For all its compactness, Etna has the shape of an epic ... Stands out among Yoon’s work ... This is, at times, a wrenching novel, strewn with broken bodies, but its atrocities never overwhelm its faith in creaturely communion, and in grief and longing that clarify, rather than obscure, one’s desires and selfhood.
Magnificent ... Yoon crafts yet another literary miracle, gorgeous in spare prose and dense with wrenching empathy on pages that may become saturated with tears. Amid today’s exhausted desensitization, Yoon gives readers an antidote of pure emotion.
Exciting yet melancholy ... 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.
Not only does Yoon pull off a fresh take on well-worn Homeric themes and convincingly capture a dog’s perspective, but he offers subtle and resonant insights on the nature of faith, which might not always provide salvation but can be enough to keep people (and dogs) going. The author has outdone himself.
