Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

The Eyes Are the Best Part by Monika Kim

27 reviews

irmitcrab's review against another edition

adventurous dark fast-paced

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

3.5

the messages got a little heavy handed for me, like i didn't feel that it was necessary to have the feminist overtones spelled out so frequently and blatantly. i would rather have just drawn my own conclusions for ji-won's motivations bc they were pretty clear to begin with. BUT, all that being said, i thought it was a fun thriller with a fun killer protagonist to root for, and the heavy handedness of it made sense in that context. like yeah i'll root for the traumatized man killer, she deserves a little treat. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Stalking, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

sapphic_alpaca's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense

4.0

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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

amaranth_wytch's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Racism, Sexism, Violence, Cannibalism, Stalking, Murder, and Abandonment

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Blood, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Cursing, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Medical content, Death of parent, and Toxic friendship

callme_tippy's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional reflective tense fast-paced

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

5.0

This book was disgusting in all the best ways. 

I enjoy books with unhinged women so I had high hopes for this one and it did not disappoint. 

This was a light exploration of misogyny, anger, hatred, responsibility, and family dynamics. 

Does this book have some cliches that I normally roll my eyes at? Yes. 
Is it the most amazing writing ever? No. 
Did I still every second of this weird ride? Absolutely! 

Would recommend! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Racism, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Stalking, Murder, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Pedophilia

Minor: Adult/minor relationship

honeywolf's review against another edition

Too oopy goopy for me

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Racism, Cannibalism, Stalking, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Sexual harassment

kryfred's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Violence, and Cannibalism

mylordbagofrice's review

dark sad tense medium-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Racism, Toxic relationship, Blood, Cannibalism, Stalking, Murder, and Cultural appropriation

Moderate: Alcohol

Minor: Physical abuse

g_monaghan's review

dark emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Social critique of the fetishisation of asain women (perpetrated by white men in particular) with a nod to early 1800's hysteria thrown in, and an unreliable narrator.

Not as much body horror as you would expect but the opening chapters are relatively gross 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Torture, and Violence

Minor: Emotional abuse, Stalking, and Toxic friendship

vic_tor_ia's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Violence, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Racism, Stalking, and Cultural appropriation

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. 

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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