Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

The Eyes Are the Best Part by Monika Kim

51 reviews

mylordbagofrice's review against another edition

5.0

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

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Alcohol

Minor: Physical abuse

g_monaghan's review against another edition

3.0

dark emotional medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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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, Violence

Minor: Emotional abuse, Stalking, Toxic friendship

vic_tor_ia's review against another edition

4.5

dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Violence, Blood, Murder

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

emilysshelf's review against another edition

3.0

medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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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, Murder

Moderate: Body horror, Gore, Mental illness, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Xenophobia, Blood, Grief, Cultural appropriation, Abandonment, Colonisation, Classism

Minor: Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment

cloverandmoss's review against another edition

4.5

dark fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug use, Gore, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Cannibalism, Stalking, Murder, Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Kidnapping, Abandonment

luhchan's review against another edition

5.0

dark tense medium-paced

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Gore, Blood, Murder, Cultural appropriation

neesbookshelf's review against another edition

3.75

dark fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Cannibalism, Murder, Abandonment, Sexual harassment

Moderate: Xenophobia, Cultural appropriation

Minor: Stalking, Toxic friendship

spacecadetlav's review against another edition

5.0

challenging 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

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This book was so incredible. I was hooked from the beginning and it did not let down once the horror kicked in. Every action felt purposeful in progressing the narrative of the state of this family.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Emotional abuse, Torture, Xenophobia, Cannibalism, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment

Moderate: Racism

Minor: Terminal illness

mobkima's review against another edition

4.75

dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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4.75 STARS

This was such a brilliantly executed horror book. It was a fast paced decent into madness, and I couldn't keep my eyes away from it. A lot of the themes, especially about mother-daughter relationships, hit very close to home for me. I could understand Ji-Won's seething anger towards the world around her, even if by the end of the book, she was unrecognizable due to her descent to madness.

The plot twist at the end was crazy. By that final page, my jaw was left wide open. If you are a fan of shocking body horror and the types of stories where you watch someone's descent into madness, you will absolutely love this book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, Stalking, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Injury/Injury detail

lemonsaurus's review against another edition

3.75

dark emotional medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Medical content, Cannibalism, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Abandonment

Moderate: Infidelity, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Racism, Stalking, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Toxic friendship

Minor: Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Gaslighting