On foreign shores

‘Snow Hunters,’ by Paul Yoon reviewed in the NYT

A number of remarkable short novels have emerged in the recent past: “Tinkers,” by Paul Harding; “Train Dreams,” by Denis Johnson; “The Sojourn,” by Andrew Krivak; “The Buddha in the Attic,” by Julie Otsuka. Far from slight, they all deal with large themes and subjects that could easily fill 500-page books, yet have been compressed into poemlike works. Page count is one of the most prosaic ways to categorize a book, but it points to the fact that one approaches these works differently — the experience more akin to reading poetry or short fiction, where what is left out is at least as important as what remains. With “Snow Hunters,” Paul Yoon proves himself well suited to the short form.