The Eyes Are the Best Part is the striking debut of Monika Kim, published by Seix Barral within the Biblioteca Formentor collection, a horror novel that combines body horror, social critique, and a very uncomfortable portrayal of family and everyday violence.

When her father leaves the family, the life of Ji-won, a young Korean-American woman, shatters. Her mother sinks into despair, her little sister breaks down, and she begins to take refuge in her nightmares. In dreams, she wanders through rooms stained scarlet, surrounded by bright blue eyes, identical to those of George, her mother’s new boyfriend, an intruder who moves through the house with arrogance and devours her with his gaze.

The house becomes a claustrophobic space: George’s eyes follow her inside and outside of dreams. Her fixation grows to the point that any man with blue eyes attracts her in a way she does not understand. Ji-won fantasizes about tearing out those eyes, holding them between her fingers, biting them, and checking if tasting them would release an unexpected sweetness. What begins as a disturbing fantasy ceases to be enough: she needs to go further.

With sharp prose that draws from the Korean literary tradition and contemporary psychological horror, Kim narrates the genesis of a possible serial killer and explores how trauma, racism, family pressure, and misogyny embody themselves in the body of a girl who finds no way out. The novel plays with the boundary between dream and wakefulness, desire and violence, until it leads the protagonist into a dark spiral of obsession and self-destruction.

Celebrated by media such as The New York Times, The Times, and TIME as one of the most powerful voices in new horror, The Eyes Are the Best Part is a twisted, brutal, and disturbing fairy tale that speaks of female rage, beauty standards, and bodies that refuse to remain objects. A perfect read for those seeking literary horror with a social background and a new voice unafraid to unsettle.