The Eyes Are the Best Part
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3.9 • 16 Ratings
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
“Violent, smart, gruesome and wildly original, this novel pulls readers into a horrific world of murder and cannibalism while also critiquing misogyny, exploring Asian fetishization and stereotypes, sharing what it’s like to navigate two cultures and telling a touching story of a family in turmoil.” —New York Times Book Review
Crying in H-Mart meets My Sister, the Serial Killer in this brilliantly subversive, feminist psychological horror novel about the making of a female serial killer from a Korean-American perspective.
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. Mouthwatering 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. But George doesn’t deserve anything from her family. Ji-won will make sure of that.
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.
"I was enticed from the first line and entertained throughout. The Eyes Are the Best Part is a quirky, engaging read."—Oyinkan Brainthwaite, author of My Sister, the Serial Killer
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In Kim's provocative debut horror novel, Ji-won, a Korean American college student, wrestles with her psychological turmoil and the gruesome appetites it arouses. The title comes from a comment Ji-won's mother makes that eating the eye of a fish is supposed to bring good luck. When Ji-won overcomes her revulsion and finally eats one, she develops an obsessive interest in the eyes of others—especially the blue eyes of George, her mother's boorish new white boyfriend whom she and her younger sister loathe. Ji-won's disturbed state of mind is understandable, given that she's also grappling with her father's abandonment of the family and with unwanted romantic advances from a college classmate—providing all the catalysts needed to transform her eye obsession into a grisly hunger. Kim's antagonistic male characters all hail from jerk central casting and are easy targets for reader dislike. By contrast, her depiction of Ji-won's fond but exasperated relationship with her mother and her sister, Ji-hyun, conveys authentic familial intimacy. Though the finale relies on some credibility-stretching contrivances, Kim's talent buoys her tale through its rough spots and distinguishes her as a writer to watch.
