This is a deliciously dark and creepy tale of a young woman’s descent into madness as she obsesses about eating people’s eyes.
I gave Monika Kim’s debut horror novel four stars! I can’t wait to see what nightmare inducing stories she comes up with next!
Note - This is not for those with a weak stomach or for the faint of heart!

In some cultures, it’s believed to be good luck to eat the eye of a fish.

Refusing to do so for many years, Ji-won finally agrees to eat one at her Umma’s insistence. Since her Appa left her Umma for another woman, 18 year old Ji-won wants to make her Umma happy and figured a little luck couldn’t hurt. Ji-won’s 15 year old sister, Ji-hyun, remains disgusted.

Surprisingly Ji-won loves it! And wants more. She craves them. She dreams about them. She fantasizes about what a human eye would taste like beginning Ji-won’s descent into madness.

When Umma declares, some months later, that she has a boyfriend named George she’d like her daughters to meet, they’re stunned and less than excited to meet this strange man. When a lunch date is arranged to meet George, the first thing Ji-won notices is his clear blue eyes. She imagines they would taste incredible.

As George ingrates himself more into their lives, Ji-won continues with her classes at the local college, meeting a few classmates who seem kind. But some students are frightened as a couple of people are found dead both near the college and near the students houses, being found with their eyes removed.

Ji-won can’t stop obsessing over eyes since, after all, as her mom said “the eyes are the best part.”

Thank you to NetGalley, Monika Kim, and the publisher for gifting a copy of the book in exchange for a candid review.

We meet Ji-won in a particularly tumultuous point in life, as many things are changing around her. As we watch her lose all rationale, the mission becomes an obsessive consumption of eyeballs.

This had a lot of great commentary alongside a thrilling violence spree. Definitely recommend for those who love an unhinged woman on a revenge mission.

When I picked up this book about a female serial killer, I never expected to be laughing and giggling so hard throughout the story. This dark and unexpected comedic tale follows Ji-won and her family as they navigate life after their good-for-nothing father abandons them. The impact on the family is profound, particularly on the mother, who withdraws into herself—until she meets a white man she believes will rescue them.
The depiction of the Asian fetish by a certain character was incredibly unsettling and evoked intense rage in me during several scenes. The author does a fantastic job of highlighting the grossness of such fetishization and its effects on the characters.

One of my favorite aspects of the book was the accurate portrayal of life as the oldest daughter in an Asian family. Ji-won's daily struggles and responsibilities are depicted with authenticity, making her a relatable and compelling protagonist.
While the plot starts off a bit slow, the buildup towards the second half is well worth the wait. The story, narrated from Ji-won's point of view, keeps you on your toes, as you can't always trust what you're reading. Ji-won is unapologetically crazy and prone to hallucinations, adding an unpredictable and thrilling element to the story.

The dream sequences are particularly intense, with vivid descriptions of eyeballs and squelching noises creating an unforgettable, if somewhat disturbing, imagery. Despite the discomfort, these scenes are so well written and add to the overall dark humor and horror of the story.
By the end of the book, I found myself wholeheartedly supporting Ji-won—not just her rights, but also her wrongs. Her character is complex, flawed, and utterly fascinating!! Ji-won had some really unexpected lines of dialogue throughout the book that had me laughing out loud. The lines were crazy but the delivery was perfection!!!

Thank you, Netgalley and Kensington Publishing for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I know this novel is supposed to be a horror novel. Still, the feminist undertones and the author's discussion of the realities of many Asian American women were so well written. I also enjoyed watching the main character slowly give in to her madness; it was a delicious “good for her” moment. Plus, seeing George get what he deserved was incredibly satisfying.

Really good writing. Story felt mostly familiar with some curveballs. Uncomfortable reading in some parts but that added to the horror feel. All of the characters were handled well. Loved the ending.

There were so many plot holes and conveniences the I could not find myself invested in anything happening to the characters. It also was not helpful that all of the characters were cardboard cutouts. I wanted a story of feminine rage but what I got was a muddled peice that needed more editing.

read for summerween 2024: vlog coming soon

the eyes are the best part by monika kim is a brilliantly inventive and subversive feminist psychological horror novel that delves deep into the making of a female serial killer from a korean-american perspective. this book is not just about the grisly and thrilling elements of ji-won’s transformation, but it also profoundly explores the daily struggles and horrors faced by women of color, making it a truly compelling read.

one of the most captivating aspects of this novel is its exploration of the unique challenges that women of color encounter every day. the true horror of the story lies in the societal pressures, microaggressions, and blatant discrimination that ji-won faces, which are hauntingly relatable and powerfully depicted. monika kim masterfully intertwines these themes with the story of an unhinged woman seeking revenge, creating a narrative that is as thought-provoking as it is thrilling.

at its core, this novel is about a young woman discovering the harsh realities of how the world treats her. ji-won feels overlooked and ignored by everyone, from her family to society at large. this sense of invisibility and the accompanying rage are palpable throughout the book, and i found myself deeply relating to her struggles. as a college student navigating a tumultuous life, i saw reflections of my own experiences in ji-won’s journey, despite the extremity of her actions.

the depiction of ji-won’s unraveling is both mesmerizing and chilling. her dreams, filled with horrifyingly vivid imagery of bloody rooms and succulent blue eyes, add an eerie and surreal layer to the story. the character of george, her mother's obnoxious new boyfriend, serves as a perfect catalyst for ji-won’s descent into madness, making her actions, though extreme, understandable in the context of her suffering and rage.

this book is a must-read for fans of unhinged women and revenge stories. monika kim’s writing is gripping, and her ability to weave together themes of familial disintegration, societal neglect, and personal vengeance is nothing short of genius. the eyes are the best part will undoubtedly be added to my list of go-to recommendations for unhinged women revenge stories. it is a powerful, evocative, and unforgettable read that will leave you craving more.

This book was everything I wanted it to be and more. I loved the characters, even the ones I hated I still loved how they were written. The pacing didn’t feel consistent but I didn’t mind as it picked up where I was ready for it to. I loved how they portrayed the fetishization of Asian women and girls. As well as how they portrayed the self proclaimed nice guy. As a Hispanic woman in America, I can say that these portrayals of non-white women and girls was deadly accurate.

A chilling and gripping psychological thriller that is a tale of hunger and rage. It explores a female serial killer and family bonds.
Many thanks to Kensington and to Netgalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

Thank you for this ARC!

I really love how the Author was able to blend her cultural experiences into the genre, I feel like you don’t really find that a lot. The book was a quick read for me and I really enjoyed it!

The Eyes Are the Best Part is definitely one of the most memorable and engaging debut novels I've ever read!

Monika Kim's haunting ideas moved me, and shall now live rent free in my brain. This story sucked me in from the start and refused to let go. I was thinking about it all the time, even when I wasn't reading it.

In this story we follow Ji-Won, who has just entered her first year of college. She lives in small apartment with her Umma and her younger sister, Ji-Hyun. Her Appa has deserted them for another woman, leaving Ji-Won as the logical next head of household. Umma is a mess, barely holding it together enough to make it to her job at the grocery store, and Ji-Hyun is just 15-years old. Ji-Won is feeling a responsibility to care for them both. It's not just her family situation causing her stress though. Ji-Won also didn't get into the college she once dreamed of with her best high school friends. She ended up losing those friends because of that.

Ji-Won's on her own now, at a new school, and she feels very alone. She doesn't have anyone she can open up to about all the pressures bearing down on her. She loves her sister and her Umma so much, but she needs to keep strong around them. When Umma brings about her new boyfriend, a startlingly-obnoxious man named, George, Ji-Won can hardly believe this is her life. George starts coming by the apartment, and then beginning to stay there more often than not.

It's during this time of incredible stress and change that Ji-Won first starts thinking about the eyes. In particular, blue eyes, just like George's. She desires them. She dreams of them. She wants to consume them; all the blue eyes. It's with no immediate plan in mind, more an act of opportunity, that Ji-Won first proceeds with these overwhelming desires. Once she starts though, it's empowering, fulfilling, and impossible to stop. Ji-Won is now the ruler of her world. It feels good.

This was incredibly immersive. Ji-Won is such a well-developed character. I loved following her story, being in her mind was a slightly disturbing place to be, but I got it. I felt what she was going through. I empathized with her as I would a friend and frankly, I was more than happy to go on this f*ed up journey with her.

I loved the relationships that Kim created here, particularly between the sisters. Their connection was palpable. I could feel how much Ji-Won cared for her sister, even when she was being bratty. She wanted to protect her and shelter her. It wasn't just that relationship though, every side character that Ji-Won interacted with, I felt like I knew the ins-and-outs of them. Kim took great care when creating this whole cast and it shows.

We get a couple of students, Alexis and Geoffrey, that Ji-Won meets at school and I liked watching those friendships evolve. That whole avenue of the story went in a direction I was sort of expecting, but I still loved it. I also thought the pace was spot on. It was perfectly-crafted for maximum impact, that's for sure. Once the spiral begins, she went quickly and with great flourish.

I'm obsessed with the quality of Kim's Horror imagery most of all. The body horror was fantastic. I read a lot of body horror and this, it got me. I was cringing. I was exclaiming things out loud that I can't type here. It was perfect. I never knew what vivid description was gonna come next.

Finally, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the exceptional social commentary/social horror aspects. I felt this was so well done in that regard. In expressing Ji-Won's experience as a Korean-American young woman in modern-day California, Kim got the points across she needed to make.
This is an exciting story. It's exciting in its own right, in the fact that it's a gripping, disturbing story of feminine rage, but it's also exciting because this is Monika Kim's first novel. I'm so excited for more from her.

Thank you so much to the publisher, Erewhon Books, for providing me with a copy to read and review.
I'm so happy that talent like Monika Kim's exists in the world. This book will def be on my BESTS List for 2024!!!

4.25 stars

This book is so weird, I absolutely loved it! Though I support women’s rights, I also support women’s wrongs.

The book touches upon racism and sexism, and it does so in an incredible way. I was actually rooting for Ji-Won from start to finish. She had become one of my new favourite unhinged main characters. I just love unhinged women on a revenge mission!

The first time I heard about Monika Kim's The Eyes Are the Best Part was on Reddit while she was still querying the book, and it was instantly apparent that, if published, this was a book I was going to have to read. And, upon finishing it, I was absolutely right.

Ji-won's life is spiraling: her friends all left her behind for a prestigious university, her father abandoned his family for another woman, her grades are abysmal. When her mother starts dating a white man named George, all those anxieties and insecurities come to a head and Ji-won starts dreaming of George's succulent blue eyes and what she might have to do to possess them.

I always love a book that blends body and food horror together so well. The novel balances Ji-won's growth as she reconsiders everything she's known and what's still worth protecting. The relationship in the main family unit was probably my favorite aspect; it's a love that is almost toxic because of all its expectations, as if it could fall apart at any moment but still somehow stands. The portrayals of toxic masculinity work well to compare and contrast those characters, and both will crawl under your skin in unpleasant ways. Readers ride along on Ji-won's descent into madness and obsession, and she's a character you can't help but cheer for even as she does horrible things.

I did feel the climax and a few twists at the end needed a little more room to breathe, but there is an utter sense of satisfaction that Kim manages to accomplish in one of those scenes. The last scene won't work for everybody, but it didn't take too much away for me. Overall, this might be one of my favorite reads of the year for its quick pace, the family of characters, and the delicious violence. I recommend this book for fans of body horror, eldest daughters carrying the weight of the world, and those looking for novels with heavy hits of social commentary.

This is closer to a 4.5 than a 4, but rating is arbitrary anyway.

This was an exceptional read! Everything about this was phenomenal, the characters, the prose, oh my god, the prose, the horror, the culture, the imagery, everything about it. The POV is close which means we get to see Ji-won like we're in her head; we can see what it's like for her, specifically her deterioration, her growing discontent and cynicism and rage, her obsessive tendencies, her isolation and frustration, her sense of justice tempered by her fraught but motivating relationships with her family members. I, in particular, loved the juxtaposition of food and horror here, how something that could be treated with hunger and satiation could then have a completely different connotation attached to it, equally filling and horrible. The imagery is fantastic, as is the use of metaphor here, and I would be remiss if I didn't point out the nuanced, deliberate way in which race was dealt with here specifically. Ji-won's a proper, fantastic serial killer; you can see why her victims are her victims, and why she would turn to violence as a resort open to her. Frankly, I don't know if this makes me a horrible person, but I was kind of rooting for her the whole way through, but I would say this just means the author absolutely deserves the credit for drawing together such a remarkable, empathising character at the centre of a great work!

I wasn’t sure what to expect with this one. Based on the synopsis I thought we would get disturbing and/or unsettling, and that’s exactly what we got.

Kim’s use of language is evocative. It makes you feel like you’re in Ji-won’s head, feeling and experiencing everything she is right along with her. This is especially true during Ji-won’s dissociative periods and when she’s acquiring and eating the eyes. You could feel how visceral her cravings were, as well as her desperation to fulfill those cravings. These scenes were simultaneously engrossing and disgusting. Kim’s writing made it easy to imagine exactly how it would feel to bite into the eyes and how they would taste, and those images did stay with me for a while.

There was a little twist at the end of the book related to Ji-won’s condition and I wasn’t especially surprised by it, but I was a little worried that Kim would use this twist for a quick and easy resolution. I was pleasantly surprised that it didn’t go that way and that it ultimately didn’t change much for Ji-won.

While we did get to know Ji-won and her motivations fairly well, we weren’t as fortunate with the other characters. There was a lot of telling instead of showing when it came to learning about them, so it was a bit harder to understand and trust their motivations.

There was also a lot of time spent on the beginning of the story and the build-up of getting to know Ji-won and watching her start to unravel. I would have liked to have seen as much time spent on the ending and resolution. Things moved fairly quickly once everything started happening and we really got into the action and the ending felt somewhat abrupt.

This was a fairly quick and enjoyable read, but be prepared to get a little grossed out while reading it.

Thanks NetGally, Kensington Books, and Erewohn Books for the advanced copy.

I loved this book! I am honestly surprised I’m not hearing more buzz about it because it was captivating and unique, and I thoroughly enjoyed it from start to finish. The story follows a Korean family in Los Angeles. Dad leaves, mom melts down, daughters struggle, mom finds new creep with an obvious fetish for Asian woman, and boom, eldest daughter starts to develop some seriously eerie and repulsive dreams and obsessions.

This story has quite a few layers and is part serial killer origin story, part cultural tale, and part family saga. It’s truly unique, and I was so impressed with how engrossed I was while reading. I would highly recommend to anyone who likes something a little different and isn’t afraid of some graphic detail that could make you a little queasy.

Thank you NetGalley and Kensington for access to this arc!

Thank you Kensington books & Monica Kim for this read!

I wanted to love this book but it took me a long time to finish. This book tackles some really horrific and pressing real world horror and blends it with revenge. I loved the strong female character and the contrast to the evil of the villians. I did feel a bit hard to connect to the protagonist and it was definitely a slower burn. I didn't feel the action happened until around 60%. It was hard to put down after the 60% mark and the pace definitely quickened. There were some satisfying moments but overall this missed the mark for me

This book creeped me out, and I LOVED it. What a gory read, that I couldn't put down. Fantasticly chilling and gripping. Would definitely recommend.

This is a new release psychological horror from Monika Kim. In this book, we are Looking at a young Korean-American girl, Ji-won Lim whose life has so badly fallen apart that she slowly and steadily rises into being a serial killer on her college campus. After her father abandons her, her sister, and mother, it sets off this chain of events to Ji-won slowly losing her reality where her thirst and hunger to kill must be sated in order to keep living her mundane life.

First off, thank you to NetGalley for giving me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

This book was an arc given to me by Netgalley a few months ago and can I just say WHY DID I WAIT TO READ THIS ARC FOR SO LONG!!!!! (I hate being a mood reader!) This book was great. It was a fast paced read, it was creepy, it had a surprising ending, and overall it had all the things I like in a psychological horror.
It amazed me how Ji-won was our protagonist and how I simultaneously disliked her as well and loved her. I also, while not feeling bad for her, also felt bad for her at the same time. It was interesting to watch her character development from loving and dependent daughter to a serial killer on the brink of despair.

There was a lot of moving pieces in this book, mainly with the different characters, and even though I was surprised by the ending, I was left with questions to be answered. I am hoping there will be a book two to continue Ji-wons journey because even if this is a standalone, I would, in fact, read a second book or a interconnected second book to this one. I ate it up and couldn’t get enough.

I overall gave this book 4 stars ⭐️. The plot was great, I loved the character development, and I loved the horror serial killer parts also. Creepy and yucky without making me gag 😄 I just wish I had more answers to some of my questions.

Thank you again to Netgalley for giving me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

"There's an energy thrumming in my veins. An anger. Fury. The desire to punish, to exact justice."

I devoured this book. It was the perfect book to satisfy my craving for a revenge story. It was just so good. Unhinged female characters are right up my alley, and this book delivered.

If you expect this to be a fast-paced slasher, it's not. The story takes its time. We're introduced to Ji Won's family and the situation they find themselves in after her father leaves.

The story slowly becomes more unhinged as Ji Won struggles to adjust to life with her mother's new boyfriend. She becomes obsessed with eyes. Things escalate from there. I'll leave it at that, I'll just say things get juicy. Pro tip: do NOT eat while reading this.

The author perfectly blends psychological horror, gore, and social commentary. It touches on racism, sexism, and the fetishization of Asian women.

I know that this book won't be for everyone but it was definitely for me. If you're like me and you enjoy a slow decent into madness, read this.

Thank you to NetGalley, Kensington Books, Erewhon Books, and the author for providing me with an ARC for review.