Book Review: ‘Etna’ is a Tragic Tale of a War Dog Trying to Find His Home with a Sprinkling of Magical Realism
If you love dogs, love dog stories, or even if you’re a cat person, I think you’ll still enjoy this book. Etna by Paul Yoon is short, but packs so much feeling into its pages. I always worry every time I read a book where an animal is the narrator, because I inevitably cry, and this one was no exception. This book is a solid mix between literary fiction and magical realism. There’s an animal doctor who can speak to animals, it’s set in a fiction country, but is still very much our present day world. It shows the tragedy of war through the eyes of man’s best friend, and it’s devastating. Etna is just a young pup when he’s taken from a farm on the coast and trained up to be a military dog. He’s good at his job, and along with some fellow dogs, sees some of the most horrific things. But one day, the war ends, and he’s left wondering if that farm and home still exists, so he embarks on a journey to find out. While I I won’t spoil it for you, but I did think the exact spot Yoon chose to end the book was an interesting choice. I would have liked a little more from it, but I suppose it’s maybe because I wasn’t ready for it to be over.
Things to Know:
Literary Fiction
Magical Realism
Dog as the narrator
Fictional country, but set in our world
TW: depictions of war and animal cruelty
Of course I immediately fell in love with Etna. It’s impossible not to. I felt so bad for him being ripped away from his mom and the farm. I didn’t know how much of the book was going to be the war, and how much was going to be the journey, and I’d say it’s a bit more of the war than I thought it was going to be. It’s so tragic, but also quite poignant being shown to us through the eyes of a dog. What he understands and what he doesn’t. His bonds with his handler and dog friends. Again, no spoilers.
The journey was also fraught with danger. It showed the ugly side of what happens when a war is “over”, but nothing has really recovered. And is it really over? Or will people still fight over everything? This book asks a lot of interesting questions and definitely makes you think. And yes, it did make me cry. I would absolutely recommend this book to people looking for a short read that still manages to cover so much ground. Is it a depressing read? Yes, but at the same time, there is still hope.
Side note: I absolutely loved the audiobook, and I, of course, did an immersive read with my hard copy. He truly captured Etna’s voice. If you’re an audiobook reader, and you can find the audiobook on Audible or Libro.fm (ProTips: Audible is 99 cents/mo for three months (3 books for $2.97) right now AND you can get two free audiobooks on Libro.fm with the code SWITCH right now).
Favorite Quotes:
“I said that in all the years, I had never seen a human outrun human weapons. Not a single animal, either.”
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“Azalea. I heard that word years ago from somebody. I liked the length of the word. The way it stayed in you for a little longer than it should.”
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“Maybe every human had their own song they carried with the, like it was another heart, the way the men in my unit sang by themselves, wearing their headphones at night.”
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“My beautiful darlings. Follow the water. Forgive me. For it all.”
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