Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

Das Beste sind die Augen by Monika Kim

141 reviews

itsheyfay's review against another edition

3.0

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

Strong character development: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Drug use, Gore, Misogyny, Racism, Violence, Blood, Grief, Cannibalism, Stalking, Cultural appropriation, Abandonment

Moderate: Ableism, Infidelity, Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship

Minor: Pedophilia, Alcohol

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

---

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

meg_thebrave's review against another edition

4.75

dark 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

---

This is an EXCEPTIONAL debut. Don’t read it if you don’t like body horror, but if you do like horror in general, it’s fantastic. It was the perfect Halloween read. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cannibalism

Moderate: Death, Abandonment

rachaelwho's review against another edition

3.0

dark tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

---

Eh. Belabored a bit. Might make a fun movie, American Psycho style.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Mental illness, Racism, Blood, Cannibalism, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Cultural appropriation, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Misogyny, Stalking, Sexual harassment

Minor: Pedophilia

sol_journal's review against another edition

4.0

dark tense medium-paced

Strong character development: Complicated

---

Posted to: Goodreads and The Storygraph
Posted on: 25 October 2024

3.5 (rounded up to 4) out of 5 stars.

Full review to come. I literally just finished the last page though and must drop my initial thoughts. 
This book was a horror in such a good way. I cringed and I tried to cover up the words while reading the gory bits. I *felt* Ji-won’s rage and kind of hate we were taken along the roller coaster of deaths and devours only because I realized I’m more squeamish than I thought. Still, I absolutely will be here whenever Monika Kim releases another book! There was something just wickedly gruesome and terrible about this that didn’t allow me to put it down. I loved the narrative we got to follow, loved the descent and the twists and the ending. Loved loved *loved* this little terror of a novel.

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Gore, Blood, Grief, Cannibalism, Stalking, Murder, Abandonment

Minor: Cancer, Cursing, Drug use, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Medical content

mixeterna's review against another edition

3.75

challenging dark mysterious 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: Yes

---

Not sure if I'd just hyped this up a lot in my head because the premise is everything I love most in horror, but I wasn't sold on this one! Some of the commentary was a little too on-the-nose (I've seen this done well, but this book missed the mark for me, especially in the first third), and there were interesting dynamics introduced that just weren't followed through. For example,

Ji-won's Appa's experiences as a poor Korean immigrant in white America vs his patriarchal role in their family; or comparing Alexis's experience with racism and fetishisation as a Black woman, which I really thought would be explored since she's the main character's ally against Geoffrey in the story (also she was literally introduced as 'the pretty Black girl', so I was really hoping there was narrative reason her race was highlighted like that)

. I did love the middle of the book as

Ji-won descends into her rage and starts eating eyeballs lol - I didn't find the 'switch' jarring as other reviewers had said, and

I thought the writing was beautiful and vivid. But then it felt like it fell off again at the end, and it almost felt like the characters had gone one-dimensional. Also,

why the brain tumour twist?? It just threw me off more than anything else, even if there were bits of foreshadowing earlier in the book. I feel like the story would've been stronger if the author had just leaned into Ji-won's trauma and anger to 'explain' her actions - there's so much that could've been explored and would've made her a far more compelling protagonist

. Regardless, I did really enjoy the premise of the book and would LOVE to see more horror like this in the future. Will be keeping an eye out for more releases by this author!

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Misogyny, Racism, Cannibalism, Stalking, Abandonment, Sexual harassment

sofiam19's review against another edition

3.5

dark tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

---

Damn, go to therapy 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Blood, Grief, Cannibalism, Stalking, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Abandonment

reading_hippo's review against another edition

3.5

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Cannibalism

Moderate: Stalking, Toxic friendship, Abandonment

claireandreese's review against another edition

4.0

dark emotional medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: N/A

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

---

It is a female rage story!

This is more of a slow burn story but I wouln't say it's the most boring thing to read. The author really gets you to sympathize with what Ji-won and her family go through. Each of them endure their own forms of trauma, especially the women dealing with the over-arching theme of the "fetization of Asian women."  

I would agree that the male characters, especially those who were white are very stereotypical. The male characters are extremey unlikeable that why would you not root for the FMC. Ji-won is equally flawed and I would question her morality as well.

One of the things that I enjoyed as well were the dream sequences. It really kept you on your toes. You had to keep guessing what was a dream and what was reality.

Overall, I really enjoyed the book. I would not really consider it a horror book. The author was pretty graphic in her description of eyeballs. -1 star because the conclusion felt a bit rushed and left me a bit unsatisfied. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Sexism, Murder

Moderate: Misogyny, Abandonment

hunni_reads's review against another edition

3.5

dark tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Mental illness, Cannibalism, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Abandonment, Sexual harassment

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Pedophilia, Racism, Blood, Stalking, Cultural appropriation