They all like to feel what they say is being listened to, and they all like to feel like they are the only person in the world who has ever had any feelings or had to deal with anything alone.
In another life, Ning was a boxer, retired after knocking an opponent into a coma which lasted for days. She began her new career working for Rachel at the Bird and Spa salon, staying for a decade, weathering her boss’s sharp tongue just as she did her boxing coach’s. She’s run Susan’s for five years, offering a stripped-down service to customers who never fail to return thanks to the $10 charge, no matter how much they complain. Everyone’s called Susan at Ning’s salon: it saves on nametags and avoids confusing the customers to whom they all look the same, anyway. The day begins with the baseball player who always pushes his luck asking for ‘happy endings’ much to Ning and her crew’s disgust. There’s a new girl today, welcomed by Mai, Ning’s right-hand woman and brusquely trained by Ning. As the day progresses, regulars and walk-ins are skilfully persuaded into extras, share their unhappiness and problems, offer unsolicited advice, unaware of the scathing, often funny back and forth between Ning’s team conducted in their own language offering their views on these entitled clients who notice next to nothing about the women who are performing intimate services for them.
When she says that, I begin to feel my age. People still look at me, and I can get them to look at me, but my openness is closing up.
Ning narrates her day in short, sparse prose, interspersed with glimpses of her own story. She’s a smart businesswoman, as dedicated to the success of her salon as she once was to boxing, her coach’s voice still in her head. She’s intensely private, self-contained withstanding her clients’ condescending disregard both for her and her team, their lack of curiosity palpable. Once or twice, we see the woman beneath the controlled exterior she presents to the world, even to Mai, the closest person she has to a friend, her concern for the client unable to take a pregnancy to term triggering thoughts of what motherhood might have been for her, but she continues to withhold herself despite the intimacies and secrets which pour out of her clients. I enjoyed this brief novella which might give me pause for thought on my next visit if I were a nail bar customer.
Bloomsbury Publishing: London 9781526610485 144 pages Hardback (read via NetGalley)
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It made me think about what pours out of clients in hair salons too.
Absolutely!
I was thinking the same thing!
It’s on my tbr list. I like the concept and have often wondered what goes through the minds of hair sytlists and nail technicians when clients offload.
They seem to be expected to stand in as unofficial therapists on occasion. Hope you enjoy it, Helen.
This sounds fabulous, if a little gut-wrenching. All of the women on the staff get called Susan? That’s so horrible, and so believable.
It’s such a clever touch, conveying so much in a small detail, and, as you say, all too believable.
I really like the sound of this! I have some book tokens to spend too…
Just in time for #NovNov!
I am not sure about the this one, tbh.
Ah, well, one fewer for the tbr, then.
I loved this one, it will even send me to her short stories, not something I am usually keen on! My review here: https://librofulltime.wordpress.com/2025/09/26/three-east-asian-themed-reads-juhee-mun-the-healing-power-of-korean-letter-writing-satoshi-yagisawa-days-at-the-torunka-cafe-and-souvankham-thammavongsa-pick-a-colour/
Thanks for the link, Liz. Her short stories are a treat. Such brilliant use of language as the title suggests. Hope you enjoy them.
I’m still waiting for my copy of this one at the library (I loved her stories enough to purchase this one, it’s only that I’ve made other purchasing choices recently… I might yet “cave” depending how much longer the wait becomes). It sounds like you remain just as smitten?
I do! I love her use of language and I thought it was a clever setup. I hope you won’t have to wait much longer. Presumably, it’s a popular borrowing choice.