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bookishmillennial's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
disclaimer: I don’t really give starred reviews. I hope my reviews provide enough information to let you know if a book is for you or not. Find me here: https://linktr.ee/bookishmillennial
As an API woman during API heritage month, let me just say I again, support women’s wrongs, specifically Ji-won’s wrongs 💅🏽
This horror/thriller novel revolves around Ji-won who begins to fixate on and dream about blue eyes, as she navigates college, her parents’ separation, her mom dating, sexism, fetishization of API women, racism, and more. I love seeing fictional yt men suffer tbh.
Though it has a slow start, I ended up reading it in one sitting & would absolutely read from Monika Kim again!
As an API woman during API heritage month, let me just say I again, support women’s wrongs, specifically Ji-won’s wrongs 💅🏽
This horror/thriller novel revolves around Ji-won who begins to fixate on and dream about blue eyes, as she navigates college, her parents’ separation, her mom dating, sexism, fetishization of API women, racism, and more. I love seeing fictional yt men suffer tbh.
Though it has a slow start, I ended up reading it in one sitting & would absolutely read from Monika Kim again!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cannibalism, Body horror, and Gore
Moderate: Racial slurs, Pedophilia, Racism, Stalking, Misogyny, and Cancer
ellulin's review
4.0
The Eyes are the Best Part is a short and fast paced horror novel about a young korean-american woman trying to navigate college in the midst of her parents separating. Her mom starts dating a new guy who does not seem like a great pick, she is starting to have weird dream about blue blue eyes, and her little sister is starting to notice something is not right with her.
This novel deals with how children deal with their parents separating and how it impacts them even if they are already adults. It also talks a lot about racism and the hypersexualisation of asian women. Queer characters are implied.
At the beginning of this book I was a little confused about why it was classified as horror but it is just due to a slow beggining (in terms of horror). If you are squeamish about eyes, please do not pick up this book, even the descriptions about eating fish eyes were a lot so I am warning you. There is not a lot of body horror besides eye stuff.
I think that the main character, Ji-won, and her mother are well written but most of the other characters are unfortunately very one tone. For the villains I don't really mind honestly as it drives the point home harder, but I was sad not to learn more about her sister or her friend Alexis. The ending was also veryyyy fast paced and there is huge reveal that is kind of brushed under the rug and that felt a bit weird.
Overall I like the gross body horror, the ending even if it was a bit rushed, and having an unhinged female character. It could have benefited from being a little longer but it is a fun short read and I would definitely recommend it.
Thank you NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this book.
This novel deals with how children deal with their parents separating and how it impacts them even if they are already adults. It also talks a lot about racism and the hypersexualisation of asian women. Queer characters are implied.
At the beginning of this book I was a little confused about why it was classified as horror but it is just due to a slow beggining (in terms of horror). If you are squeamish about eyes, please do not pick up this book, even the descriptions about eating fish eyes were a lot so I am warning you. There is not a lot of body horror besides eye stuff.
I think that the main character, Ji-won, and her mother are well written but most of the other characters are unfortunately very one tone. For the villains I don't really mind honestly as it drives the point home harder, but I was sad not to learn more about her sister or her friend Alexis. The ending was also veryyyy fast paced and there is huge reveal that is kind of brushed under the rug and that felt a bit weird.
Overall I like the gross body horror, the ending even if it was a bit rushed, and having an unhinged female character. It could have benefited from being a little longer but it is a fun short read and I would definitely recommend it.
Thank you NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Cannibalism, Murder, and Gore
Moderate: Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, Racism, Cultural appropriation, and Misogyny
r_o_s_e's review against another edition
dark
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
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness, Murder, Gore, Racism, Blood, Body horror, Cannibalism, and Misogyny
Moderate: Cultural appropriation, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship
Minor: Infidelity, Kidnapping, Drug use, Medical content, Stalking, and Vomit
emeliaisreading_'s review
dark
sad
tense
medium-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
3.75
Title: The Eyes Are The Best Part by Monika Kim
Genre: Psychological Thriller/Horror
Pub Date: June 25, 2024
⭐ 3.75/5
🥢 Descent Into Insanity
🧿 Korean FMC
🥢 Feminine Rage
We watch as a sleep deprived college student decends into insanity. A Korean college student decends into madness as the men in her life continue to disappear or disappoint. After a fateful meal with her Umma, she's consumed with the thought of eyes between her teeth.
I must admit I was confused for the beginning of the book, but once I realized what was happening it was pretty interesting. I'm not sure if I can say it necessarily fits the horror genre, but I think eyeballs make basically everyone squeamish so if you're not into descriptive horror this might not be for you! I did appreciate the feminine rage wasn't for one political side or the other because honestly, there are disgusting people on both sides 👏
Thank you so much NetGalley and Kensington Books for the review copy!🫶
Genre: Psychological Thriller/Horror
Pub Date: June 25, 2024
⭐ 3.75/5
🥢 Descent Into Insanity
🧿 Korean FMC
🥢 Feminine Rage
We watch as a sleep deprived college student decends into insanity. A Korean college student decends into madness as the men in her life continue to disappear or disappoint. After a fateful meal with her Umma, she's consumed with the thought of eyes between her teeth.
I must admit I was confused for the beginning of the book, but once I realized what was happening it was pretty interesting. I'm not sure if I can say it necessarily fits the horror genre, but I think eyeballs make basically everyone squeamish so if you're not into descriptive horror this might not be for you! I did appreciate the feminine rage wasn't for one political side or the other because honestly, there are disgusting people on both sides 👏
Thank you so much NetGalley and Kensington Books for the review copy!🫶
Content Warnings
Moderate: Gore, Cannibalism, Mental illness, and Misogyny
Minor: Xenophobia, Sexism, and Stalking
fanni_ambr_'s review against another edition
dark
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
👁 ARC REVIEW 👁
10/10 concept, the execution is ify tho. It's good enough, but you can tell that this is a debut novel.
There were more hard-hitting themes than I expected. The mother is such a deeply sad character. She sometimes felt more like folklore than a human for some reason. I struggled to see her as a real person. Her decisions and reactions are very much believable but there's just something cartoonish about her.
I related to Ji-wons academic failures more than I care to admit. Also, this might just be my opinion, because I didn't pick up on the author confirming or denying it, but her relationship with Alexis has undertones of a crush. Maybe in a next book we'll see (I assume by the ending that a book 2 is planned).
Ji-won's other uni friend however... The wayyyyyy Geoffrey irked me from his very first appearance is incredible.. Later the book makes it clear that his pretentiousness and surface level feminism are intentional, and he's meant to be a loser like that, but still.
George was also incredibly infuriating but I kinda skipped over some of his bullshittery because I figured that he's probably gonna die. And that brings peace into the reading experience ngl. Most of my annotations about him were simple like "JAIL" and "HELL NAH".
On the topic of disappointing men, it's ironic that the root of all troubles is the father and yet we never see him.
Ji-won's unreliable narration takes us on trips sometimes, made me question what's real and what isn't a few times. I enjoy lucid dreams in fiction, they have lots of potential.
The events that did happen were.. a choice. The rest of the book is so woven through with serious subjects that I can't not take the serial killing part also seriously. There's no way in hell that this girl got away with all that. The first kill is later in the book than I thought it would be, and sometimes Ji-won's violence is quite out of the blue. But that's all fine, the unrealistic thing is that on every scene there is her DNA, she pays no attention to hiding what she's done, and all bodies are found near to where she's been last seen. I get the part that the police is looking for a man and she probably won't be charged because they underestimate her. But even the book acknowledges that she could very easily be caught based on all the evidence she left behind.
In the end I think it's supposed to be a girlboss moment the way she ties everything together and pulls it off, but dude it was mere luck. If you wanna read her as a girlboss that's fine, but I just don't buy it.
It was still better than A Certain Hunger, this one has a lot more value and important themes, would recommend this one over that.
10/10 concept, the execution is ify tho. It's good enough, but you can tell that this is a debut novel.
There were more hard-hitting themes than I expected. The mother is such a deeply sad character. She sometimes felt more like folklore than a human for some reason. I struggled to see her as a real person. Her decisions and reactions are very much believable but there's just something cartoonish about her.
I related to Ji-wons academic failures more than I care to admit. Also, this might just be my opinion, because I didn't pick up on the author confirming or denying it, but her relationship with Alexis has undertones of a crush. Maybe in a next book we'll see (I assume by the ending that a book 2 is planned).
Ji-won's other uni friend however... The wayyyyyy Geoffrey irked me from his very first appearance is incredible.. Later the book makes it clear that his pretentiousness and surface level feminism are intentional, and he's meant to be a loser like that, but still.
George was also incredibly infuriating but I kinda skipped over some of his bullshittery because I figured that he's probably gonna die. And that brings peace into the reading experience ngl. Most of my annotations about him were simple like "JAIL" and "HELL NAH".
On the topic of disappointing men, it's ironic that the root of all troubles is the father and yet we never see him.
Ji-won's unreliable narration takes us on trips sometimes, made me question what's real and what isn't a few times. I enjoy lucid dreams in fiction, they have lots of potential.
The events that did happen were.. a choice. The rest of the book is so woven through with serious subjects that I can't not take the serial killing part also seriously. There's no way in hell that this girl got away with all that. The first kill is later in the book than I thought it would be, and sometimes Ji-won's violence is quite out of the blue. But that's all fine, the unrealistic thing is that on every scene there is her DNA, she pays no attention to hiding what she's done, and all bodies are found near to where she's been last seen. I get the part that the police is looking for a man and she probably won't be charged because they underestimate her. But even the book acknowledges that she could very easily be caught based on all the evidence she left behind.
In the end I think it's supposed to be a girlboss moment the way she ties everything together and pulls it off, but dude it was mere luck. If you wanna read her as a girlboss that's fine, but I just don't buy it.
It was still better than A Certain Hunger, this one has a lot more value and important themes, would recommend this one over that.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cannibalism and Body horror
Moderate: Racism, Misogyny, and Stalking
lauren_reads_outside's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Thank you NetGalley for the ARC of this book.
This book was hard to read, not because it wasn't good but because the characters and the imagery were so clear it was difficult to get through without flinching. In high school we dissected sheep's eyes and I've never wished more that I didn't know what it feels like to hold and cut into an eyeball as I did while reading this book.
I do wish the queer coded scenes with Ji-won and Alexis went a little bit further as they just sort of end up as an aside to the main story. The main story though really tells of a woman who simply has reached the edge and snapped and honestly who can blame her.
This book was hard to read, not because it wasn't good but because the characters and the imagery were so clear it was difficult to get through without flinching. In high school we dissected sheep's eyes and I've never wished more that I didn't know what it feels like to hold and cut into an eyeball as I did while reading this book.
I do wish the queer coded scenes with Ji-won and Alexis went a little bit further as they just sort of end up as an aside to the main story. The main story though really tells of a woman who simply has reached the edge and snapped and honestly who can blame her.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Death, Blood, Misogyny, Infidelity, Racism, Body horror, Cannibalism, and Gore
Moderate: Misogyny, Sexism, Stalking, and Racial slurs
Minor: Pedophilia and Pregnancy
chrissypops's review
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!
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!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Addiction, Domestic abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Cannibalism, and Grief
Moderate: Toxic friendship, Sexism, Stalking, and Misogyny
woodsybookworm's review
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.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Cannibalism, Racism, Toxic friendship, Misogyny, Murder, Gore, and Death
devynreadsnovels's review
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
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
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
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