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...
Such a great coming of age story. A shedding her parental shackles, finding, and embracing her power. Becoming a woman who won't shy away from looking anyone in the eye.
I expected to love this book, but I found it very disappointing. Similar to MAEVE FLY in that it explores feminist rage, but is poorly executed. There is very little character development re: the protagonist. As a result, she very one-dimensional. All of the male characters are cartoonish. There is no nuance. I'm surprised this book won the 2024 Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in a First Novel.
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!
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