Book Club: Let’s Talk About ‘Etna,’ by Paul Yoon
The Book Review

Book Club: Let’s Talk About ‘Etna,’ by Paul Yoon

B1IntermediateSeptember 26, 202655 min

Paul Yoon’s new novel, “Etna,” follows a haunted, battle-scarred war veteran who wants desperately to go home. He also happens to be a dog — a mixed-breed shepherd trained to sniff out bombs for an unnamed military in the throes of an unnamed conflict — and he has no idea where he is anymore, or if his old farm is even still standing after so much violence. Undeterred, he ventures into the great unknown, to somehow find his way back. The result is a powerful story about survival, the brutal cost of war and what it means to step forwa...

Play episode

Opens the player: the full transcript, every word clickable, with translation and flashcards.

Try it: tap any word

Real sentences from the start of this episode. Every word is marked with its level.

Sentence 1 of 12 · 0:00

, .

And I'm Joe Cascarelli, a culture reporter at The Times.

Tap a word to see its meaning in your language.

Do you know these words?

8 harder words from this episode. Tap one to see what it means, then mark it.

Mark a few words and we'll tell you how this episode fits your level.

Is this episode right for you?

B1

B1 · Intermediate

Fine if you can follow simple news

A1 49%A2 29%B1 14%B2 7%C1 1%
  • 92% of the words are B1 or easier.
  • 176 words a minute: natural, fairly fast speech.
  • 202 harder words (B2 and up) in the whole episode.

Transcript

The opening of the episode. The whole transcript is in the player.

0:00

I'm John Karamanaka, a critic at The New York Times. And I'm Joe Cascarelli, a culture reporter at The Times. Together we host Popcast, a weekly pop culture chat show where we speak to the biggest musicians, actors, internet celebrities, and more.

0:12

We've had Bad Bunny, Olivia Rodrigo, and Anne Hathaway. We've also hosted live performances with Andre 3000 and Erykah Badu. Plus, we end every conversation with a snack. Catch new episodes of Popcast every week on YouTube.

0:24

And anywhere you get your podcasts. Do you have your drinks and snacks ready, everyone? Good, because it is time for Book Club. Hello, and welcome to the Book Review from the New York Times.

That was the opening. The rest of the episode (55 min) is in the player: every word clickable, with translation, saved words and flashcards.

Continue in the player

Automatically generated from the audio. May contain errors. Audio belongs to its publisher and is played from their feed. Rights holders can request removal — copyright & takedown policy