This book was a slow burn. I feel like it took forever for anything to happen. I forced myself to finish. There were also parts that I thought were a little farfetched. This book was not for me.

there is still a long way to go in regards to asian american representation in the media, but "the eyes are the best part" is something that i hope becomes mainstream this summer. there's skin-crawling descriptions of eyes, commentary on asian fetishization, abusive relationships, and more, which made for a very fast paced read. nothing went in depth enough though personally as an asian american woman who has dealt with a lot of these issues. however, i personally loved seeing a main character who didn't move away for college even though i went to the school that shall not be named in this universe.

I actually loved the pace of this. Felt a little cliche at times/predictable however it was still a good read.

Overall I really enjoyed this book. It started out slow, but the pace seemed to gradually increase over the novel. You first get to know the main character Ji-Won and her family during a time of struggle. The novel soon turns into a tale of abusive relationships, obsession and murder.

The descriptions of eyeballs are visceral.

This will be one of my favorites of the year. A descent into rageful madness that you can't help but cheer on

Huge thanks to Kensington Books and NetGalley for this ARC.

5-star read from cover to cover. Absolutely amazing book!

I knew of the author and her efforts with this book from online spaces before it was picked up for publishing, so I was thrilled to see it up on NetGalley and requested it immediately. It follows Ji-won, a Korean-American college student, and her family after her father leaves them for a younger woman. Soon, her mother brings home a white man whose blue eyes begin haunting her dreams and distorting her perception of reality. Things get very bloody very fast as Ji-won unravels and her life falls apart.

If you're looking for feminine rage, it's here. If you're looking for insightful commentary on the treatment of Asian women, it's here. If you're looking for women suffering at the hands of men and coming out on top covered in gore, it's here. If you're looking for something disgusting and transformative, it's this book.

Every character here is robust and alive and kind of awful in the best way. The prose flows incredibly well. It's quite simple but that lends itself so well to the blurring of hallucination and dreams and reality that happens a lot here. The chapters are short so I felt like I was flying through this, and that made the stakes feel even higher. I genuinely can't think of a single thing to fault this book for. Best debut I've read in a long time.

I will be buying this on release to add to my collection. I will also be waiting eagerly for more from Monika Kim

Diving into Monika Kim's "The Eyes are the Best Part" was like sitting down to a banquet of body horror, served with a side of sharp feminist insight. Awarding it a solid 4 stars, I found myself both fascinated and horrified by the grotesque beauty of Kim's storytelling. This isn't just a novel; it's a confrontation of the darkest parts of society, dissecting themes of racism, sexism, and the complexities of family with a scalpel-like precision.

This rocked my world. I loved the slow decent into madness and hyper fixation, the little cruel things along the way, and the ending? chef's kiss. Super strong debut!

Very much a "good for her" horror tale.

Ji-won is going through it, and she's taking everyone with her for the ride. After her father picks up and leaves, Ji-won's family is thrown into a downward spiral. Caring for her depressed mother and disheartened younger sister is difficult enough, but throw in mom's racist new piece of shit boyfriend, a crazy stalker from school, and intense intrusive thoughts, and you've got a recipe for a wild story.

I loved getting to follow the progression of Ji-won's thoughts to see how they evolve from such a normal college student to the thoughts of a sociopathic killer. I don't know if I will ever be able to think of eye balls in the same way again.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with a copy to read early in exchange for an honest review.

This new Thriller/Horror novel is about a Korean-American college student, Ji-won, trying to hold her family together after their parents divorce. Her mom starts dating a white guy who is misogynistic, racist and just really disgusting toward Ji-won and her sister. As their mom refuses to recognize the abuse, Ji-won decides to take matters into her own hands. So naturally she starts dreaming about eating his eyeball, only this hyper fixation begins to grow.
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It is the true definition of a good for her story, but with so many added layers. Monika Kim perfectly interjected necessary commentary on marriage/family dynamics, racism, and normalized micro aggressive culture. I do wish it was a little longer so her relationship with her college friends could been fleshed out a bit more. It’s a tad slow paced, but serves you all the murder and gore.

Ji-won's life seems to be falling apart. Her mom's new boyfriend George is awful, she's not doing well in school, and she can't stop fantasizing about eating George's blue eyes. This book was so unhinged in the best way possible. I usually don't get too shocked when reading horror, but this one got me at quite a few points. My jaw was dropped and I was gasping at certain points. It was so gory but it wasn't too much. It didn't just have gore for the shock value of it, the gore was a well thought out integral part of the story. I knew I shouldn't root for Ji-won, but the circumstances of her life throughout the book made me root for her anyway. I almost read this entire book in one sitting because it just sucked me in and wouldn't let go! The writing style and the pacing made it so difficult to put down. I had some guesses throughout the book about what some twists might end up being, but in the end most of my guesses weren't correct. Monika Kim kept me on my toes in this one. I can't wait to see what she writes next because I will absolutely be picking it up.

This psychological-thriller/horror novel follows the unraveling of Ji-won as she struggles with the changes going on in her life. Ji-won lives with her mother and younger sister, all grieving the recent and sudden abandonment of their father. As her mother struggles to cope, she meets her new love-interest, the exploitative and manipulative George. The rest of the novel follows this new family dynamic, which was artfully crafted by the author. Things become worse for Ji-won as she starts college and develops a disturbing new craving. Reading through the series of events that lead to the development of a female serial killer was fascinating. However, the story also contains many surprising elements and touching themes including sisterhood, mother-daughter relationships, coming-of-age, female rage and more. I am very impressed with this debut novel and found it compulsively readable. I would recommend this horror novel to any fans of the genre (unless you are squeamish about eyeballs).

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the ARC!

I requested this book on Netgalley purely based on the title - as someone who does, in fact, think the eyes are the best part of a fish, I was curious to see what this book would be like. Plus, it seemed like the type of body horror that I do typically enjoy, so I had high expectations. Unfortunately, I felt like the book just fell a bit flat for me personally. It was good, but not great, and just not one that will stick with me personally.

I really liked the themes that this book explored, and especially liked how it focused specifically on Asian fetishization and the pressure that's placed on a child that has to step into the role of a parent (especially to their own parent). However, I felt like everything was just a bit too on the nose for me. I feel like there wasn't a lot of subtlety to any of the racist characters, and as such, I felt like it lacked that distinct unsettling feeling that I like when I read these types of horror. Everything was just very overt, obvious, and predictable, and I don't think this is a bad thing per se, just a matter of personal preference.

I think this is a fun read - it's easily digestible and quick to get through, and I think the pacing throughout is quite engaging. I think for me, given the themes that were covered, I just wanted this book to be a little more thought provoking, rather than just spelling everything out for me. In a lot of ways, although it isn't horror, this reminds me a lot of Yellowface by RF Kuang in execution. In terms of ideas and themes, it's closer to something like The Vegetarian by Han Kang, or Natural Beauty by Ling Ling Huang. So I'd say if any of those are titles you enjoy, you should still give this one a try!

Side note to the publisher: the e-ARC was very poorly formatted (headers/footers not properly calibrated, weird paragraph breaks, inconsistent line spacing, no chapter breaks) and I do hope that these issues will be fixed for the finished e-book.

Move over, Patrick Bateman; Ji-won is coming for your crown!

After her father leaves, Ji-won, a freshman in college, begins to dream of eyes. After her mom gets a disgusting new boyfriend who fetishizes her mom and her sister (and tbh all Asian women in general), Ji-won seeks revenge for all the men who have wronged them.

Omg this was so NAUSEATING and ICKY in the best way. It's another perfect installment in the "good for her" genre and if you love women who seek revenge, this book is for you! You guys are going to go crazy for this when it comes out. I can't wait to read anything Monika Kim publishes in the future.

Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC!

This book make me physically ill and I loved it ! The author is really good at creating a very interesting and creepy setting .
Thank you for the Arc.

Thank you so much to Kensington Books, Erewhon Books, and the author, Monika Kim, for providing this eARC for me in exchange for an honest review.

The horror novel, The Eyes Are the Best Part follows our Korean-American main character Ji-won as her life seemingly falls apart. When her father leaves her family to start another, Ji-won's life is practically turned upside down. Paired with a new man--a white man with the most startling blue eyes--in her mother's life, this young college student has a lot on her plate; eyes to be more specific.

I absolutely loved this book and I am so grateful to read this before the general public. The themes contained within this story are some of the things that made me think so highly of this book and Monika Kim's writing overall. The themes of misogyny, systemic racism and the fetishization of Asian women work together to shape our main character into the unreliable narraror that she is.

The main character's descent into a murderous madness is done extremely well, and I liked that we were able to see the ways in which certain characters influenced Ji-won's reactions and thoughts on society. There was practically no clarity between the scenes that were part of her "nightmares" and her real world actions. With lines this blurred, her loss of sanity makes sense when noting the impact of the men in her life, particularly white blue eyed men and their power over young asian women.

This might just be an issue with the kindle document itself, but it is worth noting that the eARC veresion that I read from did have some glaring formatting issues. Every so often the headers of the page were formatted as part of the rest of the text, meaning that mid sentence "ADVANCE READERS COPY" and "MONICA KIM" would occasionally disrupt the writing.

Ultimately this was a great read and I am definitely recommending this to all of my horror/feminist writing friends. •ᴗ•

If you're looking for a feminist horror novel that packs a punch, you've come to the right place.

Ji-won's dad suddenly decides to leave his wife, and with it, Ji-won and her sister, leaving the whole family in a state of disarray. Ji-won's mother falls into a state of depression, doing nothing but working and waiting for her husband to return. This all changes when she meets George, a monstrous human being, who treats women like objects. Ji-won's anger builds as she realizes that George is also racist, and is using her mother. After trying a fisheye for good luck, Ji-won suddenly craves other eyes as well... Blue eyes...

Ji-won is a college student whose family dynamic changes drastically in a short time. Her father leaves her mother for another woman and abandons the family, shortly after her mother starts dating an arrogant white man named George. Through all of this, she develops an obsession with blue eyes after trying a fish eye at dinner said to bring her luck.
I absolutely loved this book. It is such a well done take on the 'good for her' unhinged female main character. There's a lot of commentary on misogyny, systemic racism and the fetishization of Asian women which gave this story much more meaning and depth.
With the short chapters and writing style, I found this story fast paced and very enjoyable.

Wow! This book was amazing from the get go. Didn't want to put it down. I loved how it was about the making of a serial killer as it's not an aspect that is written about alot. It was very gripping and couldn't wait to see what happened next. I have just added Monika to my favourite authors list. Loved her writing style. This book was quite thrilling. Can't wait to see what Monika writes next.

The Eyes Are the Best Part follows Ji-won, a young college student struggling with the departure of her father, her mother's new boyfriend, and on top of all of it - academic probation. I wanted to love this book truly, a descent into madness, unhinged killings to spite George (her mother's new and outwardly racist boyfriend turned fiancé), and going to extreme lengths to assure her sister that their family is not cursed. However it fell very flat for me.

This was one of the slowest slow burns I have ever encountered. Nothing really started happening until I was about 75% of the way through the book, and even then the bounce between nightmares and real life was so disjointed. I can only compare it to a horror film that presents as normal for almost the entire movie and then in the last 15 minutes finally gets interesting.

While mildly disappointing, I do think this would be a good starter book to get into body horror for someone who isn't familiar with the genre.