Reviews tagging 'Body horror'

The Eyes Are the Best Part by Monika Kim

361 reviews

challenging dark tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

You'll never look at blue eyes the same. 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
dark emotional tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
dark tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Really good commentary and I loved how you could see the main character spiral into insanity throughout the book; but I just couldn’t get past the authors writing. Her style really wasn’t for me.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
challenging dark emotional tense fast-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

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
challenging dark tense 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

This is such an unnerving read that also proves one can be a horror read without animal-based gruesome scenes. There are fish but they're already dead and no more gruesome than any other meat. 
None of the characters are really great. They're all very human and flawed. 
There is a character who is playing 4d chess with everyone around them and I found it fascinating to read. 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
dark tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Good for her.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
dark tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
dark emotional tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

TWs apply for hella body and eye horror, sexism and racism / racial fetishization, and creeping on a high schooler.

Oh this was wonderfully creepy and delightfully fucked up.

Being a white guy in a relationship with an Asian woman (Viet, not Korean) while reading this was a trip. I'm acutely aware of how our relationship might be perceived by outsiders, and watching George be a sexist racist creep and Geoffrey devolve into something one step away from "but I'm a nice guy you bitch" gave me such contact embarrassment—and schadenfreude when they finally got what was coming to them.

Ji-won is a fascinating, flawed protagonist. The trauma of her parents divorcing due to her father's infidelity is completely understandable—putting that aside, what makes a seemingly normal person go this far, start craving human eyeballs and actively choosing victims to harvest them from? For a minute I was worried that the story was going to write off her behavior as being a result of a brain tumor, but then she pulls the twist out and throws Geoffrey under the bus and then decides to expand her palate and go after her cheating dad? I mean, good for her.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
dark sad tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
dark tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Fantastic read! I absolutely devoured it (no pun intended).

Usually books told from the perspective of an objectively bad person end up being really annoying to get through, yet the way the author wrote Ji-Won was so compelling, and her descent felt very natural. I also love the way the author sprinkled in moments from before the book’s events that hint at the fact that she’s always been a little bit unhinged. 

The horror and gore in this book is so well-written and this is probably the only time I’ve ever actually had to walk away from a book while reading it. 

Using cannibalism as a way to explore the experience of minorities in America— specifically the power structures in play as a first-gen immigrant woman was so unique and perfect.

Also, I’m never eating cherry tomatoes again. 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings