Book Review: ‘The Eyes are the Best Part’ by Monika Kim (literary body horror)

As soon as I saw the US cover for Monika Kim’s debut, I knew I needed it. Desperately. Just look at this:

The UK cover is still startling, but it doesn’t quite deliver on the US cover. Luckily, the book underneath the cover absolutely does. It’s a short, sharp, punch of a novel that I devoured in only a few sittings.

My 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 crappy lives back together.

So, when her mother's obnoxious new white boyfriend enters the scene, bragging about his flawed knowledge of Korean culture and ogling Asian waitresses in restaurants, Ji-won's hold over her emotionsstrains. 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.

I was immediately sucked into Ji-won’s sadness and desperation - to support her mother in her grief, trying to keep her little sister in one piece, and maintaining her grades to keep her college scholarship - her anger and overwhelm and the ways in which she begins to fracture are very cleverly and sensitively handled. Even as she starts to crave the bright blue eyeballs of the men around her, starting with her mum’s new boyfriend. George, the surreal moments are interspersed with dreams and the main thread of reality in a way that creates a sort of haze across Ji-won’s narration.

Underlying her rage is George - a racism, misogynistic, predatory middle-aged white man who has moved into her apartment and is intent on marrying her mum. From the beginning, Ji-won and her sister, Ji-hyun, despise George as he ogles waitresses in Asian restaurants and badly and insensitively attempts to appropriate Asian cultures: particularly Chinese and Korean. As George slowly reveals who he really is, Ji-won also begins to settle into life at college and makes two friends: Alexis and Geoffrey, who immediately clash with each other. Geoffrey chafes at Ji-won’s split attention and Alexis warns Ji-won of her suspicions about Geoffrey.

I was equally invested in Ji-won’s relationships as I was with new obsessions and desire. Her fraught relationship with her mother was really quite heartbreaking and I ached for her; it was similar with her relationship with Ji-hyun as she battles being a big sister and a stand-in mum but also, little sisters are frustrating! The dynamic between them is a really interesting one. Then we have her friendships with Geoffrey and Alexis which I mentioned above. I really liked Alexis and I would have liked a little more of her as Ji-won really needed some more female friendship in her life, although she admittedly didn’t do very well with the pre-novel friendships she had…

This is a spoiler for the end of the novel, but it was a crucial part of my feelings about ‘The Eyes are the Best Part’ so I’m going to mention it. If this is where you need to duck out, thanks for reading!

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Okay, spoiler time. It’s your last warning!

Towards the end after Ji-won’s confrontation with George and Geoffrey, where it’s revealed that Ji-Won had a brain tumour which we immediately assume is the reason for her obsessed with eyeballs and the murders, I swear I physically deflated. It really doesn’t always work for me when there’s a very logical and plausible wipe-the-slate-clean reason for unhinged behaviour or a supernatural element so I was really disappointed at first, but I really should have kept the faith in Monika Kim because it didn’t change Ji-won all that much - it just gave her the clarity to follow through with freeing her family from the crushing influence of the men in their lives.

I really loved ‘The Eyes are the Best Part’. It’s a compelling mix of literary horror and social commentary on the treatment of women, specifically Asian women, by predatory, fetishising men. I’ll be keeping an eye out for what Kim writes next.

Thank you to NetGalley and Brazen for the review copy.

Written by Sophie