The Palace Thief

...my wife used to work at Houghton Mifflin whose vaunted Trade Division published Ethan Canin when he first started. All the 25 year old women of HMCO were in love with this guy who wrote beautifully, was excessively handsome (see book jacket and be your own judge...what do I know?) and was slumming at Harvard Medical School to become an MD. OK, so it has taken me about 12 years of marriage before I could bring myself to pick up Dr. Canin's work. And what do I think?Not too bad. If you like terrific writing. If you are a fan of great American story tellers like Fitzgerald, O'Hara, Cheever. If you like baseball. If you have ever been part of a family. If you are left brained or for that matter right brained...well you get the picture. I concede. This Canin dude has it all, and I recommend you add him to your reading table. (Just don't let your wife see the bookjacket.)

Let's face it folks: All stories have already been told. In fact, the Greeks nailed down about every possible archetypal character, conflict and plot over 2,000 years ago. So, bashing this book for being "trite" or "banal" essentially bashes every modern work of fiction. The value of literature, then, becomes how well something is done rather than how original it is. What these snobby critics (i.e. The New York Times) simply can't stand is that Canin's methods are entirely anti-postmodern. If you're into literary trickery a la David Foster Wallace or Paul Auster or Thomas Phynchon you had better stay clear of these gorgeous stories about human beings (rather than talking dogs). This is exactly what literature should be. The stories are about the characters, not the author. Writers like Wallace and Pynchon want you to remember the author. So much of postmodern fiction is about the author and the author's baggage, all rendered in a self-serving mess of psychological confession and silly pop-art trendiness. Canin's writing is about telling a profound story with beautiful language. God forbid! Canin is willing to subordinate fake originality to a supreme understanding and mastery of the world's most noble craft. American fiction needs more writers like this, willing to embrace the fundamentals of literature rather than faddish trickery. Very impressive.

To be honest with you - the reason I picked up the book was because I knew "The Emperors Club" with Kevin Kline was based upon The Palace Thief. I decided I would read the story before going to see the movie. But I got sucked into the first story "Accountant", and I was hooked. The stories are insightful and give a short gimpse into a life during a critical time, or during a life changing event which challenges the way the character thinks and reacts. I highly recommend "The Palace Thief" to anyone! P.S. The movie was as excellent as the story in the book.

I can rip into avant-garde fiction and potboilers like there's no tomorrow. But when it comes to something so sweet and unpretentious, I can't help but be mesmerized. Ethan Canin is as witty as O. Henry. Perhaps due to his medical training, he pens intricate and perfectly logical stories. His stories, like Raymond Carver's, have the supernatural ability to be minimalist yet breath maximum emotional turmoil in the readers. There are four novellas in this collection, my favorite being the City of Broken Hearts, about the connections between a lonely father and his pregressive-minded son.

How does Ethan Canin know so much? Not just facts, although there are plenty in here (the title story reveals a stunning familiarity with ancient civilizations). No, what really impresses me is that Canin knows people. He knows how the accountant feels as he tries to reel in new clients, and how the retiring history teacher feels as he chats with one of his favorite alums. Simple situations, but in Canin's hands they show depths to characters other writers might not have thought twice about (except to stereotype). I don't know where Ethan Canin learned all this, but I'm glad he took the time to write it down. --Marc Chernoff