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The Eyes Are the Best Part

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The Eyes Are the Best Part

By: Monika Kim
Narrated by: Rosa Escoda
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About this listen

'I was enticed from the first line' OYINKAN BRAITHWAITE, author of My Sister, the Serial Killer

SOON TO BE A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE

'An outstanding debut' NEW YORK TIMES

This feminist howl-of-a-debut is going to crawl right under your skin...

Shortlisted for the Goodreads Choice Awards
New York Times Best Horror of 2024
TIME Top 100 Book of 2024
Google Play Top Read of 2024
Spotify Breakout Author of 2024
Kobo Best Audiobook of 2024

Ji-won's life is in disarray. Her father's affair has ripped the family to shreds, leaving her to piece their crappy lives back together.

Then her mother's new and obnoxious white boyfriend enters the scene, bragging about his knowledge of Korean culture and ogling Asian waitresses. As he gawks at her teenage sister around their claustrophobic apartment, Ji won's grip on reality begins to slip.

She finds herself growing obsessed with the white boyfriend's brilliant blue eyeballs, resolving to do the one thing that will save her family - and curb her cravings...

'Violent, gruesome and wildly original' NEW YORK TIMES

'Darkly funny' FERN BRADY

'Utterly fantastic, female revenge horror at its finest' WATERSTONES

'Smartly written... A promising calling card from a writer to watch' THE BIG ISSUE

'A dark modern fairytale of female vengeance' HARRIET WALKER©2024 Monika Kim (P)2024 Octopus Publishing Group
Genre Fiction Horror Literary Fiction Psychological Suspense Thriller & Suspense

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What listeners say about The Eyes Are the Best Part

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Sharp and Incisive

This novel does a delicate but conscious job of setting the scene, building up a picture of the American Korean community through the lens of our central family، a recently single mum and her two daughters struggling to cope with the departure of their father, and life as a working class family. The eldest daughter Ji-won is the protagonist keenly conscious of how her identity is perceived and how she and her fellow women are seemingly powerless in a world where white and male privilege is so dominant. Watching her mother's struggles she is determined to find another way to resist.
The title alludes to her mother's insistent claim that to eat the eyes of a fish brings luck and indeed fortune and foresight are key themes in this story as Ji-won wonders if she must accept her lot in life or take her family's future into her own hands when things start to change for them all.
Biting and funny, with an engaging cast and vivid writing, this is a story of empowerment that might have you rooting the pleasure or wincing with unease. Great fun to read.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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So good

Really fell into this story right from the beginning. Very immersive, and sooooooo good. Loved the writing, loved the characters. Would 100% recommend!

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Listened in one sitting

I was drawn in almost immediately and loved the power given to the main character, especially as she was a teenager! Her quick mind and dark thoughts made the connection to Ji-won build throughout the story! Loved the ending!!!

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Sweet Revenge

Loved this book, the story was great. Love seeing people get their comeuppance. Short read.

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Entertaining

I had a good time with this audiobook. The narrator's lisping was a little disturbing, but otherwise it was OK.

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intriguing story

I have heard amazing things about this book and also the premise sounded so intriguing

In this novel, we are introduced to a family that's a broken home due to the husband finding someone else to be with and see over time the oldest daughter Ji-Won over time start to change... the changes are subtle at first but in this Tumultuous time in her life you can see her sense of self has started to fracture & how she sees everyone and everything gets more distorted, people turn into nothing but unpleasantries to suffer and to make suffer and the only thing that seems really to her is the obsession we see happen (Eyes) and she only fills fulfilment when she devours eyes. This obsession shows that nothing in her life she has power over other than this and she gets off on the power trip from it ( but she also hates the man who has been dating her mother).

This is an interesting book about a young woman who has never had a life where she was wanted or needed and turns into an unhinged violent woman.

The ending was a little bit of a surprise.

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Sometimes you have to take an extreme route to taking your power back.

Generally I get a bit frustrated when the narrative leaves you unsure if the events are actually happening or it is just in the characters head, but I found this engaging enough that I really enjoyed the tale

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Yawn

I really need to stop buying recommended books. I’m not sure if I big them up to be amazing in my head then once I’ve read them I’m left really disappointed. I was expecting this to be a gory horror. It was more of a teen book. The MFC was completely unlikeable and had so many dream sequences that I wasn’t sure what was real and what was in her head. And not in a fun, mysterious way. Just an incredibly dull and unfulfilling read.

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1 person found this helpful