A review by sarrie
The Eyes Are the Best Part by Monika Kim

challenging dark emotional tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? N/A
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

 
TL;DR: Don’t like eyeballs? This one is going to mess with you! A revenge filled story about a girl obsessed and the racist and sexist people she targets. 
Source: NetGalley, thank you so much to the publisher! 
Plot: Ji-won’s father leaves the family and as her mother unravels then falls in love with an exceptionally disgusting man, she begins to fixate and… crave eyeballs. It gets real gross after that. 
Characters: We focus in on Ji-won, and honestly everyone else was pretty unlikable except for a possible romantic interest (which I do wish had a bit more dimension). 
Setting: Definitely not the focus of this, but I did enjoy the claustrophobia and dimness of what we got, it added to the overall feeling of it 
Thrilling/Horror Aspect: Not nearly as intense as I expected, but if you’re squeamish about eyeballs and… well eating them this is going to gross you out 
Thoughts: 
The Eyes Are the Best Part is aptly named. This is the story of Ji-won and her slow decent into obsession over eyeballs, and let me go ahead and tell you that it get’s pretty graphic on the eyeball horror and… eating of things. Those bits by far were the best part of the whole novel. 
That being said - don’t get into this one if you’re squeamish about people eating other people parts. It’s going to be a bad time. Ji-won falls fast into an obsession with blue eyes after her mother, still trapped in a cycle of grief at the leaving of Ji-won’s father, ends up dating and engaged to a truly repulsive white man with blue eyes named George. George clearly has a fetish and a type and is going after Ji-won’s mother for that reason. He’s that guy, racist but ‘Oh I know the language’ (when he doesn’t), or claims that 'No one appreciates the culture like him'. Ji-won sees through him, as does her sister, but unfortunately her mother is caught. 
Blue eyes haunt her and she takes a rather abrupt and unexpected turn into the very gross acquisition of said eyes. There is also the boy in class with her who is not exactly who he seems, and equally as gross as George in his own way. The book targets these very clear and familiar types of people, showing them for how the really are and it can be infuriating at times. The racism, the gaslighting, and abuse is a lot but Ji-won gets her revenge. 
The only thing that knocked this one down just a hair for me was that it read as a bit young, and everything in the end was exceptionally neat and tidy. I wanted just a bit more of a struggle or tension to the story, but I still enjoyed seeing her exact revenge and bloody hell on these folks. If you want some fun times like that - this is your pick-up. 
4 out of 5 Blue Crunchy Balls You See Out Of 
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