Kept: A Comedy of Sex and Manners

by Euny Hong

Who knew that being in the leisure class required so much work?

Y. Euny Hong's Kept is a brilliant, wickedly funny tale that examines sexuality, class, and family ties among the bright young things of Manhattan.

Judith Lee, an entitled descendant of the Korean royal family, has grown quite accustomed to the privileges of the aristocracy. Unfortunately for her, royal descent does not equal money. Her family lost their fortune long ago, and when her parents add insult to injury by cutting off her allowance upon her graduation from Yale, Jude (as she is known) learns the hard way that her fancy upbringing has left her unprepared to deal with her monstrous debts. As she hobnobs in New York with her clever, wellborn friends, she is introduced to Madame Tartakov, a charismatic Russian émigré, who has the solution for Jude's financial woes. The catch: Jude must put in two years at "Tartakov's Translation Services" -- a front organization for the flock of high society girls, collected from all over the world, who now work as Manhattan's most coveted courtesans.

Jude's taste of the good life convinces her that she's right at home in Madame Tartakov's luxurious Upper East Side townhouse. She has finally found a job that uses the unique skills of a blue blood, and she is quite taken by the fiery classical violinist who pays for her "companionship" -- that is, until she finds herself irresistibly drawn to Joshua Spinoza, a penniless philosophy student who has a stutter and poor taste in wine, and who leaves the opera at intermission because he thinks it is over.

Dark forces begin to test Jude's already limited moral fiber when she discovers not only that she is falling in love outside her clientele, but that an illegitimate relative is harboring a grotesque secret and something catastrophic is hidden in the family archives.

Ultimately, Jude is forced to take a good, long look in her warped antique Tiffany mirror. Is being born into a world of privilege a gift? Can bad things really happen to blue bloods? And perhaps more startlingly: are courtesans nothing more than prostitutes in Prada?

Revelatory and voyeuristic, sexy and sophisticated, Kept is the thoroughly accomplished debut of a gifted newcomer who writes like a present-day Jane Austen.

Genres: Fiction, Chick Lit, Novels, Adult, New York, Humor, Contemporary

288 pages, Hardcover

First published August 1, 2006

Reviews

[Tori]

2010- This book was not what I was expecting based on the cover. I thought it was to be some slightly scandalous chick-lit. Instead, the author tried to take a plot, which was certainly scandalous and make it ""smart."" I got sick of the main character almost immediately, as well as the many references to philosophy. I have no idea what type of person would enjoy this book, as it was such an odd mixture. Not recommended.

[Devon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Trashy chick lit masquerading as something more intellectual. Don't be fooled by the constant references to Kant - it's still your typical "girl gets into trouble, girls sulks, girl finds miraculous way out of trouble" formula of most chick lit novels.

Still, for some reason, it was relatively enjoyable. Even if I was embarrassed to read it in public (see: the cover).

[Grada (BoekenTrol) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think this was an interesting book to read. Not nearly as much about sex as I had expected from the title, but actually to me that was a good thing.

I liked the book, it was witty, sarcastic, sad at times, portraying the life of an American born Korean woman, finding her way into life, out of debt and a place in the circle of her family (far away, but still with a huge influence) and her friends/acquaintances/coworkers, struggling with the legacy of being a Korean aristocrat. Or not?

[Caroline · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very funny (sly, subtle humor) book with very memorable characters. More than once I laughed out loud. However, its also a compelling story with an interesting (but not necessarily unpredictable in retrospect) twist near the end. I'd recommend it!

[Katigie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Characters with personality

Not a chick-lit book, but a novel with complex, interesting characters. A modern Moll Flanders whose attitudes about family, friends, class, race and love melt as she grows. Witty and erudite language--a treat.

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good book to read if you want something to fall asleep to without getting excited or caught up in the plot.

[John Armstrong · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read Euny Hong's legendary The Birth of Korean Cool 10 years ago and got a big kick out of it. I recently noticed that a new revised and expanded edition just came out (Apr 1 2025) and am looking forward to reading it. While I'm waiting I managed to get a used copy of a novel she wrote around way back in 2006 and am now reading it. May not be Vanity Fair but it was published a year before Min Jin Lee's Free Food for Millionaires and is about 100 times shorter and has me laughing out loud at least once on pretty much every page...

[Thomas Hale · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's definitely a comedy about sex and manners - more explicitly about manners, class, and etiquette, thugh sex and sexuality are woven into almost every conflict in the book. The cast is peppered with unpleasant caricatures of the bourgeoisie and intelligentsia, though Hong manages to humanise the protagonist and her main love interest to an extent. I was still left with a bad taste in my mouth, which I think was intentinal, given the blinkered narcissism and exploitation on display. Judith, the protagonist, is the penniless heir to a noble Korean family, and her voice is believably pompous and hard-done-by given her earnestly awful circumstances. Every character is trapped by ideas of what and who they ought to be, and their behaviour is extrapolated from those anxieties. There is a strange plot thread about converting to Judaism that seems to appear out of nowhere and has little consequence, but again that feels deliberate. This isn't the usual sort of thing I'd read but I'm happy I picked it up, as a nice change of pace.

[Book Concierge · Rating 3 out of 5]

Subtitle: A Comedy of Sex and Manners

Judith Lee is descended from a Korean royal family and is used to the privileges of her status. But after she graduates from Yale, her family cuts off her finances and she is suddenly at a loss as to how to pay her monstrous debts. Then a relative introduces her to Madame Tartakov, the owner of an “escort” service that uses only high-society girls as courtesans for wealthy clients. Jude can’t handle being poor, but can she handle being “kept”?

Social satire is not my favorite genre. Still, there were some episodes that I found quite entertaining, and I marveled at how Jude (and the other girls in Madame Tartakov’s house) dealt with the requirements of this new lifestyle.

Jude certainly had a rude awakening in terms of what it means to have to work for your living. But I’m not sure she learned any valuable lessons as a result. She still relied on other men to save her from her self-inflicted troubles. And I’m not so sure that the big family secret added much to the story.

[Zaya · Rating 1 out of 5]

Cover Art: 🥕
Title: 🥕
Review: 🥕
🐰 I had tried this once in 2019 and had stopped. Obviously I should have donated it back then.
First Page Nibble:
🐰 America still frightens me, even though I have lived here for more than half my life. Not several years ago, the two highest-grossing musical performers in this country belonged to the country-and-western genre: Garth Brooks and Reba McEntire. I don't even know who these people are, yet they sell more albums than all the remaining performers in the top seven combined, something like that. If these people wanted to, they could take over the entire United States and run people like me into the ocean.
Format: Paperback
Date Read: December 6, 2021🐇

[Shira · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoy books about people who feel displaced or at loose ends. At the same time, I don't have a lot of patience for the maudlin. This book is gaspingly funny at times and has enough literary references to make me feel like an uneducated idiot. I love modern books that are enamoured of older ones--it gives you a new reason to read a classic (William Makepeace Thackeray's "Vanity Fair")beyond the standard, "It's a classic!" So enjoy on two levels...your gut and your mind!

[Mike · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is very funny in a way that takes you in dif ways to laugh out loud too ..very good writen ..she should write more she is a very smart and funny author.. it is a very good and smart book to go out a but or tell your library to get and read it your self after you read it ..you'll still want to go out and buy it your self.. a very good well writen book ...

[Nadia Molina · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really wanted to love this book. There were some really good and clever moments but overall it felt like the writer was trying too hard. The main character sometimes felt ridiculous and fake and that was distracting. I had such high hopes. The idea surrounding this book was so good. Too bad it didn't entirely come together.

[E.d. · Rating 1 out of 5]

I couldn't finish this one at all. It was not well written. I wasn't in the least convinced by the dialogue. The author put a lot of what should have been in a 3rd person narration into the main character's mouth and it sounded stitled.

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yum, yum, yum. This was for me what "The Devil Wore Prada" was for the rest of the reading public. I'll be watching for her next book.

[Clément · Rating 4 out of 5]

funny... witty... loved it!

[Mell · Rating 1 out of 5]

just couldn't get the joke....Judith came across pathetic to me.

[Martha Bode · Rating 3 out of 5]

pretty good, if you read it as a satire. otherwise this character will bug the crap out of you.

[Ellice · Rating 3 out of 5]

Loved parts of it and didn't like parts of it.

[Kelly Pow · Rating 4 out of 5]

definately a good read

[Cary · Rating 3 out of 5]

this book is more 2.5 stars than 3. the main character is so obnoxious that she is hard to connect with and the ending seemed rushed.

[Annjulie26]

Started reading the book.

I think i will enjoy this book. I do not have a specific genre when I read books. But reading an English book from a "neighbor", for some reason makes me excited.

[Alka Sharma · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting

[Erin · Rating 2 out of 5]

It improved throughout, but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone.