The Eyes Are the Best Part by Monika Kim REVIEW

 Summary:

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. He brags about his puffed-up consulting job, ogles Asian waitresses while dining out, and acts condescendingly toward Ji-won and her sister, as if he deserves all of Umma's fawning adoration. 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.

My Thoughts:

I ate this book up in two days. It may be my favorite book of the year so far.

Eighteen-year-old Ji-won and her family are reeling from their father's departure from their lives. She has to comfort her mother, who swears that he'll come back, even though he won't. She has no friends at college, and her friends from high school abandoned her. During this time, Umma is obsessed with eating fish eyes, saying that it brings good luck, hoping that appa returns. He doesn't, but Umma gets a new boyfriend, George, who fetishizes Asian women and culture under the guise of appreciation.

Ji-won makes a couple friends at college, but her grades start spiraling due to her family problems and is put on academic probation. She and her sister despise George and want him out of their lives, but also care about their mother's happiness. When is is announced that they will be married, Ji-won spirals. Her nightmares seem more and more real, and her craving for blue eyes increases exponentially. Dreams blur with reality, and she starts acting erratic. 

I loved the slow burn of Ji-won's unravelling sanity and growing rage towards the men who ruined her family and those like them. It isn't sudden at all, and slowly creeps up on her. Despite knowing she's in the wrong for murder, the reader can't help but understand and feel sympathetic towards her. Everything is so believable due to the fantastic character development. This has got to be the best horror novel I have read this year, and it's the author's first one! I will definitely be looking out for Monika's future work.

My Rating: 5 stars