This book was delicious. I didn’t know I was looking for her, and yet she found me. It is so unhinged in all the right ways.

After her father leaves and her mother gets a new boyfriend, Ji-won begins to spiral and seek revenge. I could not put this down! The writing was simplistic but effective- I found it very addictive with great pacing. As a horror lover, I appreciated the graphic eyeball imagery (haha) and other gore (though it could have been even more brutal for me hehe).
This read like a thriller and I loved to hate our villain George. Would definitely recommend if you like books about feminine rage.

I knew this one would be gory and hoooo boy- don't eat before reading! The serial killer aspect has big appeal for horror/crime fans and those who like body gore. I also liked the feminist aspect and taking down men who fetishize Asian women. The twists near the end are intriguing.

In this story we're following Ji-won, a Korean-American college student who in the midst of many life stressors start to develop an appetite (and obsession) for eyeballs - specifically the blue eyes of her mother's racist, misogynistic pig of a boyfriend.

I read this book within a day's time, completely captivated by Ji-won and her descent into well, chaos and cannibalism. The pace was gripping and had just the right amount of weirdness - enough to intrigue but not so much you get lost in it. I found myself rooting for Ji-won, despite her cruelty at times, which is due to the brilliance of this debut's writing. I do wish that the ending was a bit stronger and didn't happen as quick as it did but aside from that, I have no complaints.

I don't want to say too much about this one since it's on the shorter side and is best enjoyed with as little known - in my opinion anyways. But if you're a fan of psychological horror with social commentary and an unhinged girlie at the forefront, this needs to be on your list for the summer!

I'd specifically recommend this one for fans of Maeve Fly This one was a bit less descriptive than MF but definitely was heavy on the eyeballs - so if that grosses you out, you've been warned!

“The Eyes are the Best Part” by Monika Kim follows Ji-Won, a young college student with an appetite for destruction.

When her dad leaves, her, her mom, and her sister are left to pick up the pieces. Then, George comes along and Ji-Won’s appetite is activated. He is loud and sloppy and misogynistic. She regularly has dreams of killing him or hurting him. Between nightmarish dream-like chapters and narrations of college and home life, Ji-Won navigates young adulthood and finding her voice and sense of agency.

This book was deliciously disgusting — I found myself actually recoiling from some of the descriptions. overall, This was a really fun read, but I did find myself wanting a little more character development wise. otherwise, the alternating narratives and the concept was very good!

The Eyes Are The Best Part is a gripping debut by author Monika Kim. Told from the perspective of eighteen-year-old Jo-won as she struggles to maintain a semblance of normalcy in her life following the abrupt departure of her father for his mistress, the novel initially teeters between the conventional and the surreal.

Ji-won’s mother eventually finds comfort in a repugnant new boyfriend named George, her sister Ji-hyun is anxious regarding the state of their lives and her grades are dropping terribly. And then there are the dreams: the rooms with eyes on the walls that are are enticing and so very blue.

A desire to consume those eyes has awakened within Ji-won-following her decision to devour a fish eye during a dinner to please her mother-but it initially remains a macabre fascination

At least until the bodies begin to appear

The Eyes Are The Best Part is intense, engrossing, absolutely infuriating at times and very grisly. As a Korean young woman, Ji-won is forced to contend with the insidious intermingling of racism and misogyny: both depicted overtly by George, perpetuated subtly by Ji-won’s would-be “friend” Geoffrey and the latter even upheld by Ji-won’s own mother.

Ji-won is an intriguing and flawed protagonist: manipilative and envious, but also constrained by the expectations of and her desire to help her family. As Ji-won’s rage and desire to consume grew, I remained entranced and uneasy as I contemplated what would happen next.

The Eyes Are The Best Part is excellent novel and I look forward to reading Monika’s Kim’s writing in the future. Thank you to NetGalley, Kensington Books and Erewhon Books for granting me access to this ebook.

I appreciated this novel for giving us a raw depiction of Asian American female rage. Anger and rage are emotional aspects we rarely see depicted in Asian American female characters and even less depictions of them acting on those feelings. It's hard not to understand the sources of the main character, Ji-Won's, rage. And there lay some of my issues with the book. While I felt the necessity of having a male character as odious as George, his horribleness was ramped up so quickly from the second we met him, there was nowhere else for the character to go other than to become painfully two dimensional. Even that I wouldn't have minded so much but the other characters surrounding Ji-Won, her mother and her friends at college were also so thinly rendered that it was hard to maintain interest at times. I almost wanted Ji-Won to act on her rages that much more quickly so we could just get to the end of the story. Ji-Won's character was maybe the most well developed which makes sense given that she is the main character and is struggling with immense pressure as well as anger at so many injustices in her life. But at some point it felt like the story did not need to give me more instances of men, in particular white men, being awful for me to support Ji-Won's actions. If anything, I wanted her to hurry up. The ending felt a bit too tidy and somewhat unrealistic but I liked that the "explanation" for Ji-Won's behaviors was proven to be untrue. Let the girl have her rage.

This debut novel from Monika Kim is out of control. It is completely unhinged but in the best possible way. It paints such a sad picture of feminine rage, brought on by grief and loss, racism and misogyny.

The story follows Ji-won, a young Korean woman whose father has abandoned her family. She watches her mother fall further and further into depression until she meets a disgusting new man who she immediately falls for. She begins to really experience the fetishization of Asian women, and as her anger grows, so does her taste for something new. What follows is an insane, gory (check your content warnings!) and wild spiral into madness.

I absolutely loved this book. When my stomach is churning in conjunction with me shouting "go, go, do it, do it again!", that's how I know what I'm reading is gold. Any author that can make me feel rage, disgust, sadness, triumph and horror all at once, that's an author I'm keeping my eye on and I can't wait to see what Monika Kim does next!

Love feminine rage? Love body horror? Support women's rights AND women's wrongs? Love being adventurous with your foods? If you answered yes, this is the book for you, you'll love it, I promise.

An absolutely chilling masterpiece. I loved the title and cover. I will definitely bring reading future books from this author.

First off... Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for this advanced readers copy! I can say I truly enjoyed this book!

When the father of Ji-Won doesn't come home anymore, she is in anger that her father just left the home without any explanation except for her mother. And when her mother- not to long after- meets a new man named George, Ji-Won isn't happy about this newly formed relationship within her family. Her sister acts differently and isn't happy either, and Ji-Won is taking a new special interest in human eyes. Without giving too much away about this story... she develops special interests in other things, too.

The eyes are the best part is a story about female rage and psychological events that discusses topics as fetishes, racism, cannibalism, manipulation and feminism.

The writer is no stranger to describing sickening scenes and truly table turning events in this book! All of the topics suit really well inside this story and will make you question both the maincharacter as much as the side character, making you question if you are comfortable enough to continue reading. That's when a horror/psychological thriller novel truly strikes its pose to me and hit its mark. There were times I was confused about the morals as I'm used to most times reading from the victims perspective. There were multiple times where is was like: "oh shit, is she really doing this, or is this a dream?". In a few words: well done, Monika.

Next to the striking topics of this book, the writing style is very easy to the eyes and understandable. It's fast paced, the characters are fleshed out well enough and the turns in this book were amazing. I however wish the ending was a little less rushed, as I feel as though this book was building up to the ending. I would've loved to get a bit more of explaining about certain twists.

I think 'the eyes are the best part' is a new book with unexpected turns, uncomfortable scenes and hitting twists that have a fresh and unique feel to it.

Please give this book a try if you love horror!

Thank you so much to Net Galley and the publisher for providing me with an eARC! I was so excited to get my hands on it! 🫶

Aaaaaaand, that's a wrap on the positive things I have to say about this book.

Those who follow my reviews should know to take them with a grain of salt since I am so often the unpopular opinion. I anticipate this being a smash hit once released based solely on the fact that I disliked it so much.

After finding Maeve Fly pretty lackluster, I was SO EXCITED for this. I thought this would give me everything I found lacking in Maeve Fly. Turns out, Maeve Fly is the superior novel...

If you're here for social commentary, this is your book. If you're here for something well crafted, keep looking. The execution of this novel is my biggest issue. This should've been at least a 4-star read, but because of the storytelling, I found myself really having to force myself to finish it. I found the beginning chunk to be so boring and by the time we finally got to the unhinged eye eating murder, I was so far removed from any and all characters that all I could see was the stupidity of every action in every scene.

Despite all of that, I know I'll be recommending this to others in the future. It's people are definitely out there, I'm just not one of them.

this is one of those books I’ve seen loads of pre-release hype, but unfortunately, I didn’t really enjoy it. ⁠
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there are some interesting and important topics covered in this book such as racism, misogyny, creating a life for yourself as an immigrant, Asian fetishization, and the impact of broken families and extra-marital affairs. I did enjoy the exploration of these topics, some were maybe a little heavy-handed but I still think that what the author set out to do by discussing them was achieved. where my issue lies is with this being an “unhinged woman” book.⁠
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I personally could not get on board with Ji-won’s descent into madness. the author gives her plenty of reason to have the kind of mental breakdown that she does, however, I had such a hard time believing it. I simply could not connect the character of Ji-won to the actions that she commits. there is a slight sub-plot that shows a darker element to Ji-won’s personality, but we are introduced to her as a sheltered and sweet character over anything else, so I couldn’t make myself accept or believe that she would switch so suddenly and aggressively. it’s not so much a descent into madness, someone has cut the rope and she is plunging into madness at a crazy speed. I do think the author was making some commentary about the stereotype of East Asian women being meek and submissive but I don’t feel like Ji-won was the right character to make that statement with, at least not without wayyyy more character building and a much slower journey of getting us to the point where she is truly unhinged.⁠
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I obviously don’t like not enjoying books, especially debuts, and I’m disappointed this one didn’t live up to the hype for me.

Such a fun read! It reads almost like a Korean drama TV show and for a debut novel it was very well done. I loved all the cultural food descriptions sprinkled throughout the book. In regards to the characters I enjoyed the family dynamic between the two sisters. The mother reminded me a lot of my mother after my parents split up, so the story felt more personal for me. I will say this was a slow burn book with a lot of action at the end. I would have loved to see more feminist rage, but still overall a great book!

A palpable psychological thriller on the making of a female serial killer. Whats best about is the eyes. The eyes are the best part started on a solemn note of a terrible separation of Jiwon's mother and father with the man out of their life suddenly, up and go without warning leaving her, her younger sister and her devastated mother. Ji won struggle to grasp the changing dynamics in the family, of the abandoned responsibilities of a father in the family and her mother whom was affected horribly by this break up. The mother started to obsessively consumed the fish eyes, chomping on that jellylike substance bursting with liquid once gnashed & saying that fish eyes brought luck or perhaps a wishful thinking her husband will come back

This story took a darker turn when unexpectedly, their mother had fallen in love with a white man named George with his blue eyes, a misogynist, racist and kinks for asian fetishization and all in all, a disgusting human being. Worse, he moved into their home, invaded their privacy, taking the family's home by storm. Jiwon and Jihyum both despised him, his leeriness, rudeness & extreme lack of courtesy to the mother but to protect their mother's happiness, they endured the torture of having the unbearable man in their house. Until Ji Won snapped.

Discussing on some of the Korean American struggles to find footing ina foreign country to the lense of their working parents and the fallen business of the father, the discourse on failing relationships that happened early on, the mental torment and anguish it have effects on the children's mind where we see Ji Won finally take upon her hand to protect her family. Lurking in dangerous territory of obsessive consumption of eyeballs, triggering the cycle of killing and pleasurable sensations gained from the act of eating, the gory descriptions and vivid details of Ji Won's relentless pursuit of eyeball is mindblowingly wild. What I love about this story is also the short, punchy sentences given the impact to the whole situation and the short chapters are a delight. Its disturbing and to see her spiralled into such a state was pretty devastating as I believe her mind had taken the shape of devouring eyeballs as a source of comfort and give her sense of groundness but seeing her delve into killing becomes unbearable at point.

The ending though, wow thats a great one. Remarkable to say the least, befitting a genius psychopathic killer in the making. She sure wont stop now.

Thank you to Netgalley for the e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

I could not put this book down, I absolutely loved it! Thank you NetGalley for this advanced copy in return for my honest review.

I love this! "Feminist psychological horror about the making of a female serial killer from a Korean-American perspective." The tagline alone got me interested, but this book really stuck the landing. The title and cover are evocative and perfect for the story. The pacing throughout is great. We get the perfect blend of seeing the everyday life of someone going to college and dealing with family with the increasingly unhinged and murderous tendencies. This book has great commentary about racism and misogyny alongside the more obvious horror of murder and eating eyeballs. Our main character is very flawed, but you can't help but be on her side throughout the whole ride. Definitely recommend!!

Loved this! Was absolutely hooked from the first page. Just the right amount of gruesome too. Looking forward to whatever the author writes in the future.

First I want to thank NetGalley and Monika Kim for this e-ARC, because it was downright disgusting and I can’t wait to buy a physical copy! Disgusting in the best way, of course. I want to start this out by saying that I work in the medical field, specifically, I work with eyeballs every single day. I am not a complete expert but I’d like to say I’m pretty close to it, since I take them out of the deceaseds skull, hold them, and cut into them every day. The reason I’m bringing this up is because I fear that Monika Kim has also held an eyeball in her hand, I am also concerned over her incredible accuracy at how it would feel, and taste, if you popped an eyeball into your mouth, chewed, and swallowed. Now, I have of course never done this myself so I can’t be 100% sure, but if you WERE to eat an eyeball, what she describes is exactly what I believe you would experience. And I think that intriguing fact alone should make you pick up this book.

And wow, was it satisfying!

I really loved this book. It's a psychological thriller/ horror that shows us the everyday struggles of a young Asian woman, how she's suffering due to her family troubles and shares important feminist views. It's well written, fast paced, characters are pretty complex and the story is interesting. Recommend!
I really appreciate the opportunity I've had to read this book before it's been published, thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley. This is my honest, and believe, very fair review.
#TheEyesAretheBestPart #NetGalley
Happy reading everyone🖤

Do you like weird books? Do you like thoughtful cultural critiques on racism and sexism. Do you like horror novels. Do you like unreliable narrators? Because this book has all of these.

My best description of this book is if Otessa Moshfegh grew up as a first generation Korean and wrote a book about it.

It has all the vibes. The writing is superb. Her ability to hold tension and to subtly moralize and critique is astounding. Her story is simple on the surface, but the undercurrent is sharp and cutting. You think oh this is just going to be a horror book, but oh no... or maybe you're like i won't like this I don't like it when social issues hide as a story, but then BAM you get hit with all the horror. It's a brilliant and balanced combination.

If you have a thing about eyes though - don't read it. But everyone else - you should try it. I bet you like it more than you thought you would.

However, I think the cover will turn off a lot of potential readers and could be more enticing.