THE EYES ARE THE BEST PART: A Novel

(Paperback)

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Description

The book that is crawling under ever readers skin...

Ji-won's life tumbles into disarray in the wake of her Appa's extramarital affair and subsequent departure. Her mother, distraught. Her younger sister, hurt and confused. Her college freshman grades, failing. Her dreams, horrifying... yet enticing.

In them, Ji-won walks through bloody rooms full of eyes. Succulent blue eyes. Salivatingly blue eyes. Eyes the same shape and shade as George's, who is Umma's obnoxious new boyfriend. George has already overstayed his welcome in her family's claustrophobic apartment. He brags about his puffed-up consulting job, ogles Asian waitresses while dining out, and acts condescending toward Ji-won and her sister as if he deserves all of Umma's fawning adoration. No, George doesn't deserve anything from her family. Ji-won will make sure of that.

For no matter how many victims accumulate around her campus or how many people she must deceive and manipulate, Ji-won's hunger and her rage deserve to be sated.

A brilliantly inventive, subversive novel about a young woman unraveling, Monika Kim's The Eyes Are the Best Part is a story of a family falling apart and trying to find their way back to each other, marking a bold new voice in horror that will leave readers mesmerized and craving more.

Reviews

Its unhinged and brilliant, loved reading about the family and the ending chapters have to be my favorite of the year. -- Leo, Goodreads review
THE EYES ARE THE BEST PART has it all: delicious writing that is expertly paced; characters that feel so real that you can imagine yourself sitting in their 700 sq. ft. apartment with them, breathing in all of Umma's cooking and just waiting for George to get what is coming for him. -- Ryan, Goodreads review
This book has crawled under my skin and won't let me go. Days after I've finished it, I can't get it out of my head. I couldn't turn the pages fast enough. (Short chapters were in here too). The tension in the book is palpable as in the sense of dread. You just wait for the next shoe to drop. I have a book hangover now. I don't want anything in my head but this book. -- Victoria, Goodreads reviewer

I've been frothing at the mouth for this book ever since it was just a query letter and first 300 words posted for critique on an online forum, and I'm thrilled to report it was just as unhinged and brilliant as I'd hoped. I devoured it (ha) in a sitting. Every element landed for me: the clean prose, the meaty character work, the tragic family drama, the tight plotting, the furious, ferocious treatment of theme. It was a desperate, feral ride with such masterful control of pacing and tension that it left me breathless, as well as screaming at the top of my voice I SUPPORT WOMEN'S WRONGS.

Loved it. Already one of my top releases of 2024. If you liked Eliza Clark's Boy Parts, you'll love this.

-- bori, Goodreads reviewer

Author Bio

Monika Kim is a second-generation Korean-American living in Los Angeles's Koreatown. She learned about eating fish eyes and other Korean superstitions from her mother, who immigrated to Los Angeles from Seoul in 1985.