Lauren
The Eyes Are the Best Part is an odd horror/thriller that starts off as more of a family drama than anything else. Our protagonist is Ji-won. She is a college student who lives with her mother and younger sister in the after math of her father leaving the family. Throughout the story Ji-won faces societies views on Asian women, grapples with her cultural beliefs and experiences, as well as tries to navigate her ever changing life.
“I know [it] is pretty, but poison is everywhere, even in the places where you least expect it.”
Honestly, this book is a little bit of a roller coaster. I found Umma, her mother, to be incredibly frustrating to read from, and honestly? Aside from Ji-Won’s sister and Alexis, everyone sucked. And while I can’t condone anything Ji-Won did in this book, I also feel like…good for you, you know? I feel like I can’t say anything more without giving spoilers, but I do have spoiler section below. To sum up this section, however, the story was weird and interesting and gross (as it intends to be). If you’re looking for a slow, creeping horror that takes it time and isn’t steeped in the super natural, this might fit. . . . . . . . . . . . . . So I mostly left this book conflicted about my feeling because of Ji-won. On one hand I felt like I had to root for her. George was literally the worst. Like, girl, please get rid of him. Honestly, go after your dad too, because he also sucks. I can’t even really feel that for Geoffrey because he refused to take no for an answer and surely would have escalated things. As a girls girl, I automatically took these as truths, however, on further reflection, can we trust any of this? Her perception is clearly warped and she is far from a reliable narrator. She is constantly hallucinating (could be guilt driven, but I’m not so sure about that). She manipulates everyone around her. It is possible these people weren’t as awful as they seemed and her mother wasn’t as weak, but she amplified these people’s traits in her own mind. And then, of course, she DID kill that random (presumably) homeless guy and that random college kid, which, you know, not great. The book clearly wanted the reader to think she was like this because of the brain tumor (for at least a few moments) but then makes it clear that isn’t the cause. So that’s where my second issue comes in. Why? What triggered her to be like this? Eating a fish eye one time?? Like the murdering awful men I could almost get, but the cannibalism seemed to come out of nowhere.
I don’t know. I didn’t hate the book, but it was certainly strange.
The Eyes Are the Best Part is an odd horror/thriller that starts off as more of a family drama than anything else. Our protagonist is Ji-won. She is a college student who lives with her mother and younger sister in the after math of her father leaving the family. Throughout the story Ji-won faces societies views on Asian women, grapples with her cultural beliefs and experiences, as well as tries to navigate her ever changing life.
“I know [it] is pretty, but poison is everywhere, even in the places where you least expect it.”
Honestly, this book is a little bit of a roller coaster. I found Umma, her mother, to be incredibly frustrating to read from, and honestly? Aside from Ji-Won’s sister and Alexis, everyone sucked. And while I can’t condone anything Ji-Won did in this book, I also feel like…good for you, you know? I feel like I can’t say anything more without giving spoilers, but I do have spoiler section below. To sum up this section, however, the story was weird and interesting and gross (as it intends to be). If you’re looking for a slow, creeping horror that takes it time and isn’t steeped in the super natural, this might fit. . . . . . . . . . . . . . So I mostly left this book conflicted about my feeling because of Ji-won. On one hand I felt like I had to root for her. George was literally the worst. Like, girl, please get rid of him. Honestly, go after your dad too, because he also sucks. I can’t even really feel that for Geoffrey because he refused to take no for an answer and surely would have escalated things. As a girls girl, I automatically took these as truths, however, on further reflection, can we trust any of this? Her perception is clearly warped and she is far from a reliable narrator. She is constantly hallucinating (could be guilt driven, but I’m not so sure about that). She manipulates everyone around her. It is possible these people weren’t as awful as they seemed and her mother wasn’t as weak, but she amplified these people’s traits in her own mind. And then, of course, she DID kill that random (presumably) homeless guy and that random college kid, which, you know, not great. The book clearly wanted the reader to think she was like this because of the brain tumor (for at least a few moments) but then makes it clear that isn’t the cause. So that’s where my second issue comes in. Why? What triggered her to be like this? Eating a fish eye one time?? Like the murdering awful men I could almost get, but the cannibalism seemed to come out of nowhere.
I don’t know. I didn’t hate the book, but it was certainly strange.