review against another edition

emotional hopeful tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

✨ Thrifted ✨

This book has a bit of a slow start so I wasn’t sure how much I’d get into it… But I’m glad I persevered! 
Based around Ara (a mute woman who works at a hair salon), Kyuri (a room salon worker), Miho (an artist whose move back to Seoul is fraught with relationship complications), Sijun (Ara’s protective best friend) and Wonna (the woman who lives in the apartment above the girls), this book had the resonance of ‘Girl, Woman, Other’. We explored beauty, family, feminism, and so much more!
I gave it 3.5 stars because it was, as mentioned above, a bit of a slow burner but once you got into it you couldn’t stop 👏🏼 

Some of my favourite moments included are below 👀

When Ara shoved that assistant Cherry’s head down the toilet, I somehow felt vindication for her 😂

I loved when Miho finally realised Hanbin was not the prince she needed and she was able to find power in her ‘cliché’ moments (e.g. Cutting off some of her hair, deciding to leak photos to the paps…) 🙊

I am also a huge fan of Korean food so all of their descriptors of kalgukksu, KFC etc. made me hungry 😅

Content warnings included below!
Thank you ✨

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body shaming, Bullying, Death, Fatphobia, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Self harm, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Blood, Grief, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Abandonment

issyd23's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Being a woman in Korea seems tough! Korean beauty standards are BRUTAL 3🤕

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Fatphobia, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, and Classism

outersgrace's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism, Bullying, Fatphobia, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Sexism, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Classism

Minor: Death, Eating disorder, Sexual content, Medical trauma, Abortion, and Death of parent

sseoryn's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

i would have given it 4 stars if it weren't for the pace, the ending is somewhat satisfying, but in a way that's good bcs it gives the reader a chance to decipher their own versions of endings for each character. i would've liked to see more culture in it though, if it weren't for the characters names, occasional korean slangs i would have thought im just reading any ordinary contemporary english novel. i think it would have been a tad bit more interesting if they included ruby's pov, and maybe nami and hanbin yk? it would be really thought provoking and give a bit more insight to readers to know what goes on in a suicidal person's mind, a loving boyfriend who cheated, and a young girl who gave in early to *that* industry, personally i feel like frances wasted a lot of page count, especially on sujin? im not even sure if i got her name right, that's how much lack of background story frances gave on sujin, i couldn't get to know her as well as i knew other characters.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Abortion, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Dysphoria

spoilers