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A review by bookishwelshie
The Eyes Are the Best Part by Monika Kim
dark
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Dark, ‘weird’, fiction is somewhat of an obsession of mine - and The Eyes Are The Best Part certainly fits that description. It’s a Korean, body, horror that I easily devoured in a few sittings/one weekend. Once the main character Ji-won, pointed out her Mother’s new boyfriend, George’s, blue eyes, I knew where this was going to go and it did not disappoint… 🩸👁️
The writing style is simplistic, with very short chapters, but I still felt pulled into this family’s sadness - as the Father has an affair and leaves them behind. It especially affects Ji-won’s Mother, who is grieving for her lost love badly.
Ji-won feels as though she is having to keep herself together for her Mother and her sister, Ji-hyun, but this becomes all the more difficult when a new man enters their lives - George. He isn’t understanding of their Korean heritage and disrespectful towards their language. He is a know-it-all and a misogynist, so Ji-won begins to channel all her pent up rage onto him - understandably so. It is racially insensitive how he ogles an Asian waitress at the restaurant, and insensitively tries to appropriate Asian culture - specifically Korean and Chinese.
The narrative descends into a dreamlike, nightmarish state as Ji-won’s eye-related fantasies worsen. You can feel her psyche fracturing. Will her twisted, dark, fantasies become reality?
The writing style is simplistic, with very short chapters, but I still felt pulled into this family’s sadness - as the Father has an affair and leaves them behind. It especially affects Ji-won’s Mother, who is grieving for her lost love badly.
Ji-won feels as though she is having to keep herself together for her Mother and her sister, Ji-hyun, but this becomes all the more difficult when a new man enters their lives - George. He isn’t understanding of their Korean heritage and disrespectful towards their language. He is a know-it-all and a misogynist, so Ji-won begins to channel all her pent up rage onto him - understandably so. It is racially insensitive how he ogles an Asian waitress at the restaurant, and insensitively tries to appropriate Asian culture - specifically Korean and Chinese.
The narrative descends into a dreamlike, nightmarish state as Ji-won’s eye-related fantasies worsen. You can feel her psyche fracturing. Will her twisted, dark, fantasies become reality?