{ "item_title" : "Etna", "item_author" : [" Paul Yoon "], "item_description" : "The best-reviewed book of the summer by The New York Times, Time, NPR, and more, Etna is a devastating and gorgeous (The New York Times Book Review), hypnotic (Time) literary novel that follows an ex-military dog who leaves the soldiers he once served and sets out on an odyssey across a war-torn country in search of home, hope, and a life beyond conflict--this is a novel about the power of an idea, about never giving up, and ultimately an epic journey of hope (Booklist, starred review) that finds light in the most dire of times. No dog lover should miss this. --PeopleDon't let the book's length mislead you...Etna's odyssey deserves the epithet 'epic.' --NPR, Best of August 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.", "item_img_path" : "https://covers2.booksamillion.com/covers/bam/1/66/802/082/1668020823_b.jpg", "price_data" : { "retail_price" : "28.00", "online_price" : "28.00", "our_price" : "28.00", "club_price" : "28.00", "savings_pct" : "0", "savings_amt" : "0.00", "club_savings_pct" : "0", "club_savings_amt" : "0.00", "discount_pct" : "10", "store_price" : "28.00" } }

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Any writer who chooses to narrate a novel from the perspective of a dog is taking a considerable risk. How does one successfully inhabit a canine consciousness to create a compelling story without simply anthropomorphizing their protagonist? In his latest novel, Paul Yoon has found a way. Yoon’s Etna is an engrossing, often deeply moving parable about the evils of war, the instinct for survival and the irresistible pull of home. Set in an unnamed country in a time resembling the present, the novel tells the story of Etna, a 67 pound mixed-breed shepherd who is taken from the farm where he was born by a woman named Soojin. Etna is trained by a team of American sappers and engineers to sniff out undetonated explosives—and to become a savage killing machine on command. When the war ends, he slips away from his unit and sets forth on an odyssey with the hope of returning to his home on the country's coast. Through Etna's weary eyes, Yoon vividly portrays a war-ravaged country of bombed-out cities, its countryside littered with skeletal remains and damaged military equipment. In the mountains, where Etna accompanies a census taker named Hong, guerrilla fighting continues to rage. Etna is an engaging narrator—observant, compassionate and, if anything, possessing a tendency toward understatement. Though it's obviously impossible to know how a dog experiences emotions, or would express them if it had the power to engage in verbal communication with humans, the voice Yoon has created for Etna is both plausible and refreshingly distinct from conventional human speech. By the time the novel reaches its final page, it would be surprising if there are any readers who aren't rooting for Etna to succeed in his quest. This normally mild-mannered animal has seen humanity at its worst, and yet somehow embodies the qualities—loyalty, empathy, resilience—of humanity at its best. His persistence in attempting to find peace and sanity in an insane world is nothing short of inspirational.