#Monika Kim

[smokefalls]

How do I explain to her that the home I miss isn’t a place? It’s a time when my life made sense. When things made sense.

Monika Kim, The Eyes Are the Best Part

[harrowclare]

harrowclare's 2024 reading lists

currently reading/listening to

Stormflower by Keegan Kozinski & Tristen Kozinski (ARC) The Dead Take the A Train by Cassandra Khaw & Richard Kadrey Baby Teeth by Zoje Stage Indian Burial Ground by Nick Medina The Rules of Attraction by Bret Easton Ellis

up next

The Memory Police by Yōko Ogawa Rouge by Mona Awad Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moerno-Garcia

finished books

here is the long, long list of my 2024 reads, with ratings, dates, and links to reviews. wanna read along or chat with me about books? i'm super active on fable.

because of tumblr's limit on links, i cannot direct to individual reviews at this point. for this reason, i will be sharing reviews here separately from time to time using the tag #harrowclare reads. if you would like to view my reviews on their respective sites, you can find them on thestorygraph & goodreads.

dates are listed as month, day. manga volumes that are binged will be grouped so that this list isn't a million miles long, with the range of ratings for the volumes in the stack. a few of these titles were started in 2023, lol whoops! those are the only dates with a year stamp.

current reading goal progress: 98/100

Five-Star Stranger by Kat Tang 🌕🌕🌕🌗🌑 - 08.30—08.31 - fiction

The Haar by David Sodergren 🌕🌕🌑🌑🌑 - 08.25—08.29 - fiction

None of This is True by Lisa Jewell 🌕🌕🌗🌑🌑- 08.26—08.27 - fiction

My Heart is a Chainsaw by Stephen Graham Jones 🌕🌕🌕🌗🌑 - 08.19—08.25 - fiction i actually gave this a 3.75 on thestorygraph, which may seem obnoxious, but it felt right idk. sometimes rating shit 1-5 feels arbitrary and hard.

The God of the Woods by Liz Moore 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑 - 07.30—08.24 - fiction

Killing Stalking Deluxe Edition Vol. 1 by Koogi 🌕🌕🌕🌑🌑 - 08.24—08.24 - webtoon

House of Hollow by Krystal Sutherland 🌕🌕🌕🌗🌑 - 03.16.23—08.22 - fiction

Schappi by Anna Haifisch 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑 - 08.20—08.20 - graphic novel

You Will Own Nothing And You Will Be Happy #1 by Simon Hanslemann 🌕🌕🌕🌗🌑 - 08.20—08.20 - graphic novel, reread

Werewolf Jones and Sons Deluxe Summer Fun Annual by Simon Hanselmann & Simon Pettinger 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑 - 08.20—08.20 - graphic novel

Something Akin to Revulsion by Judith Sonnet 🌕🌕🌗🌑🌑 - 08.19—08.20 - fiction

Incidents Around the House by Josh Malerman 🌕🌕🌕🌗🌑 - 08.16—08.18 - fiction

Dead Silence by S.A. Barnes 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑 - 08.09—08.16 - fiction

The Troop by Nick Cutter 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌗 - 08.12—08.14 - fiction

Nestlings by Nat Cassidy 🌕🌕🌕🌗🌑 - 08.01—08.12 - fiction

Butcher & Blackbird by Brynne Weaver 🌕🌕🌕🌑🌑 - 07.27—08.09 - fiction

The Eyes Are the Best Part by Monika Kim 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑 - 07.30—08.06 - fiction

The Ruins by Scott Smith 🌕🌕🌕🌑🌑 - 08.01—08.05 - fiction

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌕 - 07.24—07.30 - fiction at the time of reading and reviewing this i was unaware of the controversies surrounding the author (uncredited use of the likeness of a video game and possible Zionism.) i don't want to change my rating & review because the book did have a profound impact on me, but i also do not believe in separating art from the artist, so i will not be purchasing the book or reading more from the author.

Ghost Station by S.A. Barnes ���🌕🌕🌕🌑 - 07.14—07.29 - fiction

Playground by Aron Beauregard 🌕🌑🌑🌑🌑 - 07.23—07.28 - fiction

Middle of the Night by Riley Sager 🌕🌕🌕🌑🌑- 07.17—07.27 - fiction

Bright Young Women by Jessica Knoll 🌕🌕🌕🌗🌑- 07.15—07.24 - fiction

The Spirit Bares its Teeth by Andrew Joseph White 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑- 07.11—07.23 - fiction

The Liminal Zone by Junji Ito 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑- 07.20—07.22 - manga

The Summer Hikaru Died Vol. 1 by Mokumokuren 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑 - 07.19—07.20 - manga

Looking Glass Sound by Catriona Ward 🌕🌕🌕🌑🌑 - 07.11—07.16 - fiction

Camp Damascus by Chuck Tingle 🌕🌕🌕🌑🌑 - 07.10—07.13 - fiction

Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk 🌕🌕🌕🌗🌑 - 07.09—07.10 - fiction

Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑 - 07.08—07.09 - fiction

Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑 - 07.03—07.08 - fiction

Do a Powerbomb! by Daniel Warren Johnson 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌕- 07.05—07.05 - graphic novel

The Centre by Ayesha Manazir Siddiqi 🌕🌕🌕🌑🌑 - 06.27—07.03 - fiction

Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌕 - 06.26—06.26 - fiction

How High We Go in the Dark by Sequoia Nagamatsu 🌕🌕🌕🌗🌑 - 06.23—06.25 - fiction

Victim by Andrew Boryga 🌕🌕🌕🌗🌑 - 06.14—06.17 - fiction

A Good Happy Girl by Marissa Higgins 🌕🌕🌗🌑🌑 - 04.19—06.14 - fiction

A Sweet Sting of Salt by Rose Sutherland 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑 - 06.06—06.13 - fiction

The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley 🌕🌑🌑🌑🌑 - 06.01—06.06 - fiction

Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌗 - 05.22—05.31 - fiction

I'm Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑 - 05.26—05.27 - non-fiction

Annie Bot by Sierra Greer 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌗 - 05.19—05.21 - fiction

You've Lost a Lot of Blood by Eric LaRocca 🌕🌕🌕🌑🌑 - 05.10—05.19 - fiction

Ghost Eaters by Clay McLeod Chapman 🌕🌕🌕🌑🌑 - 05.18—05.19 - fiction

The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley 🌕🌕🌕🌑🌑 - 05.14—05.18 - fiction

This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar & Max Gladstone 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌕 - 05.10—05.13 - fiction

The Broken Girls by Simone St. James 🌕🌕🌕🌗🌑 - 05.01—05.03 - fiction review: thestorygraph, goodreads

The Measure by Nikki Erlick 🌕🌕🌕🌗🌑 04.21—04.23 - fiction

Tokyo Ghoul Vol. 1 - Vol. 8 by Sui Ishida 🌕🌕🌕🌗🌑 - 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌕 04.22—05.08 - manga

Olga Dies Dreaming by Xochitl Gonzalez 🌕🌕🌕🌗🌑 - 04.18—04.21 - fiction

Know My Name by Chanel Miller 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌕 - 04.05—04.18 - non-fiction

Chainsaw Man Vol. 1 - Vol. 11 by Tatsuki Fujimoto 🌕🌕🌕🌗🌑 - 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌕 - 04.16—04.22 - manga

Jujutsu Kaisen Vol. 5 - Vol. 26 by Gege Akutami 🌕🌕🌕🌗🌑 - 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌕 - 12.23.23—04.16 - manga

Tampa by Alissa Nutting 🌕🌕🌑🌑🌑 - 04.02—04.03 - fiction

Circe by Madeline Miller 🌕🌕🌕🌗🌑 - 03.29—04.01 - fiction

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌗 - 03.25—03.28 - fiction

Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir 🌕🌕🌕🌗🌑 - 03.23—03.25 - fiction

These Violent Delights by Chloe Gong 🌕🌕🌕🌑🌑 - 02.02—03.20 - fiction

Time Is a Mother by Ocean Vyong 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌕 - 03.06—03.06- poetry

Tender is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌗 - 02.01—02.01- fiction

Y/N by Esther Yi | fiction 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑 - 01.31—02.01 - fiction

my tiny DNF pile

People Who Eat Darkness by Richard Lloyd Parry stopped at 24% - 05.03 - non-fiction explanation: thestorygraph

new words

alacrity, aplomb, assiduously, avulsed, detritus, garrulous, germane, gloaming, gunwale, inexorable, lassitude, palliative, palimpsest, pernicious, pugnacious, sententiously, scrim, sepulchral, shale, splume, stalward, surreptitious, rime, verisimilitude

[bekah-reading]

98

5/5

C- 9 A- 10 W-10 P-8 I- 10 L- 7 E- 10

Total: 9.1 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This is about a young Korean American woman, Ji-won who is now dealing with her father leaving her, her mom, and her sister. Now her mom has brought in a new man and things spiral down from there.

This book talks about racism, the fetishisation of Asian women, and obsession. This was an unhinged spiral downwards as the main character soon develops an obsession with blue eyeballs.

This was a short novel, at 278 pages, and it had very short chapters along with easy and flowing writing that makes it just run by quickly. I read this in one sitting, I absolutely did not want to put the book down at all.

This was interesting and it was very visceral. I loved the details when it came down to it. And the downward spiral was unhinged and amazing. This is a book that I hope is a contender in the Horror category for the 2024 good reads awards this year. I am so glad I read this and I fully recommend it.

This is the author’s debut and I am absolutely keeping my eyes on this author for her books after this one.

[jetwhenitsmidnight]

The Eyes are the Best Part by Monika Kim

Release date: 25 June 2024

Genre: adult psychological horror

If you like:

Female serial killers

Female rage

Revenge

Cannibalism

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐💫/5

Synopsis

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.

CW book cover with eye related gore under the cut

Content warnings

Violence

Blood, gore, body horror

Cannibalism

Racism, fetishisation of East Asian women

Misogyny

Sexual harassment

Pedophilia (brief)

Stalking

Psychosis

Hospital/medical content

Alcohol consumption

Review

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC! 🔪👁️🍽️

I loved this so much!

The chapters are rather short and the writing was accessible, which made this a quick and easy read, although at times I found some of the dialogue to be a little awkward.

I am not easily grossed out, but the writing and the descriptions of some of the gory bits were legit gruesome, but also impossible to look away from.

I loved how Ji-Won's descent into madness/cannibalism/serial killing was portrayed. The way her internal narration was written, of growing obsession and paranoia and justification of her actions, paired with the dream sequences, creates an immersive atmosphere of unreality that was unnerving to read.

I found myself relating a lot with Ji-Won's struggles to make and maintain friendships, as well as her struggles to handle all the changes in her life. Although she's manipulative and does some truly awful things (outside of murder), I can't help rooting for her.

I wished Ji-Won's attraction to Alexis was explored more. Given how much the book focuses on male entitlement and the fetishisation of East Asian women, I think it would have been interesting to see how Ji-Won navigates her own feelings of attraction towards women (or just one particular woman) as well as how this attraction affects the way she is viewed by men/society. But I understand that this is not the focus of the book so its fine.

The way the different elements of the story come together and culminates in that ending was sooo satisfying to read.

I know this book is a standalone, and I am not one to advocate for sequels to things that wraps up by itself, but I would LOVE to read a sequel to this.

[drowninginabactatank]

Absolutely beautiful Illumicrate//Evernight edition of The Eyes Are The Best Part by Monika Kim 👁

Features: signed by the author, exclusive redesigned cover (artwork by danlinz_art; design by _studio_ao), full colour printing on the hardback (by danlinz_art), digitally printed edges (by _studio_ao), illustrated endpapers (by nadiarausa, different front and back).

[whatcha-reading-today]

The Eyes are the Best Part Monika Kim

Ji-won is really going through it and the only way to cope is eyeballs! Lots and lots of eyeballs described in lovingly descriptive prose. This was a fun and consistently creepy throughout. I already hated eyes and now hate them even more. I did take a few breaks reading the story but overall, a fun vengeful time.

This was read as an ARC provided by NetGalley.

[marisramblings]

Wrote a heartfelt and poignant review of The Eyes are the Best Part by Monika Kim ,and as I went to post it, goodreads exited and it was gone. Uh…that sucks. Read the story if you want a gay, girl failure dealing with shitty men and the lovely experience of being the daughter of immigrants in America.

[wttnblog]

Aardvark Book Club Pick: The Eyes are the Best Part

I am a member of two book subscription services: Aardvark Book Club and Book of the Month. Historically I have enjoyed BOTM a lot more, but I wanted to truly test that out by reviewing all of my picks starting now. My plan is to do this for at least three months, and to include titles I haven’t read from previous months, to give me a good reason to actually read them.  There will be some…

[thehorrormaven]

ARC Review: A Female Rage Bonanza Not for the Squeamish

The Eyes Are the Best Part by Monika Kim Release Date: June 25, 2024 Synopsis 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.…

[thefandomentals]

Looking for a rage-filled summer horror read? Look no further than The Eyes Are The Best Part from Monika Kim, out June 25th from @erewhonbooks-blog.

[smokefalls]

What is it like to live freely, to live a life untethered, without having to be responsible for everyone around you?

Monika Kim, The Eyes Are the Best Part

[sparklez-mz-soulz]

K-T characters

[taemin93]

Ok guys

I talked about doing more chocol fics etc

Now I have another request!!!!

>MAKE MORE FICS ABOUT MONIKA<

obs: and make about kim yeon koung too 🤭

[ivelaster]

i love worshipping fake women it’s just as spiritually fulfilling as worshipping a fake guy

[kep1er-net]

MnetMAMA: [#2023MAMA] #MAGO by #huhyunjin#lesserafim#xiaoting#kep1er#badalee#monika#minnie#gidle @le_sserafim @official_kep1er @monikaaashin @G_I_DLE What an incredible performance🔥 Check out at 2023 MAMA AWARDS! 🔗 https://youtu.be/psoGxLfAKiE ONE I BORN 2023 MAMA AWARDS

[whatcha-reading-today]

Summerween Day 2: Horror that's spooky (but not too spooky)

Part of the Summerween Recommendations. See the masterpost here.

Mileage will vary, but these are stories that have a scary factor but not something that should want to make you barf. Uncomfortable, yes, but that's the fun part!

I Feed Her to the Beast and the Beast is Me | Jamison Shea: Think Black Swan and the new Suspiria. Yeah, that's what's going on. (This could count for the title longer than five words prompt).

Lakesedge | Lyndall Clipstone: Gothic horror of a monster that lives in a creepy castle, has a tragic past, and may be a bit sexy. Gross monster and body stuff.

The Eyes are the Best Part | Monika Kim: I didn't know becoming a serial killer had the prerequiste of chowing down on so many eyeballs!

Together We Rot | Skyla Arndt: A gothic and religious horror romance that while gross is beautifully written and has great summer vibes.

Rolling in the Deep | Mira Grant: A scientific exploration to make a very not scientific video on mermaids. But oh no, mermaids are real and their teeth are very sharp.

The Locked Tomb series | Tamsyn Muir: Gideon the Ninth is a locked room splatter horror comedy. If you needed an excuse to give TLT series a try, this is a great time to do it.

No Longer Human | Osamu Dazai: What even is identity? What does being alive mean? This isn't on page gross out horror, but the existential dread of being alive.