The Eyes Are the Best Part

In the wake of her father’s extramarital affair, Ji-won’s life is in shambles. She tries to soothe her mother and younger sister Umma, but her grades are plummeting, and she is overwhelmed. Everything is made worse by her mother’s new boyfriend, George, who is obnoxiously condescending and gross. Perhaps prompted by her mother’s fondness for eating fish eyes, which she says will bring luck, Ji-won starts dreaming about eyes. Though the dreams are terrifying, they are also tantalizing; Ji-won can’t stop thinking about eating eyes, and George’s blue ones seem especially delectable. Kim’s unsettling debut follows Ji-won as she embarks on a grisly journey, driven by her insatiable hunger and her need to settle a score. Narrator Jaine Ye sets the mood with her measured performance, laying bare the characters’ grief, hurt, and anger and Ji-won’s fierce determination to protect the ones she loves. Ye’s presentation captures Ji-won’s troubling transformation from an angry young woman to a force whose quest for revenge is unstoppable.