{"id":10862,"date":"2026-10-23T08:00:33","date_gmt":"2026-10-23T08:00:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=10862"},"modified":"2026-10-23T08:00:33","modified_gmt":"2026-10-23T08:00:33","slug":"interview-thriller-master-jeong-you-jeong-trades-terror-for-tenderness-in-bonobo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=10862","title":{"rendered":"[INTERVIEW] Thriller master Jeong You-jeong trades terror for tenderness in ‘Bonobo’"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Novelist Jeong You-jeong \/ Courtesy of Hong Jin-whan <\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Korean novelist Jeong You-jeong has carried the nickname “Stephen King of Korea” for more than a decade, thanks to her psychological thrillers that probe the darkest corners of human nature. <\/p>\n

But when the novelist, who was wearing a bright yellow cardigan and an even brighter smile, arrived for an interview in eastern Seoul’s Seongsu-dong on Thursday, she looked nothing like the writer behind some of the country’s most unsettling bestsellers.<\/p>\n

The cheerfulness, Jeong explained with a laugh, comes from long stretches of solitude. Once she begins a novel, she rarely leaves home, so the rare occasions that bring her out into the world tend to leave her in high spirits and full of things to say.<\/p>\n

“Once I start writing a book, I’m the type who holes up at home and never goes out,” she said. “I’m alone all day for a year or two, so whenever I do come out, I can’t stop talking.”<\/p>\n

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The cover of the U.K. edition of \u201cBonobo,\u201d Jeong You-jeong\u2019s novel translated by Brother Anthony \/ Courtesy of Honford Star <\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This time, the occasion was “Bonobo,” the English translation of her 2019 novel, published in Britain by Honford Star this month. Translated by Brother Anthony, also known by his Korean name An Seon-jae, it is the first of her non-thriller novels to reach English-language readers, following “The Good Son,” “Seven Years of Darkness” and “Perfect Happiness.”<\/p>\n

A former nurse, Jeong’s breakthrough came with the release of her 2011 novel “Seven Years of Darkness,” a thriller about a fatal accident and a father’s revenge and was later adapted into a film in 2018. Together with “28” (2013) and “The Good Son” (2016), which in 2018 became her first novel published in English, it forms what Korean readers call her “trilogy of evil.” <\/p>\n

Her books, including “Shoot Me in the Heart” and her latest “Eternal Heaven” (2024), have sold more than 2 million copies in Korea and have been published in translation in more than 20 countries.<\/p>\n

In “Bonobo,” primatologist Jini, who has never forgiven herself for once failing to free a baby bonobo bound for the black market, joins a late-night rescue of a bonobo that has escaped. On the way back to the research center, a car crash throws her consciousness into the frightened animal, named Jinny, while her own body lies in a hospital between life and death. <\/p>\n

With the help of Minjoo, a young drifter cast out by his family, she sets out to reclaim her body, drawn into Jinny’s memories of joy, community and the cruelty of animal trafficking, and the story becomes a question of what one chooses when faced with death.<\/p>\n

\"Bonobos<\/picture>
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Bonobos live in female-centered groups known for empathy and cooperation. gettyimagesbank <\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Empathy, solidarity <\/strong><\/p>\n

“Bonobo” is also Jeong’s first novel to put a woman fully at the center. She said she had long avoided female protagonists out of fear that, as a woman herself, her own personality would overwhelm the character, but this story left her no choice.<\/p>\n

“This novel needed a woman. It truly couldn’t have been written without a female protagonist,” she said. “It needed empathy, solidarity, love and embrace, and above all, a mature woman.”<\/p>\n

The choice of animal was just as deliberate. To prepare, Jeong turned to renowned ecologist Choe Jae-chun, who arranged for her to visit primate research facilities in Japan, including the Primate Research Institute at Kyoto University, where she met primatologists and observed chimpanzees and bonobos up close. <\/p>\n

What struck her most was how differently the two species live. Chimpanzee society is male-centered, while bonobos live in a female-centered society known for its remarkable capacity for empathy and solidarity. Jeong recalled Choe telling her a story that shaped an important decision for the novel.<\/p>\n

“Put an apple tree in front of chimpanzees, and they’ll fight like crazy to claim it, and the one that wins climbs up and eats everything,” she said. “But when bonobos get to the tree, they first share affection with one another, all hugging and kissing, and then they all climb up and share the fruit.”<\/p>\n

“So of course this novel had to be about a bonobo,” she said. “A chimpanzee’s temperament just wouldn’t fit.”<\/p>\n

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Novelist Jeong You-jeong \/ Courtesy of Hong Jin-whan <\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Trust in translation<\/strong><\/p>\n

When it comes to translators, Jeong keeps her distance. She said she rarely weighs in on how her work is rendered into other languages and did not exchange much with Brother Anthony during the process.<\/p>\n

“My approach with translators is that unless they need to ask me, ‘What on earth does this mean?’, they should go ahead and do it their way,” she said. “If I knew the language well, I might say this should go like this and that like that, but since I don’t, I just trust them to take care of it.”<\/p>\n

The questions she does receive from translators, she said, are almost always about her humor, which runs far deeper in her coming-of-age novels than in her thrillers. Brother Anthony never asked.<\/p>\n

“If I wrote something silly and he never asked, it must have landed with him,” she said with a laugh.<\/p>\n

\"Brother<\/picture>
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Brother Anthony, also known by his Korean name An Seon-jae, a professor emeritus at Sogang University who translated Jeong You-jeong’s \u201cBonobo”\/ Korea Times photo by Lim Eun-jae<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Message for youth<\/strong><\/p>\n

At the heart of “Bonobo,” Jeong said, is an attitude toward life. “If a reader said that this book made him\/her look back on how to approach life, and encouraged them to live more fiercely, I would be thrilled,” she said. “I wrote this novel to talk about our attitude toward life.”<\/p>\n

She said young people today too often hold back, even in love, because they are hindered by fear. But she advised them to set those worries aside during their youth.<\/p>\n

“I really want young people to love and live fiercely, with everything they have,” she said. “Once you’re past your 20s and 30s and into your 40s, you can’t do that anymore.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/picture>
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A poster for novelist Jeong You-jeong\u2019s book talk on Nov. 7 at the dbBOOKS warehouse, Seongdong District, Seoul \/ Captured from dbBOOKS\u2019 Instagram <\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Jeong will carry that message to readers in person at a book talk scheduled to take place at the dbBOOKS warehouse in Seoul on Nov. 7. The book talk will be part of the English-language book distributor’s fall warehouse sale. <\/p>\n

The talk will be moderated by Sean Lin Halbert, who translated “Perfect Happiness,” and conducted in Korean with English interpretation. <\/p>\n

Jeong said she is excited to meet international readers on home soil, many of whom she expects would understand some Korean and know the culture well. And to those who will be seeing her work for the first time in English, she offered a parting thought.<\/p>\n

“We all die. The train of death is out there in the fog right now. You can hear it chugging, but you can’t tell where it is,” she said. “The moment it pulls into the platform, we have no other choice but to board.”<\/p>\n

“Until it arrives, I hope we all love one another fiercely and live with everything we have.”<\/p>\n

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Novelist Jeong You-jeong \/ Courtesy of Hong Jin-whan Korean novelist Jeong You-jeong has carried the nickname “Stephen King of Korea” for more than a decade, thanks to her psychological thrillers that probe the darkest corners of human nature. But when the novelist, who was wearing a bright yellow cardigan and an even brighter smile, arrived…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_2277560469115098_106292521332774":"","twitter_aToxNzczMzI3Njk4OTg4ODUxMjAxOw==_1773327698988851200":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_templately_pack_id":"","_templately_imported_at":"","_templately_source":"","_templately_import_session_id":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[16,14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10862","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-korea","category-trending-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t