The Eyes Are the Best Part THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLING 'GOOD FOR HER' K-THRILLER

The Eyes Are the Best Part ist sicherlich nicht perfekt, manche Plotpunkte wirken ein wenig holprig herbeigeführt, doch die Story an sich ist wunderbar ausgearbeitet und so extrem einzigartig. Absolut verstörend, keine Frage und mit einem Ende, das sich wie ein Schlag in die Magengrube anfühlt aber es macht unglaublichen Spaß zu lesen. Ich bin sehr gespannt wie sich die Autorin weiterentwickeln wird, denn ich glaube mit etwas mehr Übung wird sie noch genialere Werke schreiben können!

Ein super Buch. Man hat das Gefühl, dass Ji-Won langsam aber sicher ihren Verstand verliert. Sie wird immer obsessiver, was blaue Augen angeht und hat das Bedürfnis diese zu verzehren. Ekelhaft oder? Ja, aber auch verdammt brilliant! Die blauen Augen dienen als Symbol des "White Male Gaze", der für Misogynie, Rassismus, und Fetischisierung von POC Frauen und so viel mehr steht. Ji-Won hat all das satt, und das verzehren von blauen Augen ist ihr Weg sich die Macht zurück zu nehmen. Anstatt konsumiert zu werden, konsumiert zu zurück. Die Geschichte ist durchzogen von Gesellschaftskritik und Female Rage. Und ich habe es sehr wertgeschätzt, endlich ein Buch zu lesen, in dem weibliche Rachegelüste gestillt werden und eine weibliche Protagonistin sich ihren Wert zurück nimmt und sich nicht unterdrücken lässt.

This book holds the thoughts and perspectives of a young korean-american girl trapped in an asian fetishizing scene and the bizarre fantasies of her mind. 'The eyes are the best part, they bring good luck.', is what Ji-wons mother said while removing the eyes of the fish on the dinner table. The family longs for good luck, since the sudden abscence of the father. Trying her best to comfort her mother, Ji-won bears to try one fish eye, too. One taste of the fish eye awakens vivid dreams in her. When her mother introduces a new boyfriend, George, her life seem to spiral into this one cocoon of madness, disgust and female rage. A sickening semi-horror novel, not recommended for the weak!

I am rarely so torn and enthusiastic. The plot begins gently and then very, very quickly becomes a manifesto of female rage. It resembles a feminist horror game, perfect for anyone who wants to try their hand at this genre. Monika Kim told the story so excitinglya and realistically that I was not only able to understand Ji-Won, but also had to actively empathize with her.

I keep asking myself if I simply had the wrong expectations for this. This book was marketed as literary fiction, being discussed for example as weird girl fiction in the tradition of Moshfegh, or "good for her" fiction and social commentary/feminist horror in one of the more serious literature podcasts I know. But let's not kid ourselves - it's definitely genre fiction, this is a pure horror novel. I was surprised at the simplistic writing style, formulaic plot development and obvious plot-over-characters priorities in this book. These things are fine if that's what you like! I, personally, like horror aspects to be PART of smart litfic, like in Julia Armfield's Our Wives Under the Sea or Mona Awad's Rouge, most recently. I picked up The Eyes are the Best Part for some dread and, more importantly, some intellectual bite. What I got instead was: "Hello, I am a character. Here is my entire worldview and here are my feelings and thoughts, spoken aloud in the most on-the-nose way possible so you, dear reader, won't miss a thing." No subtlety. No need for interpretation, analysis, or even mild curiosity - you’ll get The Point delivered on every third page. The book tries to be a feminist, anti-racist critique, and it sometimes succeeds (mostly when it's coming from a sharp satire-y angle), but not really in ways that feel fresh or surprising. The main villain here, Ji-Won's mother's new partner George, is SO cartoonishly racist, creepy and disgusting that you feel like you're just going along with the motions thinking "well yeah, he deserves bad things to happen to him I guess, but he also doesn't even feel like a person to me, so I'm not feeling a damn thing, certainly no complexity". Some of the secondary characters are complete clichés and devoid of any more layered character traits. The new best friend is literally a perfect angel. The one-sided love interest (from his side, I mean) is a performative male feminist, complete with dropping the names of TED talks and books he's proud of having consumed. The mom's new partner is, as I said, literally atrocious with absolutely no redeeming qualities. I mean... Sure, what the hell. If that's the kind of book you're seeking. It wasn't what I was seeking, and wasn't what this was marketed as. Credit where it’s due: the actual gorey horror scenes were pretty fantastic. Ironically, those parts (the "genre" stuff) felt the most literary, vivid and alive? The writing suddenly grew teeth and had some real atmosphere, good details and genuinely icky moments. I wish Kim had put more work into the social-issue related "deeper" aspects, and ALSO gone all in on being explicit and creative with the scares the way she did. I would have appreciated this book a lot more. :/ So yes, for me, it was a disappointingly simple book that probably wanted to be more complex. But if you’re in the mood for a quick, straightforward horror read with some crystal clear social messages that aren't saying anything new or complex, and a few strong, creepy set pieces, it might hit the spot for you. It just wasn't the layered, literary experience I was hoping for. For what it's worth, I absolutely raced through this. The ultra-short chapters (74 chapters for 274 pages of text, which is... remarkable) and the super simple writing style make that very possible.