This was disturbing, gross and absolutely wonderful. The writing was very atmospheric and I couldn’t put it down. Wouldn’t recommend to read it while having lunch though.

When Ji-won's parents divorce and her mom finds a new boyfriend, her life becomes a series of strange events. She has strange dreams, sometimes she doesn't know what is real and what is not and she doesn't know how to handle all of this mess. George, the blue-eyed guy seems suspicious and only seems to be interested in her mother because of her Korean heritage as during their relationship he continues to ogle Asian women without any shame. Slowly Ji-won starts to suspect that George is not being generous and is determined to do something about in order to protect her mom from another bad relationship experience.

This book is quite dark and right from the start you can see that Ji-won is not okay and it's hard to determine if some events in her life are even real or just part of the images she created in her head. It is interesting to see how as time passes, her actions and thoughts become more drastic, especially since she feels that this new man causes risk to her family. I liked the tone and the writing itself, which felt a bit disturbing as everything unraveled. I think it was well written and the characters were mostly fleshed out, although at times it seemed a bit rushed. However, I think that was done in order to capture reader's attention and make it interesting, because there was no time to feel bored/get distracted when one event constantly followed another. All in all, I think this was a good example of how certain changes can influence family life in a negative way, slowly making everything fall apart.

Thank you to Octopus Audio and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest opinions!

Overall thoughts:
4 ⭐️
Release Date: 11th July

‘Poison is everywhere, even where you don’t expect it.’

Genre: horror/ thriller

An unsettled family situation has Ji-won’s life spiralling out of control. As her rage grows so does a certain fixation…
A slow build, feminist horror: highlighting empowered females & hard hitting social issues.

I really didn’t know what to expect going into this one, but I’m pleasantly (kinda horrified in a good way😂) surprised! It does take a little while to get into the horror but the build up gives it so much more impact. It allows you to fully understand the character’s motivations. This book really subverted my expectations & goes against the traditional horror standard.
(It was giving me Jennifer’s Body vibes at times!)

I listened via the Audiobook format & the quality of the narration was great. I loved the moments here & there where the Korean accents showed through in certain characters! Rosa Escoda did a great job!

Thank you to Net Galley, Monika Kim & Octopus Audio for the review copy in exchange for an honest review.

I don't usually gravitate towards horror, but I'm starting to explore the genre and have discovered some great stories I would have otherwise overlooked. The novel The Eyes Are The Best Part sparked my interest after reading the blurb and in my opinion, it is more of a psychological thriller than a traditional horror. I couldn't stop listening and finished it in a single afternoon. I'll never look at blue eyes the same way again 👀 IYKYK 👀

The audiobook narration was captivating from the beginning and remained so throughout. I've listened to a few other audiobooks narrated by Rosa Escoda, and she's now an auto-listen narrator for me.

Horror isn’t my genre of choice, but this one was right up my street. More psychological thriller/feminist revenge in my opinion.

Ji-Won’s life is upended when her father leaves for a younger woman, her friends move away for college and she’s left to help pick up the pieces for herself, her younger sister and her Eomma. Things take a sinister turn when Eomma brings home a new boyfriend, he’s sleazy, he’s passive aggressive and has the stereotypical well traveled white saviour attitude that’ll have you wanting to roll your own eyes right out, he has a kink for Asian woman and girls that he scarcely hides, and he’s planning to marry Eomma, he does has one thing going for him delicious blue eyes!! Ji-Won becomes fixated on cutting them out and eating them. It won’t be just him to lose his vision either.

This was whip smart, funny, and addictive!

I’m humming “Baby’s got blue eyes” in a slightly sinister fashion! And I’m oddly hungry 🤔

The narration by Rosa Escoda was the perfect pairing for Monika Kim”s writing.

All the stars 🌟
#Jorevommends

Huge thanks to Octopus Audio and NetGalley for the opportunity to listen to this audiobook in return for an honest review.

The eyes are the best part follows Ji-won after her father leaves her mother. Ji-won feels a lot of responsibility to protect her mother and her mother tells Ji-won that eating fish eyes brings good luck so Ji-won starts eating them. Ji-won’s mother starts dating a Caucasian man called George who has an obvious Asian fetish. Ji-won becomes obsessed with blue eyes particularly George’s eyes and starts killing people to eat their eyes.

This had more commentary on immigrant families than horror. Obviously there were gross moments regarding eyes but personally I didn’t think it was overly graphic. However if you are sensitive to gore or eyes then maybe you should skip this. I’m giving it 3 stars because I appreciate the conversations on immigrant Korean families particularly Ji-won’s family dynamic after her father leaves. I also enjoyed the commentary on Korean men versus White men and which were deemed more reliable when both the Korean man and Caucasian man in this are both bad men for different reasons. Overall this was okay and the audiobook was performed well.

Starts off fairly tame, a decent tale of mother and kids abandoned by father, and how they're trying to get on with life without him.
It slowly sneaks up on you, and soon there's some pretty unhinged stuff going on.
I kid you not when I said some of it made me gag.
Then things would go back to normal.
It's creepy and it's clever.
And in parts it's gross.
Great combination!!!


Narrator does an excellent job. I almost want to see what could happen next.

I obviously new what to expect from this book from the title and cover.... I just wasnt fully prepared.
This book is SO disgusting and had me gagging at parts- thats not a critique as it was fully the books intention and it really did horrify me.
This book was really well done and i really enjoyed the short snappy chapters as it made it easier to digest
None of the characters are likeable, not necessarily a bad thing when you consider the genre and topic.

The audio book was really well done and i think it added to the experience. When you hear the grim details of whats happening it was really sickening to listen to... i should add that eyes have always been something that gross me out since i was a kid so maybe that added to it for me too.

4 stars

Well, I'm sad to say I am very disappointed with this book.
Firstly, I couldn't empathise or even understand the protagonist's actions. She wants to murder her future step father because the guy is a jerk? Well, then she should murder at least half of the whole world population, because there are many jerks out there- men AND women. Good luck with that, girl.
Secondly, to me this book reads A LOT like a typical YA novel: full of petty and silly teenage dramas - and I am definitely not a YA reader.
Thirdly, this isn't horror. It is marketed as horror but, to me, it isn't. It's a YA/literary fiction/character study, but not a horror novel - that's the biggest reason to my disapppointment. I was expecting a HORROR novel.

I guess the author's writing style was OK to me. It was decent enough. I don't plan to read any of their future releases, but I didn't hate or get bothered by it.
I do appreciate the social discussions and commentaries the author Monika Kim is trying to achive with this book, but they all fell flat to me. I've read better books with the same discussions.

I listened to the audiobook version, and I gotta admit that, even though I didn't love the audiobook narration (the narrator could have made more effort to make distinct voices to each one of the characters), it was the audio that made me finish this book. If it weren't for the audiobook, I'd have DNFed this book before the 30% mark.

Apparently, I have an unpopular opinion about this book, so I'd recommend other readers who are interested in this book to read other readers' reviews before committing to reading this novel. I'm sure it has its audience. I'm just not part of it.

I wanna thank NetGalley and the publisher Brazen for allowing me to listen to a free advanced copy of this novel in exchange for my honest review.

I just loved this story of "girl slowly losing her mind and wanting to consume eyeballs." It's unlike anything I've read before, so it feels very fresh and it was a ride. This was gross, enraging, unhinged, quick to read, and full of great commentary about racism, racial fetishization, abandonment, and generational trauma. I feel like the ending was maybe a tad bit convenient, but overall, it's an unsettling read that makes you think.

The audiobook is narrated really well, I think the narrator did a good job of bringing this story to life. Also, love the cover!