Tag: 5 out of 5 reads

Frances Cha—If I had your face *****

In an exclusive Seoul neigbourhood, is a cheap apartment building where a married couple and several single young women live. Minho is a talented artist, Kyuri, after multiple plastic surgeries, is a beautiful room salon worker in debt, and Ara a hairstylist.

This contemporary tale not only delves into women struggling to survive in an expensive city but explores the attitude of the rich who use and abuse those they consider to be on a lower peg than themselves. A must read for those who are curious about Korea’s social hierarchy and the lives some are forced to live.

Yoko Ogawa’s—The memory police *****

A novelist lives alone on a remote island since her parents have been removed by the memory police. It is not only people who have disappeared, but objects too—hats, the ferry service to the northern island—things that are also removed from the inhabitants’ memories. Every now and then when she wakes, she senses something else has disappeared.

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Elena Ferrante’s — My brilliant friend *****

From childhood, Elena and Lina are friends. Throughout the 1950s, they know nothing of Naples—the city they live in beyond the impoverished suburb they inhabit. Elena struggles to be first in class, but realizes she will always be second to Lina. When they reach adolescence, their lives take different directions, but will either of them be able to escape into a different life from the reality of their deprived mothers?

This is a compelling step into the Italian mentality of the times, from the limited lives of women to the overbearing macho mentality of the men who frequently react with violence.

Nancy Huston’s — The mark of an angel *****

Saffie is a German living in Paris in the 1950s who works for a musician, Raphael. Raphael falls desperately in love with Saffie while she appears strangely aloof. They have a child together, but when Saffie meets Marias, their lives fall apart and Saffie’s haunted past comes to light.

This is Huston at her best. While I read this novel more than a decade ago, it’s tale has always remained embedded in my memory — a sure sign of an exceptional story.