Reviews with content warning for Gore - Das Beste sind die Augen

Reviews tagging 'Gore'

Das Beste sind die Augen by Monika Kim

328 reviews

brooke_eh_89's review against another edition

4.0

dark emotional tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Content Warnings

blueghost's review against another edition

4.75

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

Content Warnings

emilymae303's review against another edition

5.0

dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Content Warnings

milk's review against another edition

1.5

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Content Warnings

sandalwood_neroli's review against another edition

3.5

dark medium-paced

Loveable characters: No

you go girl (I think?? maybe?? idk)

Ji-won is unlikable and kind of terrifying--but I still found myself (mostly) rooting for her.

Weird and unsettling--a psychological thriller that leans into body horror and cannibalism, and takes on racism, misogyny, fetishisation of Asian women, and white male entitlement.

Content Warnings

booksanna's review against another edition

5.0

dark emotional funny mysterious 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

I really enjoyed this book as I read it in almost all in one sitting. The way the chapters are written and organized to reveal just a sliver of intriguing information always left me wanting to know more. The pacing and details we very well written and well-placed. Horror is not really my genere, but I really enjoyed this book as it other complex themes(racism, family dynamics in an Asian household, relationships, and hunger) besides the later horror.

I will say some things did suprise me specifically

Ji-won is advertised as a serial killer on the blurb, but I felt like she didn’t display the typical serial killer vibes of being heartless, or having a passion for killing, or a specific method of killing. I do understand that her main reason for killing was her insatiable hunger for blue eyes and justice against the racist white men, but I felt the tittle of serial killer wasn’t fully fitting for her. It was more like she killed people because she wanted to eat their eyes. This is not necessary a bad thing, it just struck me as interesting developement
The book had less body horror than I expected (don’t get me wrong there were a lot of eye quivering moments
especially the textures and flavors of eating eyes
). But I expected a little more body horror, and most of the horror was psychological.
I wish the characters were a little more complex/diverse in their portrayal. I understand we see all of them from Ji-won’s perspective meaning we already get a biased view of them, but I felt like all the white men were portrayed horribly/stereotypically
like the guys in the coffee shop, and Geoffrey and George all could be based on real people that Asian have to deal with in their lives, but I feel like other men characters could be portrayed, didn’t even have to be a major character, could have been a barista or a classmate who was nice
. I understand it’s important for the feminist message the author is trying to demonstrate, but it would be nice to have a nice example of a white man that could be used to amplify how horrible the other men were.
To be fair I understand if there was such character, Ji-won’s hatred for white men would not be as strong probably ruing her character motivations
How funny the book actually was, both in the writing style and the dialogue of the characters. Like one time
after Alexis pointed out to the MC about the strangeness of Geoffrey, the next time we saw Geoffrey she described his eyes as unappetizing rot or something like and I was so thrown aback because in the previous chapter her and Geoffrey were best buds. Girl switched her mind so fast. And the dry humor of Ji-won’s narration was pretty funny. Like the one time where she was late to class and the teacher was giving her a hard time and she was talking about how she ate a homeless man’s eye ball, so sorry she wan’t in the best mood. Like it was quite funny./spoiler>

My favorite characters were Alexis and Ji-hyun because they felt like the most rational and reasonable characters. Also I totally ship

Alexis and Ji-won, if those don’t have a drunken make out session in a sequel, that shall forever be my head cannon. No way my home girl was being awoken multiple times in the night to comfort Ji-won. Like girls, none of you are straight, please just kiss already.

This got me out of a reading slump, would recommend.

Content Warnings

touyuujx's review against another edition

2.75

adventurous dark hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted reflective slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

IT WAS A TUMOUR ALL ALONG????? she wasn't being a silly girl??? I'm devastated I'm disappointed knocking off a point

Asides from the gore and the graphic descriptions of murder there's not much else i love about this book. It was a slowburn murder fiction for sure and the lead up was incredibly simple and forward

This was my first korean literature and i have to say it doesn't quite compare to japanese literature for me. It was fine for the most part but at times i find myself getting bored by the predictability

Although the writing is simple and straightforward it definitely was inspiring. I found myself wanting to try fish eyes when i was about halfway through the book so that's a plus for me

But what really broke the book for me was the plot armour. Everything just works out in jiwon's favour in the end and it was really disappointing and lazy

Overall a pretty average book. Worth the read for the description of eye eating alone

Content Warnings