The Eyes Are the Best Part

"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

* TIME MAGAZINE 100 MUST-READ BOOKS OF 2024 * BRAM STOKER AWARD WINNER * SHIRLEY JACKSON AWARD FINALIST *

Crying in H-Mart meets My Sister, the Serial Killer in this feminist psychological horror 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. 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.

Author: Monika Kim
Publisher: Erewhon Books
Published: 06/25/2024
Pages: 288
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 0.81lbs
Size: 8.48h x 5.78w x 1.01d
ISBN: 9781645661238


Review Citation(s):
Library Journal 04/01/2024 pg. 1
Publishers Weekly 04/22/2024
Booklist 05/15/2024 pg. 22
Kirkus Reviews 06/15/2024
Foreword 06/10/2024
Shelf Awareness 07/18/2024

About the Author
Monika Kim is an acclaimed, Sunday Times bestselling author of "violent, smart, gruesome and wildly original" (The New York Times Book Review) horror novels. Her debut, The Eyes Are the Best Part, was a TIME Magazine, New York Times, B&N, and Kobo Best of the Year, as well as a Goodreads Choice Awards finalist and a Bram Stoker Award nominee. A second-generation Korean American, she learned about eating fish eyes and other Korean superstitions from her mother, who immigrated to California from Seoul in 1985. She lives in Los Angeles's Koreatown and can be found online at monika-kim.com.