If you follow South Korean cultural exports ¡ª and who doesn¡¯t after ¡°Parasite¡± bagged the Academy Award for best picture this year ¡ª you¡¯d be forgiven for thinking that modern Korea is a tough place to live. It is often portrayed as a sci-fi dystopia, riven by class divisions, where depressed labor drones toil away in a soulless daze, killing themselves at alarming rates. And that¡¯s just the men.
A closer look at how women are navigating the mean streets of Seoul is Frances Cha¡¯s debut novel, ¡°If I Had Your Face.¡± Published in the U.S. last month, it is a story of gender inequality and lives ruled by the money of men, of impossible beauty standards and their effect on Korean women. For Cha¡¯s characters, the sole means for advance is their looks, which must follow the dictates of girl bands and plastic surgery.
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