Paul Yoon Books In Order

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Short Story Collections

Publication Order of Anthologies

Paul Yoon is a published author of fiction novels. He is an award winning writer that started out his career with the release of his 2009 collection, titled Once the Shore. This gained a lot of positive attention, with the book being marked as notable by a variety of publications including the New York Times. He would follow that up with Snow Hunters in 2013 and another collection in 2017, titled The Mountain.

Yoon was born in New York City in 1980. He attended Phillips Exeter Academy and Wesleyan University, graduating from university in 2002. He has also taught at Harvard.

Yoon is the author of the fictional book Run Me to Earth. The novel debuted in 2020 to good reviews. If you are looking for something interesting to read that is not like other stories you’ve been reading, then check out this story which will take the reader back in time to places exotic and unknown.

A beautifully written story and masterfully told tale, this is the tale of three children that find themselves in a unique position. The location is Laos, and the time is the 1960s. The sixties are known for being a time of upheaval and change, and for these three kids, that is exactly what is going on in their reality. While they would have never chosen this life for themselves, they each find themselves enmeshed in the fabric of their circumstances and are tasked with being the ones that have to crawl out of it.

This is a book that has been praised by such people as Hernan Diaz as being a ‘rare’ novel that once read, “stays with us” and becomes the standard that other books are held up to.

The three main characters featured in this story are just young children. Their names are Prany, Alisak, and Noi. They have all found themselves in one of the worst possible scenarios for a child to be in: that of having no parents and finding that they have become orphans. There is never an easy time to be an orphan, but this is particularly true when it comes to being stranded at a young age in the middle of Laos.

Now that they have no family or adult parents to care for them, the orphans find that they truly are on their own. They are going to have to do whatever it takes if they want to survive the Laos of the sixties, which boasts a landscape that is loaded with danger. They are not just going to have to find a way to shelter themselves and eat every day, but they’re going to have to navigate the various risky elements that are a part of the land at this point in time.

Noi, Prany and Alisak all decide that they are going to use a field hospital as their next source of shelter. The hospital has been totally devastated and bombed out, but the children have very few options. They have to take advantage of what they find. Little do the kids expect that they are going to meet anyone to help them. But when they encounter a doctor named Vang, is it too much to hope that they have finally found an ally?

Vang is a dedicated professional, and like so many others that go into his field, he is motivated by his desire to help people s much as he can. In this bombed hospital, his determination is no different. His goal is simply to help people that have been wounded and do it as best as he can no matter what.

The orphans try to do what they can, and they soon find themselves operating in the position of couriers. They use their motorcycles to weave through the fields as carefully as they can, doing whatever it takes to try and navigate the land and avoid setting off bombs that lay hidden and have yet to explode. To set one of those off would most likely mean a total loss of life.

The sky is also dangerous, with its fair share of barrages. But the teens must make the best out of the situation that they find themselves in. Even if that means Laos, which has roads and skies that are brimming with bombs. They do the best that they can, but ultimately must face the bitter truth that if they cross paths with an explosive, it’s going to mean the end of the line for them.

Forced to make their way through a climate that is jarring and filled with stress, these kids are doing the best that they can to survive. It may not be easy, but it’s pretty much the only choice that they’ve got. Join masterful author Paul Yoon as he weaves a realistic story set in a country caught in a crisis at the time.

As they work through the days, doing what they can to rescue civilians and hunt down medical supplies to aid in their quest, the orphans can only hope that things get better for them. Imagine their surprise when it turns out that the doctor has managed to get them onto one of the last flights out of Laos. With some helicopters making their way out of the area– their last chance to leave– the kids find themselves getting evacuated, all thanks to their friend Vang.

Whether this ends up being a good thing or a bad thing has yet to be seen. The three may find that they are split up away from each other, forced out into the world and made to walk their own paths. Will they ever be able to reunite and find each other again, or is this the end for the orphans that managed to make it through so much together?

Full of beauty and strife, Yoon has put together a solid debut that is full of equal parts drama and history. If you are looking for a story that includes themes of grace and hope along with a great plot and characters, this is it! Check out Run Me to Earth and catch all of the action and the drama in this engaging story for yourself.