Reviews

Monika Kim’s The Eyes are The Best Part is a visceral and unsettling journey into the mind of its deeply disturbed protagonist. For novels like this, I often ask myself, “where did the hurt begin?”—and in this case, it’s all too clear for the main character. As for the author, Monika Kim, I need answers.

The way Kim describes eyes is both captivating and unnerving. Their eventual consumption left me feeling physically ill—I had to force myself to push through those parts. The balance between attraction and revulsion in her writing is masterful.

George and Geoffrey, two of the most disturbingly obnoxious characters, somehow manage to land on opposite ends of the creep spectrum. Despite their differences, both succeeded in making my skin crawl for completely different reasons.

The protagonist should have definitely listened to her professor and sought out the on-campus counselor. Watching her spiral was both frustrating and haunting, but in a twisted way, I couldn’t help but think, “good for her.”

This is a novel that will stay with me long after the last page. Monika Kim has etched disturbing images, sounds, and—unfortunately—tastes into my subconscious. I’m going to be thinking about The Eyes are The Best Part for a while, and probably avoiding significant eye contact in the process.

jessareader's review against another edition

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dark 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

3.0

krisglomb's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.25

What a horrific ride Ji-won takes us on. This book starts off unsettling, and it slowly builds to a full blown horror.

In this book, like lots of horror books, a lot of the characters’ environment is what makes the horror: parents who don’t care about her, no personal or private space, immense pressure to succeed, no friends who understand your home situation, a predator circling and then living in your home… the twist is that we’re following the monster in this story.

Ji-won was such an interesting narrator. She’s dealing with some abnormal and some normal pressures as she enters college. She’s having trouble making friends and succeeding in her classes. On top of that, her family struggles financially, her parents are going through a divorce, and her mother is emotionally manipulative and also not present for her daughters. Ji-won starts off wanting to be the optimistic oldest daughter who, even if she doesn’t think everything is going to be ok, wants to be good and fix everything.

One night she tries a fish eye to appease her mother and everything goes downhill.

We see the absolutely effed backgrounds of her two parents. We see how angry and secretive Ji-won is capable of being. We see her curiosity in hurting people close to her when she feels threatened and then we see that grow into a love in other people’s pain and an unusual hunger that can rarely be sated.

The amazing thing about her story is that none of this feels inevitable, but it’s also not outstanding that Ji-won moves to the choice of turning unto this monster over what she feels like would be the death of her. She learns to see the cruelty and violence as strength rather than cruelty and violence and never learns the lessons her caring friends try to teach her and instead takes advantage of them. It’s as heartbreaking as it is terrifying. We end the book with Ji-won reveling in her power. She deserves that moment, but even what she’s won somehow feels fake.

Quoted:

Umma and Appa had laughed afterward saying, “What could a two-year-old possibly be stressed about?”

Was that water stain always there? Has the carpet always been this discolored? Why is everything we own broken?

But while his anger was a great and terrible thing, sending us scrambling for cover whenever it reared its ugly head, his happiness was modest and subdued.

It was satisfying, seeing the chaos I had achieved in such a short amount of time.

“Why do you do this? Whenever you do something wrong, you expect us to forgive you […] You never apologized. You always expect us to get over it.”

It exhilarates and terrifies me, knowing that I’m being watched.

I hate that she has to comfort me, that somewhere in the apartment my mother is snuggled up with her awful boyfriend while Ji-hyun and I are left to pick up the pieces.

She looks hurt. I should feel bad, but I don’t. If anything, I feel better—like I’ve transferred some of my pain to her.

In a way, it’s a good thing. She’s too preoccupied to see my unravelling.

But as I grew older, I came to realize that this was one of Umma’s many untruths. She didn’t know what I was thinking or how I was feeling. If she did, she wouldn’t have acted this way.

My mother may be too weak to protect herself, and my sister too young. But I’m neither of those things […] They have no idea how powerful I already am.

ellakostka's review against another edition

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4.0

★★★★☆ 3.5/5 that ending was so fucking satisfying

ryanbensonsmith's review against another edition

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dark emotional tense

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

tnt31's review against another edition

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dark mysterious sad tense fast-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

3.75

iluvbooks18's review against another edition

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challenging dark medium-paced

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

4.5

This book was so disgusting but so good. The character development was crazy and the twists were insane. The ending was satisfying as well. LOCK HER UPP

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