Paul Yoon (Run Me to Earth) follows the lead of authors such as Paul Auster and André Alexis by using a dog as his narrator in the novel Etna. It's a smart choice, given that themes of loyalty, perceptiveness, and home are integral to this excellent work on the suffering brought about by the ravages of war.
In an unknown country, a 12-month-old mixed-breed shepherd lives on a farm. His is a happy life, until a woman in uniform arrives and says she is "hoping to find dogs to join up with and assist the armies arriving from North America and Europe." She names the protagonist Etna, after the volcano in Sicily, and tells him he's going to be a critical part of the war effort. "You're going to work hard," she says, "and save a lot of lives."
This exciting yet melancholy story begins with Etna's four years as a combat dog, in which he learns not only how to identify telltale smells but also how to attack a thigh artery or go for an enemy's throat. After hostilities end, Etna departs from camp in the hope of returning to the farm, which may or may not still exist. He encounters a troop of missionaries, meets a man named Hong who provides medicine to ravaged communities, and befriends a fellow dog called Semeru.
A propulsive narrative of unrelenting sadness may sound oxymoronic, but that's the conjurer's trick Yoon pulls off. The ability to return home after tragic events sometimes requires a redefinition of home, as Etna and his compatriots discover in this elegant work. --Michael Magras, freelance book reviewer