Primatologist Jini has tried to forget her betrayal: when she found a baby Bonobo headed for the abuses of the black market, she failed to set it free. But a late-night car accident reunites them years later, embedding Jini's consciousness in the terrified animal and leaving her human body hovering between life and death.

As she and deadbeat protector-for-hire Minjoo search for her body, Jini drifts through the Bonobo's memories of joy, degradation, and panic. For the first time, she'll have to rethink her power over other creatures—and her powerlessness against the forces of nature.

Bonobo has a story by You-Jeong Jeong. English translation is done by An Seon Jae. Published by Creature Publishing (September 1, 2026).

Erica Friedman
Rating:

Bonobo, by You-Jeong Jeong, is a book that takes its premise very seriously. I mean that in a positive way. From the first page to the last, we, Minjoo and Jini, are locked into a story that moves forward inexorably towards its conclusion. There's no wavering of intent or voice. Nothing in this book does not serve the greater purpose. Every scene, every aside, will be relevant. Therefore, once you get on this train, buckle yourself in, because you will be experiencing a full range of animal and human emotions. It will seem, at times, remorseless, as you struggle in places to empathize or understand. It will assault you with rage and tenderness as you watch humans at their worst and best, and you will feel hope…and despair.

There are three alternating perspectives here: the “kindhearted keeper,” a young woman who has only ever wanted to take care of monkeys, until she no longer wants that; a man who has floated aimlessly through life, uninterested in anything, not even himself; and the young Bonobo who will bring them together under terrifying circumstances. The tension in this novel is unremitting. There's nowhere to look that is away from these three. There's no moment that is free of the pressures their situation creates, as they move from one crisis to another. But because the author has written this with such confidence in their ideas... it works.

Bonobos, specifically, are considered to be apes that are the closest to humans in many ways. When we, as humans, look at them, we have a tendency to anthropomorphize them even further, much as we do with other animals. Bonobo reminds us that, whatever our impressions, they are still animals and need to be respected and treated appropriately.

Bonobo is a fascinating, yet sobering, look at human-human and human-animal relationships.