Available Formats
Paperback
Published: 8th July 2025
Paperback
Published: 9th July 2024
Hardback
Published: 12th November 2024
The Eyes Are The Best Part: The Sunday Times bestselling 'good for her' novel
By (Author) Monika Kim
Octopus Publishing Group
BRAZEN
8th July 2025
3rd July 2025
United Kingdom
General
Fiction
Contemporary horror and ghost stories
Fiction: general and literary
Paperback
288
Width 126mm, Height 198mm
THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLING 'GOOD FOR HER' NOVEL
Features on New York Times' Best Horror Fiction of 2024 listA TIME Top 100 Book of the YearSoon to be a major motion pictureShortlisted for the Goodreads Choice Awards for Best Debut Novel and Horror BookIn GOOGLE PLAY's top reads of 2024A Barnes & Noble Best Horror of 2024A Kobo Best Horror Audiobook of 2024Spotify Editors' Pick 2024 and Spotify Breakout Authors 2024'THE EYES ARE THE BEST PART is an outstanding debut, a feminist horror novel that tackles big social issues and also delivers the gory origin story of a female serial killer.' - NEW YORK TIMES'I WAS ENTICED FROM THE FIRST LINE' - Oyinkan Braithwaite'DARKLY FUNNY' - Fern Brady 'A DARK MODERN FAIRYTALE OF FEMALE VENGEANCE' - Harriet Walker 'VERY CLEVER, VERY WEIRD, BRILLIANT SOCIAL COMMENTARY' - Abigail BergstromMy 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 jumbled lives back together. To top it off, her mother's obnoxious new white boyfriend enters the scene bragging about his flawed knowledge of Korean Culture, causing Ji-won's hold over her emotions to become strained. 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.'Violent, gruesome and wildly original' - NEW YORK TIMES'Utterly fantastic, female revenge horror at its finest. Perfect for readers of Tender is the Flesh' WATERSTONES'Smartly written, [this is] a fun and nasty debut with real edge to it. A promising calling card from a writer to watch' THE BIG ISSUE'One of the most assured feminist horror novels I have ever read' Bookseller 'Dark, uncomfortable and addictive... I was hooked from page one. What an exciting debut' Bookseller 'If you love unhinged women and seeing them get their revenge, then you NEED to read this... A very well-written social commentary on misogyny, racism and cultural fetishisation' Bookseller'Deliciously weird' - Reader review'Full of teeth clenching tension and satisfying vengeance. This debut is not one to miss!' - Reader revieUtterly fantastic, female revenge horror at its finest. Perfect for readers of Tender is the Flesh * Waterstones *
Claustrophobic and brilliantly gory, Monika Kim has created a dark modern fairytale of female vengeance -- Harriet Walker
Darkly funny -- Fern Brady
Funny and grotesque and rooted in body horror. A corrective story about fetishism, it's reminiscent of Boy Parts taking the human form and transforming it into something else entirely, very clever, very weird and brilliant social commentary. -- Abigail Bergstrom
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
Smartly written, [this is] a fun and nasty debut with real edge to it. A promising calling card from a writer to watch. * The Big Issue *
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.
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.