The Eyes Are the Best Part
“Violent, smart, gruesome and wildly original, this novel pulls readers into a horrific world of murder and cannibalism while also critiquing misogyny, exploring Asian fetishization and stereotypes, sharing what it’s like to navigate two cultures and telling a touching story of a family in turmoil.” —New York Times Book Review
* TIME MAGAZINE 100 MUST-READ BOOKS OF 2024 * BRAM STOKER AWARD WINNER * SHIRLEY JACKSON AWARD FINALIST *
Crying in H-Mart meets My Sister, the Serial Killer in this feminist psychological horror about the making of a female serial killer from a Korean-American perspective.
Ji-won’s life tumbles into disarray in the wake of her Appa’s extramarital affair and subsequent departure. Her mother, distraught. Her younger sister, hurt and confused. Her college freshman grades, failing. Her dreams, horrifying . . . yet enticing.
In them, Ji-won walks through bloody rooms full of eyes. Succulent blue eyes. Salivatingly blue eyes. Eyes the same shape and shade as George’s, who is Umma’s obnoxious new boyfriend. George has already overstayed his welcome in her family’s claustrophobic apartment. He brags about his puffed-up consulting job, ogles Asian waitresses while dining out, and acts condescending toward Ji-won and her sister as if he deserves all of Umma’s fawning adoration. No, George doesn’t deserve anything from her family. Ji-won will make sure of that.
For no matter how many victims accumulate around her campus or how many people she must deceive and manipulate, Ji-won’s hunger and her rage deserve to be sated.
A brilliantly inventive, subversive novel about a young woman unraveling, Monika Kim’s The Eyes Are the Best Part is a story of a family falling apart and trying to find their way back to each other, marking a bold new voice in horror that will leave readers mesmerized and craving more.
* TIME MAGAZINE 100 MUST-READ BOOKS OF 2024 * BRAM STOKER AWARD WINNER * SHIRLEY JACKSON AWARD FINALIST *
Crying in H-Mart meets My Sister, the Serial Killer in this feminist psychological horror about the making of a female serial killer from a Korean-American perspective.
Ji-won’s life tumbles into disarray in the wake of her Appa’s extramarital affair and subsequent departure. Her mother, distraught. Her younger sister, hurt and confused. Her college freshman grades, failing. Her dreams, horrifying . . . yet enticing.
In them, Ji-won walks through bloody rooms full of eyes. Succulent blue eyes. Salivatingly blue eyes. Eyes the same shape and shade as George’s, who is Umma’s obnoxious new boyfriend. George has already overstayed his welcome in her family’s claustrophobic apartment. He brags about his puffed-up consulting job, ogles Asian waitresses while dining out, and acts condescending toward Ji-won and her sister as if he deserves all of Umma’s fawning adoration. No, George doesn’t deserve anything from her family. Ji-won will make sure of that.
For no matter how many victims accumulate around her campus or how many people she must deceive and manipulate, Ji-won’s hunger and her rage deserve to be sated.
A brilliantly inventive, subversive novel about a young woman unraveling, Monika Kim’s The Eyes Are the Best Part is a story of a family falling apart and trying to find their way back to each other, marking a bold new voice in horror that will leave readers mesmerized and craving more.
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Readers say *The Eyes Are the Best Part* by Monika Kim is a vivid, slow-burning psychological and body horror centered on a Korean-American family, ex...
closer to a 3.5 ⭐️ than a full 4 ⭐️ but I liked it! A pretty classic horror/good for her type story. I saw it recommended to people who like My Sister the Serial Killer and would agree.
A Dark, Slow-Burning Descent into Madness
The Eyes Are The Best Part starts off slow, but once it picks up, it becomes completely unhinged. The first half is a melancholic exploration of abandonment and otherness. “How do I explain to her that the home I miss isn’t a place? It’s a time when my life made sense. When things made sense.” But just when I thought I knew what kind of book this was - more of a mental decline, it spiraled into something much darker.
The unsettling mix of horror and absurdity is what stuck with me—especially the moment where Ji-Won deadpans, “Yeah, sorry, I ate a homeless guy’s eyeball last night, and I’m really struggling with it, so. . . .” If you like psychological horror and don’t mind when it starts slow but goes off the rails, this is worth the read. Four stars!
The Eyes Are The Best Part starts off slow, but once it picks up, it becomes completely unhinged. The first half is a melancholic exploration of abandonment and otherness. “How do I explain to her that the home I miss isn’t a place? It’s a time when my life made sense. When things made sense.” But just when I thought I knew what kind of book this was - more of a mental decline, it spiraled into something much darker.
The unsettling mix of horror and absurdity is what stuck with me—especially the moment where Ji-Won deadpans, “Yeah, sorry, I ate a homeless guy’s eyeball last night, and I’m really struggling with it, so. . . .” If you like psychological horror and don’t mind when it starts slow but goes off the rails, this is worth the read. Four stars!
The Eyes Are the Best Part follows Ji-won as her life falls apart at the hands of terrible men. First, her father walks out on her family after finding a new woman to be obsessed with. Then, she accidentally befriends an obsessive, self-proclaimed feminist in her philosophy class that swears he's 'not like other guys.' Worst of all, her mother rushes into a relationship with an ex-Marine named George who fetishizes and generalizes Asian women, particularly Ji-won and her little sister, who is only 15.
So yeah, I don't blame her for what happens next.
This book was one I breezed through, flipping through pages excitedly to see what's next. Honestly though, after finishing it, I was a little let down. This book had a YA tone to it that diminished the horror aspects and left me craving more. The eyeball symbolism was overdone - it felt like every single chapter the author highlighted a blue eye staring at Ji-won, either in her haunting nightmares or in her frustrating real-life ordeals. There were also some blatant needs for editing, as Ruth Bader Ginsburg's name was misspelled when mentioned. also wished there was a more developed build up to the ending, I didn't feel as connected as I should've been to be rooting for someone to eat people's eyeballs.
However, The Eyes are The Best Part did a great job at depicting a sisterly bond, and it reminded me a lot of my own childhood experiences as someone who has three. I also enjoyed the focus of Korean culture and beliefs, as it taught me more about immigration experiences, being brought up in a predominantly white space while being a person of color, and experiences of fetishization.
This book was not scary, just disgusting. The descriptive writing was so well done that I felt like I could taste the eyes as if I had plucked them out and chewed them up myself. Ending with a wild burst of action, it felt like a good book to read for scaredy-cats or young readers who want to get into the Halloween mood: nothing too creepy, just super gross, and fast paced while addressing important topics.
So yeah, I don't blame her for what happens next.
This book was one I breezed through, flipping through pages excitedly to see what's next. Honestly though, after finishing it, I was a little let down. This book had a YA tone to it that diminished the horror aspects and left me craving more. The eyeball symbolism was overdone - it felt like every single chapter the author highlighted a blue eye staring at Ji-won, either in her haunting nightmares or in her frustrating real-life ordeals. There were also some blatant needs for editing, as Ruth Bader Ginsburg's name was misspelled when mentioned. also wished there was a more developed build up to the ending, I didn't feel as connected as I should've been to be rooting for someone to eat people's eyeballs.
However, The Eyes are The Best Part did a great job at depicting a sisterly bond, and it reminded me a lot of my own childhood experiences as someone who has three. I also enjoyed the focus of Korean culture and beliefs, as it taught me more about immigration experiences, being brought up in a predominantly white space while being a person of color, and experiences of fetishization.
This book was not scary, just disgusting. The descriptive writing was so well done that I felt like I could taste the eyes as if I had plucked them out and chewed them up myself. Ending with a wild burst of action, it felt like a good book to read for scaredy-cats or young readers who want to get into the Halloween mood: nothing too creepy, just super gross, and fast paced while addressing important topics.
Monika Kim's debut novel, The Eyes Are the Best Part, is a good read. The writing style is strongest in its descriptiveness. The description of consuming eye balls is a highlight. The pacing may have a slow start for many readers, but I didn’t mind it. Every decent novel requires a slow start. Writers need to build the world and introduce the characters. That way, readers can actually understand and appreciate the future conflict that comes.
I had no issue with the graphic content. The novel makes no apologies about its body horror. Just look at the cover! Just read the first chapter! There is a lot you can criticize about this novel, but criticizing the graphic content is a bit of a stretch.
Ji-won is very relatable. I liked her as the main character. You can’t help but feel sorry for her situation. Most of the other characters are very dull. The male characters specifically are just caricatures. I understand this is a feminist novel, but you can write male characters that are less campy and still tackle the real issue of misogyny.
The nightmare sequences get very repetitive. This novel is not even that long, but you could easily cut out a lot of it. There is a ton of fluff. It could have been shorter. Respectfully, I disapprove of the way this novel wrote the homeless person. It comes across as exploitative. Homeless people already go through so much, and to perpetuate their suffering for shock value is just wrong.
The ending is predictable. It strangely feels too rushed and too slow simultaneously. It took forever to get to the ending and yet feels unearned. I would like to see a movie adaptation of this novel. It would work better in a film format. Regardless, I look forward to Monika Kim’s next novel. What the author lacks in substance, they make up for in style.
I had no issue with the graphic content. The novel makes no apologies about its body horror. Just look at the cover! Just read the first chapter! There is a lot you can criticize about this novel, but criticizing the graphic content is a bit of a stretch.
Ji-won is very relatable. I liked her as the main character. You can’t help but feel sorry for her situation. Most of the other characters are very dull. The male characters specifically are just caricatures. I understand this is a feminist novel, but you can write male characters that are less campy and still tackle the real issue of misogyny.
The nightmare sequences get very repetitive. This novel is not even that long, but you could easily cut out a lot of it. There is a ton of fluff. It could have been shorter. Respectfully, I disapprove of the way this novel wrote the homeless person. It comes across as exploitative. Homeless people already go through so much, and to perpetuate their suffering for shock value is just wrong.
The ending is predictable. It strangely feels too rushed and too slow simultaneously. It took forever to get to the ending and yet feels unearned. I would like to see a movie adaptation of this novel. It would work better in a film format. Regardless, I look forward to Monika Kim’s next novel. What the author lacks in substance, they make up for in style.
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