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metanav's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
tense
fast-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
3.5
interesting enough book on feminine rage, specifically exacerbated by her experiences as an asian american woman suffering from very real things that i've experienced as a feminine asian american person myself. at times felt a little too on the nose, but that could've been purposeful, with the focus to be more on ji-won's spiral. overall i liked ji-won more than i didn't, but i didn't love her either.
multiple aspects of the story (ex: failed/sabotaged high school friendships) served a specific purpose but it didn't fully carry it out and as a result felt out of place. unless i'm misremembering as i did read this part at like 1am,even the event itself felt almost OOC to me? her hiding her friend's ring to try to sabotage the friendship just over jealousy of not getting into the school? it would've been one thing if their friendship was set up to be tumultuous to begin with, but the fact that it was established to be completely cordial up until that point made everything feel off kilter. even w/ some brushed over history and the events throughout the story, the buildup of everything ji-won was going through felt very sudden and abrupt despite attempts to build it up. the cancer reveal was a definitely an eye roll, and the end of the book overall left me dissatisfied.
wish there was more on ji-won and alexis's relationship though! and umma's character definitely plucked at my heartstrings, even though she is completely different from my own mother, just remembering her own personal struggles as a poor refugee definitely made me emotional over her both her parents' struggles.
multiple aspects of the story (ex: failed/sabotaged high school friendships) served a specific purpose but it didn't fully carry it out and as a result felt out of place. unless i'm misremembering as i did read this part at like 1am,
wish there was more on ji-won and alexis's relationship though! and umma's character definitely plucked at my heartstrings, even though she is completely different from my own mother, just remembering her own personal struggles as a poor refugee definitely made me emotional over her both her parents' struggles.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gore, Misogyny, Racism, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Cannibalism, Stalking, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Infidelity, Pedophilia, Suicidal thoughts, Kidnapping, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Alcohol
Minor: Cancer, Kidnapping, and Toxic friendship
danimacuk's review against another edition
dark
tense
medium-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
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Blood, Grief, Cannibalism, Murder, and Abandonment
Moderate: Gore, Infidelity, Racism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Medical content, Stalking, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Self harm, and Vomit
yellerreads's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-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
4.0
i thought this book was interesting for a lot of reasons even though i felt strangely unfulfilled. Ji-won was extremely intelligent and had a lot figured out but she also acted like she had no idea what she was doing a lot of the time which bothered me. she had amazing anecdotes and insights about culture, fetishism and misogyny yet i felt like it didn’t directly relate to the story in a certain aspect. i appreciate wholeheartedly that the author worked the struggles of asian women into the novel and i think the insight was extremely important, but there were some disjointed aspects of her thoughts. i’m not sure why i feel this way, i just do.
i think the men were disgusting characters as they were meant to be, and they were written fantastically. a lot of the time with novels such as these, i find myself loving the female protagonist even though she is meant to be a very ambiguous character, but in this case i found myself disliking her often throughout the book, which bothered me because i wanted to like her so much.
i really was overall conflicted with my feelings throughout the book even though i felt like it was written amazingly, and the story was great and wrapped up very nicely.
<<kinda spoiler>>
i also really wish that the whole tumor thing was actually discussed more/ acknowledged rather than being thrown in. it felt as though it was a last minute decision that attempted to explain away the hallucinations rather than an actual reason for behavior and feelings.
<<end spoiler>>
overall i really did enjoy the book regardless of my conflicted feelings about plot and characters and i thought the writing was absolutely wonderful. and i love the author! definitely recommend!!
i think the men were disgusting characters as they were meant to be, and they were written fantastically. a lot of the time with novels such as these, i find myself loving the female protagonist even though she is meant to be a very ambiguous character, but in this case i found myself disliking her often throughout the book, which bothered me because i wanted to like her so much.
i really was overall conflicted with my feelings throughout the book even though i felt like it was written amazingly, and the story was great and wrapped up very nicely.
<<kinda spoiler>>
i also really wish that the whole tumor thing was actually discussed more/ acknowledged rather than being thrown in. it felt as though it was a last minute decision that attempted to explain away the hallucinations rather than an actual reason for behavior and feelings.
<<end spoiler>>
overall i really did enjoy the book regardless of my conflicted feelings about plot and characters and i thought the writing was absolutely wonderful. and i love the author! definitely recommend!!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Pedophilia, Xenophobia, and Cannibalism
Moderate: Sexism, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
le_mur's review
dark
tense
slow-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
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Cannibalism, and Murder
Moderate: Gore, Misogyny, Racism, Stalking, and Toxic friendship
Minor: Pedophilia, Medical content, 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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Violence, and Cannibalism
snovella's review against another edition
dark
sad
tense
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? It's complicated
2.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Xenophobia, and Cannibalism
Moderate: Racism and Stalking
Minor: Pedophilia
bitchigo's review against another edition
dark
emotional
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
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror
Moderate: Racism, Xenophobia, Blood, Cannibalism, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Pedophilia
aspiringcowboy's review against another edition
dark
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? Yes
4.0
maybe a little heavy-handed in its social commentary + the ending feels somewhat rushed + it could've been grosser... but otherwise a very fun and engaging debut
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Misogyny, Racism, Blood, and Cannibalism
Moderate: Pedophilia and Toxic friendship
clovetra's review against another edition
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
oh jiwon…. i had such high hopes for you. were my expectations unrealistic? yeah probably. did i wish i loved this more? yeah.
did i still have a decent time? yeah!
this book is tagged as adult but reads sooooo much like a YA. which that’s fine! but then tag it that way so my expectations are changed. i was expecting something a bit more insane like maeve fly & instead i got she is a haunting. iykyk
the biggest issue of this book is the first half of this book. it wasn’t great. the first half almost acts like a set-up for all the plot in the second half, but instead it feels repetitive and lacking depth. like ok i get we need some time to give a shit about the characters, but when spending the first half developing characters and they still feel boring…. it’s not good. i only really enjoyed jiwon in the second half of the book. almost everyone else felt like a trope or very formulaic, and had one discernible trait. and the minute almost every character was introduced i could predict where the plot was going to take them.
this book also made several missteps in my opinion. first, giving jiwon a brain tumour was stupid. it felt like a hail mary. sure it made sense seeing as she was hallucinating, but it felt like it was almost completely random with no foreshadowing and rhyme or reason to it other than to get jiwon to still be in the hospital & get off scott free from george’s attempted murder. also, her relationship with alexis not going anywhere annoyed me. like seriously what was the point of having a subplot about their will-they-won’t they? the story doesn’t end in a way that has any pay off for this plot point, and instead it felt like it was wasted time that could’ve gone to fleshing out the horror elements earlier, or to explore more of jiwon’s family.
i will say though, i really liked the horror elements (once the book actually got to them). the descriptions of the eyes was sublime to read, and god at some points i almost felt a tad nauseous. i really think that point was well done.
i had such high hopes for this. i was really looking forward to this, and this was easily one of my most looked forward to reads of 2025. instead, i got served a big slice of disappointment pie :(
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Infidelity, Medical content, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Abandonment
Moderate: Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, Stalking, Cultural appropriation, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol
Minor: Pedophilia
susiedoom's review against another edition
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
As deliciously horrific is the cover! This tense literary horror tracks a Korean American teen's descent into a dark obsession after her mother convinces her to eat cooked fish eyes for good luck. It's not full of jump scares or creepy paranormal monsters, but it absolutely had me on the edge of my seat with my skin crawling. Can't wait to read whatever Monika Kim writes next!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Mental illness, Racism, and Cannibalism
Moderate: Pedophilia