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sapphic_alpaca's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Blood, Cannibalism, Stalking, Murder, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Child abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Torture, Violence, Medical content, Grief, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol
Minor: Vomit and Classism
tales_told_in_gold's review against another edition
dark
emotional
fast-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
4.25
Who would’ve thought I’d ever root for a cannibal? Not me!
The way this novel made me feel like such a fly on the wall, staring at the lives of Ji-won and her mother and sister as they struggled to deal with the loss of their husband / father through sudden abandonment. Even the seemingly dull aspects of their living were made fascinating by the constant tension underlying their interactions with one another.
This is more than just a story of a young woman with a sick hunger for eyeballs.. it’s a look into generational trauma and grief through the Korean-American perspective. It’s about learning how to combat against oppression from white supremacy. It’s about someone losing their mind to the downsides of life, despite being the cause of some.
Now admittedly there are some plot holes throughout, especially in the ending, but if you’re willing to suspend disbelief then “eye” gotta say.. you’ll love this revengeful tale!
The way this novel made me feel like such a fly on the wall, staring at the lives of Ji-won and her mother and sister as they struggled to deal with the loss of their husband / father through sudden abandonment. Even the seemingly dull aspects of their living were made fascinating by the constant tension underlying their interactions with one another.
This is more than just a story of a young woman with a sick hunger for eyeballs.. it’s a look into generational trauma and grief through the Korean-American perspective. It’s about learning how to combat against oppression from white supremacy. It’s about someone losing their mind to the downsides of life, despite being the cause of some.
Now admittedly there are some plot holes throughout, especially in the ending, but if you’re willing to suspend disbelief then “eye” gotta say.. you’ll love this revengeful tale!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, Blood, Cannibalism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Abandonment
Moderate: Animal death, Infidelity, Rape, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Grief, Stalking, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Classism
Minor: Cursing, Drug abuse, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, and Medical content
crin_d1nk's review against another edition
challenging
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Ji-won's life is falling apart during her first year at college. Her father unexpectedly abandons her family, her friends have all moved away while she lives at home attending community college, and her mom is barely keeping it all together. One night Ji-won agrees to eat a fish eyeball to try to make her mom happy. Little does she know that this one decision will begin an obession that will change her life forever.
Monika Kim does an amazing job creating unsettling scenes that has the reader squirming in their seats. I was pleasantly surprised by the deeper commentary Monika Kim threaded throughout the book about asian fetishization, misogyny, and generational trauma. Her ability to write male characters who give you the ick before their true nature is revealed was very impressive. I found the characters and their choices frustrating at times because I wanted them to make better choices. However, that frustration really added to the tense feelings that built up throughout the book. My only complaint was that there was an element in the ending that didn't fully make sense to me as it pertained the to the story.
Monika Kim does an amazing job creating unsettling scenes that has the reader squirming in their seats. I was pleasantly surprised by the deeper commentary Monika Kim threaded throughout the book about asian fetishization, misogyny, and generational trauma. Her ability to write male characters who give you the ick before their true nature is revealed was very impressive. I found the characters and their choices frustrating at times because I wanted them to make better choices. However, that frustration really added to the tense feelings that built up throughout the book. My only complaint was that there was an element in the ending that didn't fully make sense to me as it pertained the to the story.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror and Cannibalism
Moderate: Misogyny, Racism, and Classism
emilysshelf's review against another edition
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
It was a short read that I took longer to read than I hoped for just because it overlapped with socializing on the holidays. I do appreciate feminine rage books and usually enjoy horror/gore, I was very excited for this one based on recommendations I'd gotten. Without spoilers here are some thoughts: I feel this had a slow beginning and I can see how people may be bored and DNF early on. There's nothing super compelling about the MC's narration or life. The MC wasn't anyone I particularly cared for and come to think of it I felt this way for many of the characters. I was mostly apathetic towards Jiwon, (which may have been intentional? Unsure, the author didn't have me often rooting for her despite the obvious reasoning for us to be on her side.) Jiwon just came off as an emotionally immature and kind of jealous, pretentious asshole, especially when viewing her friends and other relationships. A lot of this could've been avoided if she just went to therapy, I get that she was a child of immigrants and her parents obviously weren't going to go be proactive about getting help themselves but for Jiwon and her sister's sake she could've TRIED. There was a bit of victimization on her part despite her "learning" to not think of herself that way and not wanting to continue that cycle like other women in her life. I do wish there were more male figures in her life that didn't suck, this book felt randomly "anti-men" in a similar way to Chlorine by Jade Song. I almost feel that the abuse in her life didn't equate her reaction, which I guess is explained a little bit at the end but I still didn't feel things were justified. Perhaps Jiwon was just a tad of a psychopath at the core or maybe she was always going to slowly unravel this way, up to you to decide I guess. I wanted Jiwon's implied attraction for Alexis to be a bigger point, I wanted her to sit with the possibility of her being LGBT and that maybe impacting her choices as well. I think we barely touched this topic and there was so much potential for their relationship to shape Jiwon's actions. As for the horror elements I think imagery wasn't too graphic and the descent into madness could've been longer, or just better executed. It wasn't super scary at all, or gross at all really, pretty tame on the cannibalism trope unless you're squeamish or new to the genre. I do wish we had a less rushed ending but I understand that it's meant to leave things open ended. Hoping this is a standalone novel and no one requests a sequel, the open ending was a good way to leave things ambiguous.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Cannibalism, and Murder
Moderate: Body horror, Gore, Mental illness, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Xenophobia, Blood, Grief, Cultural appropriation, Abandonment, Colonisation, and Classism
Minor: Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Gaslighting, and Sexual harassment
gmv's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
The book starts off very slow; her getting to her first killing happens at the halfway mark. After that, there wasn't much killing.
Lots of drama. Lots of crying.
Not enough horror.
And way too much all men are evil, dirty, dumb little bastards, and I shall bring them to justice.
Honestly, she will get caught very quickly at the rate she is going.
I'm impressed that Ji-won's hatred for men filled the hole in her brain enough so she can neatly tie up all murderous loose ends. Gotta give the MC props for that.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Self harm, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Grief, Stalking, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, and Classism
Moderate: Bullying and Pedophilia
Minor: Body horror, Blood, Murder, and Gaslighting
corsetedfeminist's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
This book is deeply unnerving but somehow also very cathartic in an unexpectedly delightful way.
Our main character, Ji-won, is simultaneously very relatable and likable and also unsettling and unpredictable. She is the oldest child of Korean immigrants who have separated just before the book begins, and her character struggles throughout with the pressure of providing for her mother and sister, processing her father leaving and her mother’s resultant breakdown, and struggling to pass her college coursework and make friends. She is smart, sassy, very blunt, and shamelessly manipulative. For all her faults, her protective love of her sister redeems her character to a large degree.
This book does a good job of blurring the lines between reality to the extent that I’m not sure how much of what Ji-won sees is a hallucination that she genuinely thinks she saw and how much is her own daydreams about what she wishes would happen. Regardless, Ji-won’s gradual loss of her grip on sanity is extremely well written.
The brilliance of this book is that most of the horror is far too realistic. Middle aged white men who fetishize and take advantage of Asian women are unfortunately very real as are annoying men who pretend to be friends with a girl because they have ulterior motives. Those horrors are presented in their bleak reality, no embellishment needed.
The body horror is also presented very matter of factly, which works quite well in context- this probably goes without saying, but if you can’t do eyes and cannibalism, this is not the book for you.
In short, this book does a fantastic job of discussing the intersection of racism and sexism within the context of a blunt horror story that provides very satisfying catharsis by the end… if Ji-won hadn’t killed off George by the end, I would have thrown myself into the book pages to do it myself.
Our main character, Ji-won, is simultaneously very relatable and likable and also unsettling and unpredictable. She is the oldest child of Korean immigrants who have separated just before the book begins, and her character struggles throughout with the pressure of providing for her mother and sister, processing her father leaving and her mother’s resultant breakdown, and struggling to pass her college coursework and make friends. She is smart, sassy, very blunt, and shamelessly manipulative. For all her faults, her protective love of her sister redeems her character to a large degree.
This book does a good job of blurring the lines between reality to the extent that I’m not sure how much of what Ji-won sees is a hallucination that she genuinely thinks she saw and how much is her own daydreams about what she wishes would happen. Regardless, Ji-won’s gradual loss of her grip on sanity is extremely well written.
The brilliance of this book is that most of the horror is far too realistic. Middle aged white men who fetishize and take advantage of Asian women are unfortunately very real as are annoying men who pretend to be friends with a girl because they have ulterior motives. Those horrors are presented in their bleak reality, no embellishment needed.
The body horror is also presented very matter of factly, which works quite well in context- this probably goes without saying, but if you can’t do eyes and cannibalism, this is not the book for you.
In short, this book does a fantastic job of discussing the intersection of racism and sexism within the context of a blunt horror story that provides very satisfying catharsis by the end… if Ji-won hadn’t killed off George by the end, I would have thrown myself into the book pages to do it myself.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Body shaming, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Medical content, Grief, Cannibalism, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Cultural appropriation, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
mandi_lea's review against another edition
dark
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gore, Infidelity, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Cannibalism, Stalking, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
hardbackhoarder's review against another edition
dark
emotional
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
The synapsis tells you the plot, but this is really about diving into racism, sexism, social classes, and many other hateful practices that our society is built on in the USA. The direct call outs on behaviors and stereotypes of men are great discussion pieces on their own and I think this would make a great book club pick. Though, it is not for the faint of heart.
(also FINALLY a revenge story that doesn't start with r*pe)
(also FINALLY a revenge story that doesn't start with r*pe)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Infidelity, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Cannibalism, Stalking, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Mental illness, and Grief
Minor: Cursing, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Medical content, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Alcohol
The gore bits, especially related to the eyes, are detailed.minimicropup's review against another edition
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
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? It's complicated
4.5
Never thought I’d be rooting so hard for someone to get eyeballs. This temporarily ruined tomatoes for me.
Energy: Resilient. Direct. Urgent.
Scene: 🇺🇸 Set in and around Koreatown, Los Angeles
Perspective: We follow an 18-year-old college student living at home when their father suddenly divorces their mother, leaveing them and their sibling behind. They navigate their mother’s heartbreak and a toxic stepparent while trying to build a foundation for their future.
🐕 Howls: Dialogue was a little stilted sometimes in a way that knocked me out of story.
🐩 Tail Wags: Short chapters. Plot snapshots that get to the point immediately. Mix of direct commentary with symbolism and subtly underneath. Family dynamics. Relatable homicidal thoughts. The ending.
🤔 Random Thoughts:
I thought this would be bizarro weird, like how could it not be? But it’s surprisingly realistic feeling.
The commentary is heavy and direct in some places, but not over the top. Just obvious monologues and red flags that characters ignore because Trauma. But there's subtle symbolism and commentary in the background events too. I think this could be a good book club book...if you don’t mind eye stuff.
That ending was so satisfying. I predicted it after reveals in the last 75% but was hooked rooting for Ji-won. There are unresolved plot lines, but not in a bad way, just not everything is tied up tidily. It ends naturally without ‘solving’ everything.
The writing style felt YA to me. Not in a bad way – we’re following the life of a young adult! But if you aren’t used to that or don’t like it, then it could feel simplistic. Also, for 14+ readers I think this could be a fun to cathartic read (but check those content warnings too).
Can we get a streaming adaptation please?
🤓 Reader Role: Riding the emotional roller coaster. Ji-won candidly telling us her story, what is happening, and her motivations and feels.
🗺️ World-Building: Foreboding. Easy to imagine. Not overly detailed.
🔥 Fuel: Emotional investment atmospheric tension + cathartic energy. Will Ji-won survive the toxic men in her life? Can she protect herself and her sister? Is she starting to catch feelings for her new friend? What will she do about her new cravings?
📖 Cred: Plausible realism (if forensics/police are incompetent, which happens!)
Mood Reading Match-Up:
Peppermint. Fish eyes. Blue eyes. Kimchi jjiage. Slamming doors. Chinese American takeout. Lecture halls. Pocket knife. Salty brine. Metal. Footsteps. Emojis. Tequila. Oleander.
· Generational trauma
· Surreal dreams and nightmares
· Symbolic cannibalistic cravings
· Hint of crushing on a Bestie sapphic romance
· Shitty stepparent horrors
· Toxic men behaving badly
· Vengeance gore and fantasizing
· Paranoia, real life, or unhinged?
· Direct but deep commentary on misogyny and racism
· Psychological horror with elements of body horror
· Claustrophobic family life
· Destiny, fortune, fate
· Sisterhood
· Feminine Dexter-style rage
Content Heads-Up: Parental abandonment. Infidelity, spousal abandonment, heartbreak/grief. Extreme poverty, starvation (very brief recall, off page). Generational trauma. Unhealthy parent (triangulation, passive aggressive, guilting). Racism (fetishization, virtue signalling, objectification, targeting/taking advantage of language barriers, prejudice, bias, projecting). Toxic wokeness. Toxic masculinity/misogyny (sexual comments, leering). Step-incest/abuse (leering, sexually charged comments, controlling). Toxic friendship (controlling, monitoring, guilting, stalking, obsession). Homicidal/intrusive thoughts. Blood. Cannibalism. Medical (brief; tumours, hospital). Vomit. Parental neglect (toxic romantic partner).
Rep: Korean, Black, and White Americans. Koreans. Second generation culture. Cisgender. Heterosexual. Pale, brown-freckled, and ambiguous skin tones.
📚 Format: Library Digital
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Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny, Racism, Toxic relationship, Cannibalism, Toxic friendship, and Abandonment
Moderate: Infidelity, Stalking, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Vomit, Grief, and Classism