Reviews tagging 'Misogyny'

The Eyes Are the Best Part by Monika Kim

15 reviews

chrissypops's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny informative mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

Thank you netgalley, Monika Kim and Kensington Books, Erewhon Books for the arc of The Eyes are the Best Part.

This was a great, fun quick, gory read of Ji- Won and her increasing obsession of blue eyes after she tastes her first fish eye at home. The narrative was medium paced at the beginning picking up to a fast pace from half way through the book. The descriptive gore when Ji-won starts realising she's addicted to eyes is well done, because it's added with the dread and the build up of the obsession.

I feel that this book also tackles loss, grief, mental heath and abuse very well. The Korean culture and expectations was interweaved within the narrative beautifully and made for a wonderful tense read. Would love to see this released into the audiobook world! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Addiction, Domestic abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Cannibalism, and Grief

Moderate: Toxic friendship, Sexism, Stalking, and Misogyny

woodsybookworm's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Received as an ARC from NetGalley and the publisher Kensington Books (thank you, both) in exchange for an honest and unbiased review. 

A deep dive into the hardships of a second generation woman struggling to keep herself and her family together as her mind unravels and begins to hunger not only for her own autonomy, but for eyeballs. 

Ji-won’s life is crumbling around her - she's self sabotaged her relationship with her childhood friends, she can barely keep her grades up let alone forge new friendship or partnerships, her father abandoned the family for another woman, and now her mother is dating a man with an Asian fetish. Nothing could be worse, until she starts dreaming of eyeballs, hungering for eyeballs. 

 The gore wasn't overly descriptive, but it worked just enough to keep me squirming whenever it came up. I will most definitely be having nightmares about eyeballs after reading this book.

The first half of the book was a slow build up in which we learned about the characters, their background, how the family ended up in the position they're in now - and then it ramps up with Ji-won spiraling out of control until the end. But it ended rather abruptly and it left me wanting more! 

Overall, it was a great read and a wonderful debut. I look forward to reading more from the author in the future. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Cannibalism, Racism, Toxic friendship, Misogyny, Murder, Gore, and Death

devynreadsnovels's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Misogyny, Murder, Blood, Gore, Infidelity, Mental illness, Sexual harassment, Toxic friendship, Violence, Death, Pedophilia, Racism, Body horror, Cannibalism, Sexism, and Stalking

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, Abandonment, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Cursing, and Gaslighting

madelinereadsbooks's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

4.0

When her father leaves her mother for another woman, Ji-won’s life is left in shambles. Her mother is inconsolable, until she meets the awful George. Ji-won fixates on his blue eyes as her life falls apart around her.

Ji-won was a wonderfully complicated main character, whom I couldn’t help but side with, even as she began spiralling. Kim did an incredible job of ensuring the reader felt for Ji-won throughout the entire novel. Additionally, the way she touches on race issues, particularly demonstrating how damaging the fetishisation of Asian women is, ensured the novel worked below the surface level. I especially loved the ending - it was perfect.

4/5 stars

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Cannibalism, Death, Gore, Infidelity, Body horror, Sexual harassment, Murder, Stalking, Racism, and Violence

Moderate: Kidnapping, Misogyny, Abandonment, and Self harm

Minor: Toxic friendship, Car accident, Cancer, and Vomit

aedoran08's review against another edition

dark emotional tense slow-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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cannibalism, Blood, and Body horror

Moderate: Toxic friendship, Death, Sexism, Misogyny, Racism, Abandonment, and Stalking

Minor: Pedophilia, Alcoholism, Grief, and Drug abuse