I’d like to thank this book for getting me out of a reading slump. 😆 It’s very easy to get into and written in a very accessible style.

This is about Ji-won and her increasing unhealthy obsession with eyes, especially blue eyes. She’s made a lot of poor decisions, leaving her without friends, and her family is a mess. She is not ok, and things just get worse from there.

As noted, this is a very readable book. The style is very simple and clear, which I did like. I also liked the overarching plot for the most part because I like a story of slow mental unraveling. Geoffrey was oof - so effectively THE WORST. The ending, including the bits about Geoffrey, was great.

My struggle with this one was with a couple main things:

1. While the style was very accessible, I found it quite wooden. Scenes zip past and often feel too quickly resolved. Dialogue felt unnatural. It was serviceable, but awkward. Something about it felt overly told instead of shown.
2. I wish this was novella length instead. The pacing/escalation was odd. The first half felt quite repetitive without a steady increase in intensity, so I wish it was shortened. There are some side plots (like Alexis and Ji-won’s old friendships) that feel shallow anyway and could be cut.

I like the plot of this book in theory, so I’d still be curious to try more from Kim in the future if she keeps writing horror. But maybe not if her writing style continues in this vein.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

4.25 stars
🌕🌕🌕🌕🌘

Thanks NetGalley, Kensington Books publisher, and the authors for a great advance copy of the book in exchange for my honest review!

🧠 My thoughts
Wow, this book hooked me from the start to the end. This was one of the rare books that touched on the racial fetishism topic, especially the fetishization of Asian women. While reading, I couldn't help nodding along because what happened in the book I have seen in real life as well. After finishing reading, it took me a few days to really understand everything, especially the ending. The gore parts played a crucial role in the deep meaning layer of the story and it wasn't excessive.

On the other hand, since this is the author's debut, the writing wasn't that smooth. The writing style was a bit choppy to read at some points

👍 What I like
- Successfully portray the racial fetishization of Asian women
- Powerful story

👎 What I don't like
- Choppy and not smooth writing
- Rather weak storyline

wow!! this book is something else. watching as jiwon’s anger and rage grows throughout the story is so enthralling and heart pounding. are we born cursed? do we have freewill? can different choices lead you onto a new predetermined path? what happens when the anger starts overflowing? i really admire the writing and the twists and turns we went on throughout the story and could not set it down after the 25% mark!! just the perfect amount of grossness sprinkled in this elegantly written peak into jiwons chaotic life coming down around her
definitely recommend picking up a copy once it’s out

Ji-won's life is slowly falling apart. Her father has left, she doesn't have any friends, and she's started to have these weird dreams about eyes...

Part revenge fantasy, part body horror, part racist-sexist intersectional tale, The Eyes Are The Best Part was a highly compelling read. The descriptions are visceral and evocative, from the descriptions of eyes popping between teeth to the skin-crawling fetishization Ji-won experiences.

Stay away if you're squeamish!

I wanted to read this solely because I read an article saying if you liked certain elements of Butcher and Blackbird, you'll enjoy this book. Well guess what? I LOVED it! The imagery was stunningly clear, I love when authors write like that. It's also funny, spiraling, and sometimes a little gross/disturbing. Great read!

Thank you @netgalley for the ARC of The Eyes are the Best Part by Monika Kim. This book had me enthralled. I couldn’t put it down. I really didn’t know what to expect, but it was gross and creepy. The images of the eyes made me so squeamish. I liked how Kim kept the suspense slow and steady and the reader didn’t really know what was real and what was an illusion. Part of the horror also included real life horror of sexism and racism that Kim expertly intertwined with the story.

Ji-won lives with her mother and sister. Her father leaves the family and has an affair with. Her mother starts dating a white man with an Asian fetish whose racism and sexism makes Ji-won uncomfortable. Ji-won dreams about eyes and her rage multiplies as she kills more and more people.

Thank you to Netgalley, Monika Kim and Erewhon Books for the arc !

I THOROUGHLY enjoyed this book! It's so fast paced, funny, horrific, poignant, weird and bloody! Add to the growing list of books that A24 should adapt! Such a fresh and unique take on the thriller genre, it's so needed right now when a lot of contemporary thrillers are blurring together with the same formulas.

There is a lot of great commentary as well as a bloody spree type kills !

I also LOVED the ending. I will definitely pick up my own copy when this comes out!

Thanks to Net Galley and the publisher for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

WOW! WOW! WOW! I absolutely loved this book! I had heard about this one through several horror book reviewers that I follow on different social media platforms. The cover definitely intrigued me and once I read the synopsis, I was even further interested in getting my hands on a copy of this.

The story is a slow and quiet story but it definitely packs a punch. I love the commentary that Kim injects into the story regarding Asian culture, specifically the misconceptions and biases placed on Asian women.

If you are a fan of Maeve Fly, American Psycho, fiction about unhinged women, this is the book for you,

I will definitely be wanting a finished copy of this when it is published.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC of this book.

This book was hard to read, not because it wasn't good but because the characters and the imagery were so clear it was difficult to get through without flinching. In high school we dissected sheep's eyes and I've never wished more that I didn't know what it feels like to hold and cut into an eyeball as I did while reading this book.
I do wish the queer coded scenes with Ji-won and Alexis went a little bit further as they just sort of end up as an aside to the main story. The main story though really tells of a woman who simply has reached the edge and snapped and honestly who can blame her.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I've wanted to read this book since I saw its query letter on Reddit once and it did not disappoint. It was an eery, yet propulsive read. It was also darkly funny, which I didn't expect.

Ji-Won as a protagonist is more than a little unhinged, but you can't help but root for her(to eat those delicious eyes). I am not going to spoil it, but there is more than one man in this book that you are likely to root for getting what is coming for them. The family dynamics in the book were also fascinating to read about and more than a little relatable as an Asian woman.

The book is very straightforward in its messaging, and it does not hold back. A lot of the interactions involve very real forms of misogyny and racism, it's a wonder why more of us aren't eating eyes really.

There's something very dreamlike overall about the book, even outside of all the dream sequences, that often made me question how much of it was actually happening.


Overall, The Eyes Are The Best Part is a really strong debut from an author to watch out for. If you like reading about unhinged women(who just might be gay, which is really more reason to root for her) and feminine rage or enjoy psychological horror, I'd highly recommend picking this book up.

4.5 stars.

Thanks to Kensington Books and NetGalley, I was able to secure an eARC of Monika Kim’s debut novel, ‘The Eyes Are the Best Part’. The cover of this book has intrigued me since I first saw it a few weeks ago (yes, I will judge a book by the cover). #TheEyesAretheBestPart #NetGalley.
•
‘The Eyes Are the Best Part’ is what you would get if you blended together ‘Crying in H-Mart’ and ‘Maeve Fly’. This book is the definition of ‘support women’s rights AND women’s wrongs’. Throughout the story we are shown some of the complex nuances of divorce, from the perspective of the eldest daughter, Ji-won. Through her eyes, we see a glimpse of how deeply people can be affected by racism, misogyny, and their personal family dynamics. This is an extremely strong debut from Monika Kim; I can’t wait to see what she does next!

a quick, guttural, maniac read. i absolutely adored it and devoured it in one sitting. it’s one of those books that need to find its audience or otherwise it won’t be appreciated as it should.

thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for providing this arc in exchange for an honest review.

“𝑾𝒉𝒐 𝒊𝒔 𝒉𝒆 𝒊𝒇 𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒂𝒏'𝒕 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒕𝒓𝒐𝒍 𝒚𝒐𝒖? 𝑰𝒔 𝒉𝒆 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒏 𝒂 𝒎𝒂𝒏 𝒂𝒏𝒚-𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆? 𝑰𝒕 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒔𝒆𝒆𝒎 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒂 𝒓𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒆𝒇 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒈𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒉𝒊𝒎 𝒂 𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒅, 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒏 𝒊𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒊𝒔 𝒉𝒐𝒍𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂 𝒃𝒍𝒂𝒅𝒆.”

The Eyes Are The Best Part is a strong debut from Monika Kim, even if the middle act suffers for the lack of it.

Full of feminine rage, murder, and fetishization, you, along with the main character herself, begin to spiral as the book goes deeper and deeper into her relationship with men and how they treat her. Notably, I think the family dynamics presented in the book are GREAT, providing a not only realistic, but also genuine great view at how divorce affects all.

Despite this, the book does slightly fall underway because of its short page. It’s not allowed to truly let the events of what is happening sink in with you, and in the third act, despite that being the best part, it certainly feels quicker and sped up than necessary. Notably the last couple of chapters kinda fall flat because it’s such a blur of emotion and whatnot. The writing also isn’t the best, it definitely could’ve been polished and shined before being put out.

But it’s also a genuinely really good, fast paced, heart pumping book that is a great introduction to thrillers.

2.5!⭐️

I really wanted to like this book. But I just found it really slow and boring and just couldn’t get into it. I don’t know if I’m just not in the mind space for it as normally I’d enjoy books like this or if I just don’t like it. So I may reread it in the future.

This is just my honest opinion though, other readers may enjoy this one and it’s definitely worth a read. But it’s not for me.

Holy smokes this is my kind of read. Suspense and a little gore! If you are into that type of stuff then this is the book for you! Kept me going from the get go. I so couldn’t put this book down it was incredible

Ji-won is an 18 year old Korean American woman living with her parents and younger sister who is trying to make it through her first year of college when her father unexpectedly leaves the family. Her mother soon after starts dating George, a middle aged white man with a misogynistic world view and a tendency to fetishize Asian culture and women. This novel follows Ji-won’s descent into violence as she becomes obsessed with eyeballs - particularly eating blue eyes - and revenge.

This book will not be for everyone, but it was definitely for me! The gore was viscerally written and as a blue-eyed lady I was wincing every time eyes were brought up. The pacing of the story was just right and it remained engaging from the first page to the last. I’m definitely looking forward to reading more by Monika Kim!

Thank you to Kensington Books, Erewhon Books, and NetGalley for access to this ARC in exchange for an honest review

I reallt wished I liked this more but I felt like I was promised a whole other book than the one I read

thanks to publisher & netgalley for this ARC.
I read "The Eyes Are the Best Part" almost in 24 hours. Our narrator, Ji-won, is the daughter of a family that immigrated to America from South Korea.
Ji-won's life, who lives with her mother, father and sister who is a few years younger than her, changes one day:Her father leaves her mother for another woman.. George, a non-Korean man with nothing-looks-true-about him, who enters the life of Ji-won's depressed mother, brings new problems for her sister and Ji-won. At the same time, Ji-won, who is studying at the university, begins to be surrounded by Geoffrey, who wants to be with her almost obsessively: with the girl he thinks 'different thn the others'.
Although the family traditionally believe that eating fish eyes can bring luck, for Ji-won luck and eyes have nothing to do.
Ji-won, who becomes obsessed with protecting her mother and their lives after the new chapter in their lives bc of the father's left, focuses on the eyes, or lets say "eating" the eyes.
The novel tells the culmination of the obsession in the brain of a serial killer. While telling this, the author explains the differences between American culture and South Korean culture through the conflicts the characters experience in their interactions with their environment. Being a stranger and not being able to belong can be considered as an individual and social reason for Ji-won's chronic loneliness.
You can read the dimensions of being marginalized as a woman and a South Korean at the same time in the novel.
A fast-reading, exciting thriller novel, i recommend you to read,too.

This is such an amazing book! Thank you so much for the ARC. I was intrigued when I saw cover. But this book is beyond my imagination. Absolutely love it!!!

Name of Book: The Eyes are the Best
Author: Monika Kim
Genre: Dark Family Drama
Publisher: Kensington Books- Erewhon Books
Pub Date: June 25, 2024
My Rating: 2 Stars
Pages: 288

When college student Ji-Won’s Appa (father) left the family, his wife Umma was inconsolable and the two daughters Ji-won and her sister Ji-hyun were very upset;
So Ummar shared an old Korean belief, in order to gaining luck one needs to eat the eye of a fish.

When Ji-won’s mom starts dating George a Caucasian, who likes Asian women; he decides that Ji-won will be JW. to avoid the similarities of the two names.
Ji-won doesn’t complain, as she cannot stop thinking about his beautiful blue eyes and how much she wants to cut them out and eat them.

Okay this book is weird! The trigger Content notice at the beginning is four lines long.-starting with: depictions of violence, eye horror, body horror, murder, cannibalism + two more lines.
Why in the world did I pick this?
True! It certainly is very different than any of my other reads’ but I do find the Korean culture interesting.

Story is only 288 pages so I thought -I can do this, surely there is something redeeming about it;
- Turn out the most redeeming thing is that it is a short story;
- although the slow paces as well as too many dream sequences were negatives.
. I discovered that the eyes are not the best but it is when this story ended.
(However the ending hints that Ji-won is still out for revenge)

I am voicing my opinion; however, I am sure other readers will like even love it.

Want to thank NetGalley and Kensington Books- Erewhon Books for this early eGalley.
Publishing Release Date scheduled for June 25, 2022.