The Eyes Are the Best Part by Monika Kim

The Eyes Are the Best Part is Monika Kim’s debut novel, published in the UK by Brazen Books, an imprint of Octopus Publishing Group. I added this literary horror book to my reading list back in July 2024, when it was first published, but only got around to it recently. Since its launch, The Eyes Are the Best Part has been nominated for numerous awards, breaking out of the horror genre to become The Sunday Times bestselling ‘good for her’ novel. Personally, I can’t get enough of ‘good for her’ revenge-themed stories, so my hopes were high. Let’s get stuck in.

 

The Eyes Are the Best Part by Monika Kim summary

Ji-Won has a lot on her plate, and not just the fish eyes her mother encourages her to eat. Her father has walked out, leaving her with a younger sister and a devastated mother. They’re all struggling for money, and her friends have left her behind as they go off to study at top-tier universities.

Before long, her mother has a new boyfriend. He’s an older white man, George, who insists he knows all about Korean culture. In reality, he’s no more than a waste man with an Asian fetish, all the audacity and the emotional depth of black ice.

New school, new friends and a new father figure she loathes is a lot for any fifteen-year-old. But it’s especially hard for someone who feels the pressure and responsibility to hold her family together.

Forced to spend time in George’s company, Ji-Won can only find one positive thing about him; how incredible his bright blue eyes are. Before long, it’s not just his blue eyes she notices. White men’s bright blue eyes start to haunt her dreams, turning them into an obsession, a need to devour. She just can’t resist how bright, how beautiful, how delicious they look.

 

The Eyes Are the Best Part quotes

“By the time you’re done with him, he’ll be begging for mercy. Who is he if he can’t control you? Is he even a man anymore? 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.”

“I’ve always been jealous of the kids who have never had to deal with this crushing pressure. They have no idea how good they have it, how lucky they are. Often, I find myself wondering: What is it like to live freely, to live a life untethered, without having to be responsible for everyone around you?”

“Yeah, sorry, I ate a homeless guy’s eyeball last night, and I’m really struggling with it, so. . . .”

“Confuse him. Make him feel foolish. Men like him hate being wrong, hate being embarrassed, hate not being in control. Men like him don’t know what to do when that happens, and they resort to childish displays of anger, temper tantrums, sulking. In spite of this, he won’t be able to do a single thing about it because in the end he’s the one who is weak. The only power he has is the power you are willing to give him, and you’ve given him nothing. Not a scrap.”

“Her tears dripped onto my hands, onto the carpet; I watched them fall and had the sudden realisation that our roles had reversed. Somehow, I had become the mother and she the daughter.”

 

The Eyes Are the Best Part by Monika Kim audiobook preview

 

The Eyes Are the Best Part by Monika Kim review

Weirdly, I spent the first quarter of this novel with overwhelmingly distracting deja vu. So much so, I looked up when it was written in case I’d read early chapters when I worked in publishing. But the dates didn’t add up.

Anyway, once I got over that, I quickly fell in love with Ji-Won and her obsession with blue eyes. You feel so sorry for her and the pressure she’s under with her whole life changing. Any stability she’s known is pulled from under her, and there’s a point where she’s parenting both her younger sister and her mother. However, when George enters the scene, you know it can only get worse.

Monika Kim creates such a grotesque yet believable character in George that you’re happy for him to get his comeuppance. Ji-Won’s vengeance isn’t restricted to George, but I’ll leave that storyline as the great surprise it is.

I listened to the audiobook of this novel, and I think the narrator, Rosa Escoda, did an incredible job. Her pacing, tone and her entire style worked perfectly. Thanks to that, I went on to buy a physical copy too. Why? Because I know, at some point, I’m going to crave this story again, and it’ll be nice to devour it (pun semi-intended) in a new format.

 

Is The Eyes Are the Best Part by Monika Kim worth reading?

This novel had so much hype to live up to, and that was one of the reasons I avoided it for a while. I can easily get overwhelmed by hype and accidentally end up avoiding those books. For example, I still have an unread proof copy of Gone Girl from my bookseller days. However, The Eyes Are the Best Part is an incredible read with an ending I loved. With stories like this, I’m never too sure if the ending will veer off into surrealism or pure fantasy. Personally, I loved the fact that this novel stayed grounded in reality. Yes, it’s in an extreme version of reality, but that’s the point.

In short, yes, The Eyes Are the Best Part is a weird girl fiction must-read. The only downside? Whatever you read after it is probably going to pale in comparison.

 

Buy your copy from the Bookshop.org link below. Or fancy another review? If you liked this, you’ll love Tender is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica.