Thank you to NetGalley and Octopus Publishing for the advance reader copy.

I requested this book because I saw it was coming up on a subscription I had - unfortunately I decided to skip the book.

This was a middle of the road read for me as it was quick but I felt like there could have been more story and make this more a novel. But at the same time, editing some areas would make the story more tight and also rushed like the how the character feels.

The main character is unhinged which helps the story and her actions but I felt like there were parts of the book that were a bit random to tie up the story.

I think that if you don’t like eyeballs or the idea of them this is definitely not for you.

Read about 70% of this in one sitting on a very fast train and I'm not sure if it was the book or train that made me start to feel a bit ill. If it was the book, congratulations for being the first book to ever do that to me. This was very fun and engrossing but the thing is. I think I am tired of hashtag Good For Her feminine rage etc etc. There's not really any more road we can tread here, I feel, and Clytemnestra already did it back before 0 AD. And this was very much trying to do that, which is sad, because I think it has so many strengths - getting to watch the protagonist descend into madness, to see her become less concerned with anyone finding out, is fascinating. I love when a book imitates the spiral a character is going down in its pacing. This was fun, but I do wish it went further.

Despite some intriguing elements, this book fell short for me. The gore and grotesque scenes felt excessive rather than engaging. Although Ji-won is a complex character, her lack of empathy made it hard to root for her. The plot was reasonably paced, but the graphic descriptions, particularly of eyeballs, were off-putting. While the supporting characters had potential, they didn't add enough depth to the story. The commentary on race, though interesting, often felt forced. Overall, it was a disappointing read.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Brazen for a digital ARC in exchange for a review.

I raced through this book in a single afternoon. Ji-won is an likeable but increasingly unhinged and messy narrator, and I found myself sympathising and rooting for her in her murderous pursuit of her mother's boyfriend, despite the collateral damage that built up along the way. Ji-won's activities made me feel a little nauseous at times, and I'm not sure I'll be able to enjoy hard-boiled eggs and cherry tomatoes in the same way for quite some time.

My only criticism is that the ending felt very rushed and implausible; I'm not sure a certain outcome could have been achieved without alarms alerting staff as to what was happening, and the way things panned out for Ji-won was a little too neat, as she hadn't exhibited such a calculated mindset previously. Things were left hanging unnecessarily at the last minute with Ji-won's decision as to what to do about her father. However, this doesn't overshadow how much I enjoyed the rest of the story.

Such an interesting, engaging and bloody read for so many reasons!

Firstly, the genre is horror, with a young woman who becomes a serial killer with a fixation on eyes. I mean – I’m already in. You KNOW that’s gonna get dark
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The young woman, Ji-won lives in a tiny apartment with her younger sister and her Umma (mum) with the story starting around the time her Uppa (dad) leaves them.

The fascination with eyes begins with a cooked fish that her mum eats for good luck – as they are, as a family, certain they are cursed with bad luck. They certainly have fallen on bad times so could do with a change in their luck.

And those eyes certainly DO change people’s luck, but not in the ways one may expect; and not just the fish eyes. Ji-Won develops a deadly fascination with eating bright blue human eyes, triggered by the eyes of her mum’s new misogynistic, pervy sex pest boyfriend who has a penchant for all Asian women and girls of all ages.

We see Ji-Won’s anger and ire grow, and her appetite for delivering retribution with it. Her boldness grows, too and we take that journey with her, savouring her baptisms of blood.

There’s the boy at her college who presents as a nice guy, but is in fact a stalker who feels that he is entitled to Ji-Won just because he likes her. We have misogynistic jocks who say bigoted things getting their just desserts in hideous ways. And hideous pedo men meeting their demise in ways Dexter would be proud of.

It's a beautifully crafted book, which taught me much about Korean culture and had me very much rooting for our Korean hero as she redresses the balance of misogyny whilst leaning into new feelings for her new female friend, Alex – all whilst trying to navigate what is real and what isn’t as she gradually unravels. It’s not for the faint hearted or easily butt hurt incels. It’s for those who rejoice in women and their fierceness!

Will she get away with it all? Let’s hope so – but you’ll have to read the book to find out.

Thank you Net Galley, Octopus Publishing and of course, the author Monika Kim for the opportunity to read this ARC. I loved it!

3.75 stars

The title and the cover are perfect. They sum up exactly what this book is about. The gore and the violence was very well done, both gross and cathartic. It was by far my favourite part of the book. The overall plot falls into the 'unhinged female revenge' category of horror. In that regard, I found it to be quite a basic, straightforward story. Ji-won is bombarded with micro (and macro) aggression as a young, female Asian American, and the rage that foments in her fuels her revenge. I was definitely expecting something more complex from the ending, given how well written the eyeball popping parts were. It was like the author was in a hurry to wrap everything up.

I received this arc for free on netgalley.

4.25 stars

he Eyes Are the Best Part is a captivating novel about Asian fetishisation told from the perspective of a young Korean-American woman. Even though I have blue eyes, I found myself nodding along; good for her.

My only criticism is that I wish that the plot progressed a little slower and we got to see the corruption arc develop more gradually. The longer someone resists their evil intentions, the more realistic it feels. On the other hand, it doesn't help that I flew through the pages, so I didn't get to spend much time with the story in general.

The book is labelled as horror and there is some gore along with other trigger warnings, but I wouldn't call it a very scary book, (unless you identify with the victims maybe, but then it's on you) making it a perfect read for those that want to enjoy some light horror.

I had no idea where this story was going. Halfway through I was still thinking where is this book going? And then wow, everything happens! Great lead up and 😳 👁🧐!!!

Perfect ending, not dragged out, and I'm now just mischievously smiling to myself. Ending was a perfect fit!

As soon as I saw the US cover for Monika Kim’s debut, I knew I needed it. Desperately. Just look at this:

The UK cover is still startling, but it doesn’t quite deliver on the US cover. Luckily, the book underneath the cover absolutely does. It’s a short, sharp, punch of a novel that I devoured in only a few sittings.

My Sister, the Serial Killer meets Boy Parts, this literary feminist howl-of-a-debut is going to crawl right under your skin...

Ji-won's life is in disarray. Her father's affair has ripped her family to shreds, leaving her to piece their crappy lives back together.

So, when her mother's obnoxious new white boyfriend enters the scene, bragging about his flawed knowledge of Korean culture and ogling Asian waitresses in restaurants, Ji-won's hold over her emotionsstrains. As he gawks at her and her sister around their claustrophobic apartment, Ji-won becomes more and more obsessed with his brilliant blue eyeballs.

As her fixation and rage grow, Ji-won decides that she must do the one thing that will save her family... and also curb her cravings.


I was immediately sucked into Ji-won’s sadness and desperation - to support her mother in her grief, trying to keep her little sister in one piece, and maintaining her grades to keep her college scholarship - her anger and overwhelm and the ways in which she begins to fracture are very cleverly and sensitively handled. Even as she starts to crave the bright blue eyeballs of the men around her, starting with her mum’s new boyfriend. George, the surreal moments are interspersed with dreams and the main thread of reality in a way that creates a sort of haze across Ji-won’s narration.

Underlying her rage is George - a racism, misogynistic, predatory middle-aged white man who has moved into her apartment and is intent on marrying her mum. From the beginning, Ji-won and her sister, Ji-hyun, despise George as he ogles waitresses in Asian restaurants and badly and insensitively attempts to appropriate Asian cultures: particularly Chinese and Korean. As George slowly reveals who he really is, Ji-won also begins to settle into life at college and makes two friends: Alexis and Geoffrey, who immediately clash with each other. Geoffrey chafes at Ji-won’s split attention and Alexis warns Ji-won of her suspicions about Geoffrey.


I was equally invested in Ji-won’s relationships as I was with new obsessions and desire. Her fraught relationship with her mother was really quite heartbreaking and I ached for her; it was similar with her relationship with Ji-hyun as she battles being a big sister and a stand-in mum but also, little sisters are frustrating! The dynamic between them is a really interesting one. Then we have her friendships with Geoffrey and Alexis which I mentioned above. I really liked Alexis and I would have liked a little more of her as Ji-won really needed some more female friendship in her life, although she admittedly didn’t do very well with the pre-novel friendships she had…


This is a spoiler for the end of the novel, but it was a crucial part of my feelings about ‘The Eyes are the Best Part’ so I’m going to mention it. If this is where you need to duck out, thanks for reading!

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Okay, spoiler time. It’s your last warning!

Towards the end after Ji-won’s confrontation with George and Geoffrey, where it’s revealed that Ji-Won had a brain tumour which we immediately assume is the reason for her obsessed with eyeballs and the murders, I swear I physically deflated. It really doesn’t always work for me when there’s a very logical and plausible wipe-the-slate-clean reason for unhinged behaviour or a supernatural element so I was really disappointed at first, but I really should have kept the faith in Monika Kim because it didn’t change Ji-won all that much - it just gave her the clarity to follow through with freeing her family from the crushing influence of the men in their lives.

I really loved ‘The Eyes are the Best Part’. It’s a compelling mix of literary horror and social commentary on the treatment of women, specifically Asian women, by predatory, fetishising men. I’ll be keeping an eye out for what Kim writes next.

Thank you to NetGalley and Brazen for the review copy.

Thank you NetGalley and Octopus Publishing for the ARC. 3.5⭐ stars rounded up.

The Eyes Are The Best Part gave me such a rollercoaster of emotions. For the most part, I adored Ji-Won, our eye-chomping serial killer protagonist. Oldest daughter trauma? Female rage? I empathized deeply with her. Her calculated bouts of revenge against her mother's terrible boyfriend? I stood up and clapped. Then there were also moments where I'm mentally shaking her by the shoulders for her undeserved, insufferable behavior towards her best friends and her younger sister. But that just made for a three-dimensional eighteen-year-old character who felt real to me. As real as she can get, minus the Black Swan-esque delusions and urges of eye consumption.

What I particularly found clever in Monika Kim's work was how the two primary male characters, George and Geoffrey, were just two sides of the same coin. At first glance, George is the Asian-fetishizing Republican boyfriend. Geoffrey is the ~Feminist Ally~ friend who respects women. Yet we're shown how misogyny can be disguised into what appears to be a A Well-Meaning Guy. The true horror of TEATBP isn't a teenager losing her grasp on reality and succumbing to murderous urges—it's a grown man sexualizing women, even young girls. It's male obsession and entitlement over women's time and their emotional labor. It's the constant pushing and pushing and pushing, until your No eventually gets turned into a soft, reluctant Yes.

Expected discomfort aside, TEATBP is deliciously gross and morbidly enthralling... and made me want to sample fish eyes. iykyk.

I don’t even know where to start. I am starting this review right after I finished it. This book is for sure on my favorites list and I honestly don’t think I’ll ever look at eyes (or my own eyes for that matter) the same again. I am going to do my best to talk about this without giving away spoilers.

I absolutely love the build up we get to experience with the main character as we progress through the book. It was so well written. The ending was mind blowing for me. It honestly gave me everything and more!

I was hooked and so hooked that before I knew it I was at the end. I’ll be recommending this to everyone! I can’t wait for it to be released. I NEED a physical copy.

This book is so freaking weird and not at all what I expected going in but that ended up being... better?
Other readers may disagree but I think the ending and overall pacing worked very well for the story. The first half is noticeably slower than the second, as we get to know Ji-Won, her family, and the harsh misogyny/racism she faces as an Asian woman, but once the 50% hits the story takes off at a break-neck pace that's about as <spoiler>unhinged</spoiler> as Ji-Won herself.
A lot of questions were left unanswered so if you're looking for a neat, closed ending this may not be the book for you (worked for me).

Thank you NetGalley/Octopus Publishing for the ARC.

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.

Our main character, Ji-won, is a Korean American teen living with her mother and sister. With the family struggling under the weight of the father's departure, Ji-won's umma encourages her children to try eating the eyes of their fish dinner to bring good luck to the family. Despite her sister's disgust and her own reservations, Ji-won decides to try an eyeball—inadvertently awakening a dark, insatiable new hunger inside her. Between her mother's new beau George entering their lives, and the intense new friends she makes at college, she starts to feel her grasp on reality slip as her obsession with eyes begins to take hold.




This was one of my more anticipated upcoming releases, and I'm happy—and a little relieved—that The Eyes Are The Best Part mostly lives up to my hype for it. This is a very ambitious debut novel, tackling family dynamics, the pain that comes with the looming spectre of divorce, racial dynamics, and Asian fetishisation, while blurring the lines between reality and fantasy as seen through our protagonists eyes. There's a similarity to American Psycho in structure, as Kim often has you questioning whether something is actually happening before blindsiding you with a moment of gloriously graphic violence.

I don't think this will be a book for everyone, but if the synopsis interests you, I would highly recommend giving it a try. I had a few issues with it—the two major male antagonists come across almost as caricatures, missing the depth and complexity that Ji-won and, to an extent, her family have, which feels like a slightly missed opportunity to add to the ambiguity. Some people have expressed an issue with the ending feeling abrupt, although I didn't feel that way myself.

Overall, though, there's a lot to love here. Ji-won is incredibly relatable, and the author has captured the feel of a family in turmoil wonderfully. There's also a theme of obsession around blue eyes, which I think ties in very well thematically for spoiler-y reasons I won't go into here. More than anything, I thought it was a very well-written book, and even if the story doesn't work for you, I have no doubt you'll enjoy the prose and vivid imagery on offer here. A strong, 4-star read for me that solidifies Monika Kim as a name well worth watching out for in the near future.

I will be thinking of this book for a very long time. I loved the writing style and the short chapters. It was easy to just fly through it. But what I loved most was Ji-won's decent into madness. I really didn't know where this was going to go, and I truly loved the end.

As an immigrant myself, a lot of things really resonated with my own experience. I've also lived in South Korea for some time and am quite familiar with a lot of social concepts that get brought up in this book.

I have been craving a lot of literary horror and this really hit the spot.

It was brilliant, and I will be reading more of Monika Kims books!

This was an interesting and weird read. It is like a coming-of-age (even though the character is 18 years old) unhinged horror.
I had high expectations going into this one, being an anticipated release for me, however despite starting out strong this fell through around 40% of the way through. I think the writing was a bit off for me, despite being an adult book it read like a YA and our main character got very annoying.
The overall concept however was intriguing and bold, the gruesome nature explored in this story was good especially the obsession with the eyes.

2.5 ★

“It will seem like a relief when you give him a hand, even if that hand is holding a blade. And when you take everything from him, you can say what these men say about us: he was asking for it. He was begging for it. He must have wanted it, since he didn’t fight back”

Ji-Won’s life starts unraveling when her Appa (father) leaves them for his mistress. Stuck in a claustrophobic apartment with her grieving Umma (mother) and little sister, Ji-Won takes it upon herself to care for them. But she is angry… She is so very angry that when her mother starts dating a racist and misogynist white man named George, she becomes obsessed with taking everything from him. Starting with his beautiful blue eyes… Don’t they just look so incredibly appetising?

There was a lot in this book that was interesting. Ji-Won’s relationship with Umma, for a start, was a fascinating depiction of teenage girls’ anger towards their mothers; how love and hate can sit so closely together, how this rage can feel uncontrollable, like an urge.

“It came up like bile, the need to say something mean and biting, the desire to cut her down for her stupidity. The want to make her feel small.”

Ji-Won is cruel, and I liked the way that she was slowly revealed to be unreliable, too — little breadcrumbs of past actions sprinkled here and there making us wary of her overall sanity while still trying to understand and empathise with her… For a while.

Overall, however, this book fell flat. Despite stomach-turning descriptions of violence and cannibalism, the voice of this book felt incredibly juvenile. I get it, Ji-Won is eighteen, but this genuinely reads like YA horror.

Additionally, this was a very entry-level feminism. It felt like Ji-Won was only now realising the injustices of being an Asian woman in America, and it all felt a little too surface-level for me. The heavy-handed social commentary fails to be successfully self-aware.

I really wanted to like this, I did! A Korean Feminist psychological horror? Yes please! I am genuinely bummed to give this such a low rating. There was a lot of potential here, and I found the descriptions of (sea)food especially captivating. This is a promising debut, and I do look forward to what Monika Kim writes next!

This review was first written on GoodReads. Thank you to NetGalley and Octopus Publishing for my e-ARC!

The Eyes Are The Best Part is such an ominous read which is told in the POV of Ji-Won as she tackles life at college, home life with her unravelling mother as well as dealing with George her mom's new partner who has the brightest blue eyes she's ever seen.

It's George's blue eyes which slowly see her become obsessed and then things turn wild...

The book tackles misogyny and racism showcased towards Asian women as well as throwing in some gross body horror.

This is a slow burn which then increasingly ramps up the pace which I didn't mind as I felt it really showcased the nature of the characters.

I was addicted to this book and when it ended I was gutted the ride was over.

Thank you to Netgalley for the arc.

Interlaced with korean culture the short chapters and simple prose make you fly through this book. Although the dialogue is rather stilted, it shines through an uncomfortable atmosphere and the inner workings of the main character.

Ji-won is a college student with a bright future. She didn't get into the college that she wanted, but she's making do and making new friends. Everything is going fine until her father leaves the family to be with another woman. Ji-won, her mother, and her sister are devastated. Then, Umma meets a new man with money and the most alluring blue eyes that Ji-Won has ever seen. She becomes obsessed with the blue eyes and she will do whatever it takes to get her hands on them.

I liked this book. It was somehow what I expected and not at the same time. The book is quite slow and it takes time to get going, but there is a lot of character development and suspense happening. I will say that it is quite descriptive and it did gross me out. LOL. I'm not mad about it, but I have a strong aversion to eyes and teeth and bones doing ANYTHING besides their naturally-intended jobs. I would recommend this to people who appreciate horror and possibly true-crime.