Yeah

... and smelling in a way that I didn't, um, before, right? And, and so it felt like, I didn't notice at the time, but looking back, it was sort of like he expanded, he literally expanded my world, you know? Um, where to the point where I, I'm a, I'm an avid runner.

Um, I love to go for runs and, and, and, and oftentimes, you know, before I had Oscar, I would be running and it, I would have headphones on, you know, et cetera, et cetera, and kind of be in my own little head space or world.

And then I would suddenly, you know, after Oscar, I started having, you know, started, started to go for runs, and I started noticing, you know, I suddenly, I was noticing all the animals, right? That I was passing, and the lives of animals, um, and in a way that I had never noticed before.

And I got really invested in, you know, like the goslings that were born or, or, or, you know, the groundhog and his family and, you know, et cetera.

And, and I still, it, this, I know this sounds hilarious and strange, but I still, even when I go for my runs these days, um, it's the animals that I, that I, that I kinda focus on.

Um, and, and sort of the timelines of their lives every day.

All right, let's hear it.

Mm

... and just being like, "Oh, I think this is what Oscar, my dog, would sound like," um, and just kind of played around with some sentences.

So you know, the opening, "I was born near water.

I was born on a farm," et cetera, I was just sort of imagining if he was like, "Dad, I'm gonna tell you my life story," you know? Like, and, and it...

so it became kind of, like, me just kind of creating something voice-driven, and also in a way, because w- we, we don't actually know where he came from, kind of imagining, like, where he came from.

And then I think just being the writer that I am with the, you know, preoccupations I have and the things that I've been kind of, like, wrestling with for, like, two decades now, it just kind of, like, it just kind of, you know, blended together.

Part of it was that.

But did you have other working titles before?

Would you mind reading just the opening two pages of the book for us?

Yeah, I'd be absolutely happy to.

I'll read the first two pages.

Here we go.

Look, see the dogs.

I was born near water.

I was born on a farm where many other dogs and other animals were born and cared for and lived.

And I wonder if you thought about that when you were thinking about Aetna, because there's, you know, my understanding of war through Aetna is in some ways clearer and more emotionally clear than it is through thinking about human experience in it.

I was a really heavy smoker.

And I think it was in my thirties and I just kind of woke up one day.

I was like, I have to quit.

And I read somewhere that running would help get my mind off of the craving.

And so, and I were living in Baltimore then, and we were living across the street from Johns Hopkins campus.

And so, Just as a way to kind of get my mind off of cigarettes, I would just cross the street and use the track whenever it was free.

It was a miracle to be able to like complete a mile, you know, like four laps.

Yeah.

And this is tough stuff.

Yeah, absolutely.

Here we go.

"We worked and fought all over the country.

We walked and ran and trekked and rode in trucks and jumped through open and broken windows, and we climbed and ascended, and we lived almost every day with explosions and gunfire and houses falling and buildings falling and everywhere fire and bodies on fire and the earth breaking and breaking deeper.

And Jason and Brian and all the men we were with killed other men and sometimes animals.

And I killed, and the other dogs killed.

What are the challenges in having a dog as your narrator?

And now here's Paul Yoon reading Hostel by Fiona McFarlane.

Hostel.

I've never told my husband this story, but I suppose I will eventually, on some sticky night in, say, February, as we lie naked in bed with the ceiling fan set at its highest speed.

We'll be waiting for a storm to bluster in from the south, and I'll see the relevant part of him lying flushed and heavy against his thigh, and I'll think about how I'd consider taking it in my mouth if the room were cooler by as little as two degrees.

That will remind me of Roy and his wife, and I'll feel like talking about them, and I'll start by telling my husband that I used to know this couple who, on learning they were going to have a baby, began taking long walks together in the evening.

I might not use their real names.

It would be hard, though, not to reveal Roy's, which seemed almost to have shaped his personality.

No.