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A Novel
by Che Yeun
Book Reviewed by:A fierce and gorgeous debut novel about a teenager who runs away from her abusive home to live in a boarding house for single women as a global financial crash threatens the people of Seoul.
Set in Seoul in 2008, Tailbone follows the story of an unnamed teenage girl who, after years of struggling with her alcoholic father's abuse, and what she sees as her mother's cowardice, decides to run away. At a boarding house for single women, the narrator is pulled into the orbit of one of the other girls living there: an older girl named Juju, whose beauty and hardscrabble determination greatly impress the narrator.
But when a global financial crisis reaches Korea, fears of a wider economic collapse bring the city to a standstill. Everything the girls have come to rely on for survival—mainly, the patronage of wealthy men—is put at risk. Everyone begins to struggle, especially Juju, who has long been dependent on one particular benefactor, a man who is all too aware of his power over her. As businesses close and winter sets in, the narrator is forced to reckon with not only her deepening fear for Juju's future, but also her own uncertain path. Will she stay on the run or go back home to her heartbroken mother? In a city where everything rots from greed and desperation, what can a helpless woman like Juju teach her about survival? Will their hope for each other ignite courage or destruction?
A poignant tale about survival, the impact of colonial and familial violence, class, privilege, and womanhood, Tailbone is a powerful and thrilling novel from a blazing new talent.
Excerpt
Tailbone
War had saved the city of Seoul. That's what we were told growing up, whenever we were shown old black-and-white photographs of blown-up roads, blown-up homes, blown-up fields of cabbage and cereal grains. How little was left, how close we had come to losing it all to the colonizers, to the communists, to the Americans, to the dictators—all the powers that had once stunk up our rivers. A city rebuilt by the military because they were the cheapest workforce available. A workforce that already knew how to demolish ruins, follow directions, carry heavy things across great distances.
Decades later, parts of the city still looked flung together. Like we were still trying to erase a war. Chipped concrete blocks, chipped bricks, unfinished grouting, crooked doorways and window frames that leaned one way or the other, nothing was to last.
I took the train into one of these ghost neighborhoods. Only fifteen subway stations away from my childhood, and yet an unrecognizable ...
What are you reading this week? And what did you think of last week’s books? (4/09/2026)
I read https://www.bookbrowse.com/bb_briefs/detail/index.cfm/ezine_preview_number/22971/tailbone Tailbone by Che Yeun for review. Set in South Korea in 2008, just as the financial crisis hit, it's the story of a 17-year-old girl who runs away from home. A typical tee...
-kim.kovacs
What are you reading this week? And what did you think of last week’s books? (4/02/2026)
...day & will post comments over in that topic once I do. Then https://www.bookbrowse.com/bb_briefs/detail/index.cfm/ezine_preview_number/22971/tailbone Tailbone by Che Yeun for review, https://www.bookbrowse.com/reviews/index.cfm/book_number/4840/the-flower-sisters The Flower Sisters by Michelle Collins Anderson in prep...
-kim.kovacs
One night, the book's unnamed 17-year-old protagonist packs a single bag and runs away from home. She leaves no note for her parents, has no plan, and only a few won to get by on; she wants a "better life" than the one she has with her parents, even though she hasn't defined what that means or how she'll achieve her goal. She rents a cheap room in a women's-only boarding house in a rundown part of town, and quickly realizes the other tenants are sex workers. One of these, Juju, takes our narrator under her wing. The author's characterizations are brilliant. The narrator comes across as incredibly believable, the perfect illustration of a teenage girl. Tailbone is certainly an emotionally challenging story, but it's nonetheless one of those rare, unforgettable novels that is not to be missed. Yeun's beautiful writing and extraordinary characterizations make this one a must-read...continued
Full Review
(744 words)
(Reviewed by Kim Kovacs).
Che Yeun's debut novel, Tailbone, is set in Seoul, South Korea, during the 2008 global financial crisis. In it, the unnamed narrator observes how the crash impacts the women in her boarding house, all of whom are sex workers.
The international Great Recession was triggered in mid-September 2008, when the housing bubble in the United States collapsed. Lax lending practices and inadequate oversight led to widespread mortgage defaults, which in turn sent the stock market into a tailspin. Virtually every country's economy was impacted to some degree, although the severity varied widely.
South Korea was especially hard hit by the downturn because of its reliance on foreign investment and income from exporting goods, both of which were ...
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