Reviews tagging 'Cancer'

Das Beste sind die Augen by Monika Kim

16 reviews

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Okay so where do I start with The Eyes Are The Best Part. Monika Kim really is an excellent storyteller and her writing style was so intriguing and made me feel so suspenseful it actually felt like there was a pit in the bottom of my stomach. I adored this book more than words can say but it also just made me feel so many things all at once it's honestly wild. Also, DO NOT look at the triggers if you don't want to be spoiled.

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dark emotional sad 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
challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: 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! 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-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

One of the creators I watch on YouTube got this as an arc and they made it some so fascinating I had to go and get a copy of it myself. I was intrigued by the plot and I decided I had to read it. When I got approved for it I was beyond happy and jumped right in.

I loved this book. I loved loved loved this book. Ji-won is a fascinating main character. You really get to know her over the course of the book and get a very intimate look at her life, both inner and outer. I love her relationship with her family. Especially with her sister. I ended up deeply caring for every member of this family by the end of the book. Except George. George is absolutely terrible and I hated him but you’re supposed to.

The atmosphere in here was horrible in a good way. There is such a sense of creeping dread in the entire book and it ramps up so slowly that I was on the edge of my seat for the entire read.

The writing in this was absolutely beautiful. Some of the best lines I’ve ever read were in this book. And while the writing is beautiful some of the scenes were downright disgusting (again in a good way). The way that things were described made me ill at several points but I just couldn’t put this down.


Even though I loved this and I’m giving it 5 stars I 100% don’t recommend this for everyone. It’s chock full of very disturbing and graphic content. Please check trigger warnings before you read to make sure you can handle it. With that said this was amazing and I look forward to reading more from this author in the future.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
dark tense medium-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: Complicated

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

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

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