Run Me to Earth

by Paul Yoon

Hardcover, 2020

Status

Available

Genres

Collection

Edwin Mitoma Collection

Publication

Simon & Schuster (2020), Edition: 1st Edition, 272 pages

Description

"Alisak, Prany, and Noi--three orphans united by devastating loss--must do what is necessary to survive the perilous landscape of 1960s Laos. When they take shelter in a bombed out field hospital, they meet Vang, a doctor dedicated to helping the wounded at all costs. Soon the teens are serving as motorcycle couriers, delicately navigating their bikes across the fields filled with unexploded bombs, beneath the indiscriminate barrage from the sky. In a world where the landscape and the roads have turned into an ocean of bombs, we follow their grueling days of rescuing civilians and searching for medical supplies, until Vang secures their evacuation on the last helicopters leaving the country. It's a move with irrevocable consequences--and sets them on disparate and treacherous paths across the world"--… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member Beamis12

Powerful and intense, the war i bomb torn Laos is brought to life in the stories of three teenagers. Alisak, Prango and Noi, along with the doctor Vang are first introduced to the reader as they are working in an old farmhouse converted to a hospital. Outside is a field strewn with land mines.

These characters and screw more are weaved throughout the six connecting stories.

Beauty alongside violence, displacement alongside friendship, cruelty alongside those, who had great risks to themselves, stayed to help those they could. The tone is dark. melancholy, as we discover what happens to each of these characters. This is not a happy story but there are moments that transcend the circumstances. Laos was the most bombed city of the Vietnam war and this, I feel a necessary book to show what innocent civilians went through in the name of war. The innocent paid a high price for a war that garnered nothing.

Thankfully, the book ends in a moment of grace and hope.

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LibraryThing member brangwinn

Yoon tells the story of three friends torn from their homes and families by the Laotian conflict in the 1960’s. The three children, Noi, Pranny, and Alisak have taken refuge in the home of a Frenchman who fled the violence. The home, damaged by bombs and the humid climate, has been turned into a

field hospital. Helping the doctors and coming face to face with the horror of war, the children cope as best they can. They all plan to leave with the doctors hoping the helicopters will take them to France or to Thailand. Only Alisak makes it onto the helicopter, leaving the other two behind when a hidden bomb destroys Noi’s motorcycle. Alisak makes it to France, not knowing what happened to the others. The daughter of a woman for whom Alisak cared in the Laos hospital escapes to New York and is determined to find Alisak and tell him about Noi’s death and the capture of Pranny and the doctor. I found hope and simple beauty and caring amidst the chaos and violence of war and finished the book with far more hope than I expected to find.

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LibraryThing member hemlokgang

A haunting tale of being in Laos during the Vietnam War, and the way it became part of the essence of three orphans who shared that time together. Themes of survival, trust, and vulnerability are central. What happens after sharing such a primal experience, then abruptly being separated to travel

to new, separate lives. They haunt each other for the rest of their lives. A deeply moving read.

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LibraryThing member mplantenga11

This was a super quick read, partially because of the length and also because I couldn't put it down. I loved the way the story was interconnected through Alisek, Prany, Noi, Auntie, and Khit. I didn't know anything about the bombings in Laos but the things these characters went through make me

want to explore it more and read other accounts of people at that time. Overall, this was a great book.

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LibraryThing member brianinbuffalo

Given the rave reviews this book has received — and taking into account my typical reading preferences — I expected to love Yoon's work. Sadly, "Run Me to Earth" just didn't do it for me. I never quite "connected" with the characters. I suppose that part of the issue may have been that I

experienced it as an audiobook. One reviewer talked about how readers need to piece together events and fill in "gaps" along the way. I found the narrative disjointed and even a bit confusing in spots. Perhaps I would have appreciated it more if I had read it as opposed to listening to it. But I've logged 7,000+ hours in "Audiobook Land" over the decades. If anything, audiobooks have enhanced my appreciation of many works.

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LibraryThing member DeltaQueen50

Run Me to Earth by Paul Yoon is the story of three teen-aged children who have known nothing but war their whole lives. Alisak, along with brother and sister Prany and Noi are orphans who are alive through their own cunning and abilities. From 1964 to 1973 the tiny country of Laos became the most

heavily bombed country per capita as estimated2 million tons of ordnance was dropped by the U.S. Air Force.

Through a series of interwoven short stories the author tells the story of these orphans and their fight for survival. Opening in 1969, the children have taken refuge in a makeshift hospital, they assist the staff and act as couriers for a small salary and shelter. The hospital is surrounded by land mines and many patients are blown to bits as they try to make their way to the hospital. As the bombing comes ever closer the hospital is evacuated. In the rush to escape, the three children become separated. Throughout the multiple narratives we learn the fate of each child and what the future held for them.

Run Me To Earth is a story of war and the trauma it leaves in it’s wake. Powerful and intense the author has produced a descriptive and layered novel that defines the various directions a displaced person’s life can take. My only quibble with this book was that the frequent jumps in time and the many POVs expressed became a little confusing at times.

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