Thank you to NetGalley for providing a digital copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

90/100 or 4.5 stars

This was a wild ride, and I loved it. There were only a few things that brought it down to a 4.5 instaead of a full 5.0 star, but this was a great time and I will definitely check out other works by this author!

Monika Kim’s bold, brutal novel The Eyes Are the Best Part sears with feminine rage and unflinching body horror.

Ji-won is not the perfect first-generation American daughter. She is friendless, average in academics, and lacks the intuitive emotional intelligence of her little sister, Ji-hyun, a quality that their mother claims makes the youngest more Korean. Reeling from the abrupt departure of Ji-won’s father, the women teeter on financial and emotional ruin. In an attempt to cheer up her mother, Ji-won eats a fish eye for the first time—a symbol of good luck. But it awakens an unnatural appetite within her, fueling her mental unraveling. She is left with one obsession: bright blue eyeballs.

Though her coping methods are gruesome, Ji-won has reasons to be angry. Her mother’s new boyfriend is a piggish white man who crashes into their lives with a fetishistic desire for Asian women. Her grades at college are slipping. The possessiveness of her pseudofeminist classmate becomes menacing. Again and again, misogyny and racism pursue her. And all this rage needs somewhere to land.

The world’s assumption that Ji-won is docile makes for good cover as she gives in to her violent impulses, directing them at men in her family and outside of it. In a moment of self-aware disgust, she asks, “Is this what it takes to make our fathers return to us?” Not all of the twists are shocking, but the intensity of Ji-won’s perspective carries the story to satisfying ends, cutting to her red-hot center and daring voyeurs to look away.

The novel The Eyes Are the Best Part bites a chunk out of the horrors of being young and marginalized, licking its lips all the while.

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!!