Etna

Reception

  1. 2026
    The New York Times

    Reviewed, 2 August

  2. 2026
    Literary Review

    Reviewed by Isaac Mead, 1 September

  3. 2026
    The New Yorker

    Reviewed, 21 September

  4. 2026
    The New York Times

    Reviewed, 25 September

Read the 4 reviews

About the book

Read the full description

Beloved author and winner of The Story Prize, Paul Yoon, is back with the unforgettable story of a working dog, Etna, who, after a devastating war, embarks on an odyssey in the hopes of returning home.

Set in a fictional country in the present day, this is a story told through the eyes of an ex-military dog, Etna. After surviving years of a devastating war, Etna decides one night to leave the men he has fought alongside for years and return home—to the place where he was taken from when he was young, in the thin but persistent hope that if a home exists for him, it might be there.

Thus begins an exhilarating odyssey told through the eyes of a dog as he traverses across ruined landscapes and fights to survive in a world that, even in peacetime, proves to be just as precarious. Along the way, he encounters other animals and humans who are attempting to figure out how to start again. What makes a life when there is no home to go back to? How do we begin to trust each other again after such profound loss?

This is a novel about the power of an idea, about never giving up, and ultimately a novel about finding hope in the most dire of times.

Description from Hardcover

About the author

Paul Yoon, born 1980, United States.

Catalogue record

195 pages

Pages
195
Full recordClose
Pages
195
Author
Yoon, Paul, 1980–
Statement
Etna / Paul Yoon.