Very well put premise with a clear end goal. Loved all of it and can’t wait to see more from this author

I knew this book was written specifically for me. I loved this! I loved seeing the main character's slow descent to madness... it being my favorite trope. Ji-won's discomfort really came out on the pages. I had to stop reading it in the middle of the night because I was getting the creeps from reading this. This was an incredible debut from Monika Kim! I put off reading it for so long because I just knew how perfect it would be for me, and I'm so glad I finally took the plunge and read it. I will 100% read anything this author writes in the future, she has the potential to become a favorite author of mine.

I rarely get the opportunity to read a character that is "twisted". It's difficult to justify Ji-Won's actions but so easy to justify her anger. Racism, sexism, hypersexualization all push women, especially women of color to the end. We need more "fuck around and find out" books like these.

The Eyes Are the Best Part by Monika Kim presents a thoughtful exploration of personal and relational dynamics through a unique lens. While the book offers insightful observations and a distinctive narrative style, its impact may vary depending on readers' preferences for character development and pacing. Overall, it provides an interesting read but may not resonate equally with everyone.

The story was very unique and I was really intrigued by the premise of the book - I feel it’s not something I’ve really seen or read before!

My main issue with the book was the pacing though, as it seemed to take a long time to build up to the crimes and when it finally got there it felt like there wasn’t enough time to fully explore that plot. I did enjoy the story like I said, I just feel like some of the build up was unnecessary and would have been better replaced with more depth to the action parts of the book.

It was a unique read though and a great combination of feminism and serial killers! It was a bit like My Sister, the Serial Killer in that sense!

Jiwon's villain origin story begins the day she meets her mother's new boyfriend, a middle-aged, bigoted and creepy white man with a fetish for Asian women.
Actually no, it begins the day her father abandons her, her mother and her younger sister, disappearing from their lives.
Or maybe it started a few months prior, when all her friends got accepted to UC Berkeley, but she didn't. Was that first abandonment the origin of everything? Who knows, but it’s sure that this year hasn’t been the best of her life.

For 18 years Jiwon, the eldest daughter of a Korean family immigrated to the US, has seen with her own eyes and experienced first-hand both racial and patriarchal discrimination. The humiliation has transformed into anger, an anger that has grown more and more, until it became uncontainable, until it swallowed everything.

When her father leaves her, she finds herself having to hide her pain in an attempt to contain that of her mother, a woman subjugated to her role as wife, always submissive with men.
And when her mother brings a disgusting man into her house, one who casts lustful glances at her and her 15-year-old sister, Jiwon has to endure, she has to accept it, for her mother's sake and happiness.
But from that moment Jiwon developes an obsession with this man and his big blue eyes, and her descent into madness begins: nightmares, hallucinations, sleepwalking. And a great hunger.

In this psychological horror, Monika Kim does not simply tell a violent and gruesome story of murder and cannibalism, but explores themes such as the fetishization of Asian women and misogyny, set in a family context that is as complex as it is realistic.

The writing style is simple, sometimes almost aseptic, but it was still able to capture me and immerse me in the story.
A beautiful debut! Will surely read more from this author!

4.5 stars

This was fantastic. I was not expecting this to be a five-star favorite but here we are! This book was so fascinating and GROSS, but exactly the way I like horror to be gross. I love stories like this where we slowly watch a character unravel mentally and become more and more unhinged. Mostly due to the behavior of toxic white men. It's fantastic lol. I loved this protagonist too -- I love that she was morally gray and didn't always make the best choices, but it was absolutely fascinating to be in her head. This book was so well written too, I can't believe this was a debut! I will be reading everything this author publishes in the future!

Woooowwww I loved this debut novel. It hooked my from the cover. That cover is stellar. I honestly don’t think there was anything I disliked about this book. It was brutal yet also subtle. There was social commentary. I loved the main character and could relate to her so many times. The ending was perfect for this story too. I would highly recommend if you like female rage! I can’t wait to see what Monika Kim has next for us.

Thank you so much to Netgalley and the publishers for approving me to read this book!
I absolutely devoured this book!! So so so good!! I highly recommend

Gory feminist horror, I loved it! Writing was sharp and clever and the pacing was good as we followed the protagonists unraveling. I was constantly torn between “that’s disgusting” and “good for her”.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.

I really enjoyed this book. The feminist rage aspect of certain horrors will always be intriguing to me.

An Asian American teenager, surrounded by festishizing white men, finds a way to fight back against the prying eyes of disgusting predators. Feminine rage at its FINEST. The length was perfect. The characters were devastatingly nuanced. I loved EVERYTHING about this. 5 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley and Kensington Books for this ARC!

I absolutely loved The Eyes Are The Best Part and I devoured this book in less than 24 hours. Monika’s writing is top notch and this is an incredible debut by her!

I loved this book. The body horror was satisfyingly disgusting without being gratuitous. The themes of feminism & fetishism were not heavy handed and and and it had an unhinged woman at its center..
I regret not reading and screaming about it from rooftops before release.

I really enjoyed it! It was really interesting the mix of all the main themes of the book: the racism and mysogyny of George, the main character's intentions to not continue with her mom's dependence towards men and all the rage that grows because of it towards her male figures in her life. And all the craziness and paranoia of Ji-won, it's just becomes and obsession for you also. A really different and entertaining thriller. The end was perfect, maybe it wasn't a surprise, but I thought it was a really satisfying ending.

A horror story at its finest! The right about of feminism, Korean aspects, serial killer vibes. I loved every second of this book. I can't wait for more from this author!

Thank you for this arc!

I received this ARC from NetGalley and Kensington Books | Erewhon Books in exchange for a free and honest review.

I really enjoyed this book. It follows the protagonist Ji-won who is dealing with her father leaving her mother, college and after a meal, an obsession with eyes; which leads to unforeseen consequences. In addition, as Ji-won's mental health progressively gets worse as the story goes leading to an explosive outcome. The book tackled lots of issues women face e.g., fetishisation, loneliness, racial issues etc. Overall. an interesting read and would recommend to readers who aren't very squeamish.

This book was great! Not for the squeamish and don’t eat while you read. I liked the exploration of fetishizing Asian women. Powerful story with a twist!!

Different and Enjoyable

I've been eagerly anticipating reading The Eyes Are the Best Part by Monika Kim for months. Life, unfortunately, got in the way, causing me to put this book on hold. Recently, I've had a bit of a love-hate relationship with the horror genre, but I am thrilled to say that this novel firmly belongs on my positive list. I would have been truly disappointed if I hadn’t enjoyed it, given how much I was looking forward to it.
Although The Eyes Are the Best Part is primarily marketed as horror, the first half of the novel feels more like a brutally candid character study with a touch of the macabre. The marketing materials mention Michelle Zauner's Crying in H-Mart, which is an apt comparison for this portion of the narrative. The character development and emotional depth in the beginning chapters are reminiscent of Zauner's work, offering a poignant and engaging read.
As the story progresses, the horror elements intensify dramatically. The second half of the book is filled with nightmare-inducing visuals that significantly ramp up the tension and fear factor. One particular scene involving an eyeball left a lasting impression on me, and I doubt I will ever see an eyeball the same way again.
My one critique lies in the novel's conclusion. It felt as though the author ran out of steam, with various plot details being resolved too conveniently and too quickly. I would have preferred a more thorough depiction of the suggested outcomes rather than the open-ended closing that was provided.
Despite this slight premature ending, The Eyes Are the Best Part was worth every late-night minute I spent reading it. I do, however, advise against reading it after midnight as I did. We live, we learn, and we continue reading.
In summary, Monika Kim's The Eyes Are the Best Part is a compelling blend of character study and horror that ultimately delivers a haunting and memorable experience.

The Eyes Are the Best Part by Monika Kim is an eye-opening crazy serial killer/psychological horror debut. I will say more people need to read this book for the discussions, I hated the main character but she goes to a level of crazy that at the end I kind of liked. It is a kind of feminist where most of the men are sexist, and the killer hunts, but not all of them. This novel reminded me of the lead characters in Death Note and the movie Nightcrawlers. Where both characters went off the deep end and at the end of the day are psychopathic, but you're kind of rooting for them just to pull it off. The novel portrays the second-generation Korean family very well. It nails how the mother is all about family but a man kind of trumps that, and they're so demure that they never have the what do you think of this man I'm seeing talk. Most of the men in this story are trash the way they fantasize about Asian women and treat women in general. The characters are well written I've known a few of the men and women described in the book. The pace for this story is super fast as it is a fairly short book. The horror aspect is told in dreams mainly you will question reality as the main character does. The horror is about what one character fears to do, but I was still horrified when they do what they fear. The cover is an eyeball in chopstick and there's a lot of eyeball eating and everyone is gross even when they are on fish. The ending is the best part as a character really breaks bad, and pulls off a fantastic ending. I read The Eyes Are the Best Part thanks to Netgalley and Erewhon Books giving me a copy in exchange for a review. Eyes Are the Best Part was published on June 25, 2024.

Plot Summary: Ji-won is a second-generation Korean American, she is in her first semester at school she has no friends as her friends from High School all went to Berkley. She befriends Geoffrey who has a crush on her but is harmless. Her father has recently left her mother, Ji-won, and her sister alone. Her mother falls into a deep depression until she meets George a very rude entitled American that her mother is infatuated with. but Ji-won notices the roving eyes that her mother can not see. It upends her life when her mother lets him move in and she feels his blue eyes upon her that she just wants to rip out of his head and devour. Ji-won has recently tried fish eyes and is obsessed she keeps dreaming of human eyes.

What I Liked: The characters both Ji-won and George I kind of loved hating them. The ending was crazy and psychopathic but also great. It will stick with me, with how far it goes and what is next. I liked the Korean family scenes before George took over. I did enjoy the sisterly bonding, there were a lot of great moments. What Ji-won did to her friend that went to Berkley without her, and proved she was always crazy. I liked that in this story Ji-won sees herself as the protector, even though she is crazy. The cover is one of the main reasons I selected the book, it is one of the best most eye-catching (see what I did there) covers of this year.

What I Disliked: The detail and texture of the eyeball eating I could have gone without, maybe the first two and the last one but not 5. How sloppy the murders were and Ji-won even bringing up my DNA is everywhere and for it to go on for so long. I wanted to see Ji-won's lesbianism get explored more, and her mother's reaction to it. Ji-won was hard to connect with I liked the mom more, it was not until she turned crazy I was okay I didn't have to like this person but I wanted to see what they were going to do next.

Recommendation: Eyes Are the Best Part is a story about a character I did not like but need to know every crazy thing she does. I fully recommend you the audience to read and discuss, This book goes there and back. Ji-won reminds me of Misty from Yellowjackets just not as sweet and innocent. I have recommended one other book where I could not stand the main characters and that is Baby Teeth for the same reason as this book I wanted to see how far it was going to go. Trigger warnings are eye gouging and eating in too much detail. This is a pretty fantastic debut for Monika Kim that is sure to divide some, but I enjoyed it.

Rating: I rated Eyes Are the Best Part by Monika Kim 4.2 out of 5. This book might make my Top ten books published this year it is out there but memorable.