Jess’s Reviews > The Eyes Are the Best Part > Status Update

-with her was when George was caught strangling/trying to kill Ji-won (they didn’t know motives but knew this fact happened) & Umma was still visiting him in the hospital???? The guy who fetishized you, ditched you, & attempted to kill your daughter. Who also had brain cancer btw. Absolutely not. I’m headcanon-ing Alexis x Ji-won bc obviously. Apparently her tumor wasn’t the cause of her cannibalistic murder-

I did like this. The ending/everything falling together into place was pretty convenient, but still somehow seemed to make sense. Umma is the unspoken antagonist here. You can sympathize with why she does what she does + her trauma, but still. She’s turning herself into a doormat & putting her kids in danger/discomfort bc she’s overly reliant on external validation (which isn’t even genuine). My last straw-

It’s interesting to read about Ji-won’s descent towards immoral behavior; manipulating her friends, murder, cannibalism. She’s also experiencing magnetism towards Alexis that definitely seems sapphic

-to see the portrayal of George vs Geoffrey & how their pretentiousness, self-absorption, & egotism varies. They’re both bigoted but express it differently; though Geoffrey showboats his allyship, he still feels subconsciously( consciously?) entitled to what he wants bc his privilege is so heavily baked into him/not mentally dismantled. I’ve met people like both of these examples, & they’ve done a lot of harm

I like how this has been progressing, the chapters are short & the writing is easy to digest, so I’ve been flying through it. The antagonistic characters (& also Umma) are fairly archetypical, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t truth to them. Geoffrey is definitely the one stalking Ji-won, he’s obsessed with her & there was a “flash of green” behind her the day he was wearing emerald. It’s interesting-

Interesting concept so far; ofc I love books featuring Asian/Asian American women that analyze the diaspora. Another to add to my list. Maybe other themes here I find intriguing… who’s to say? :P