Customer Reviews

The Palace Thief: Stories

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

...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.)

It's not easy to assign one rating to this book. It's not a novel--it's a compilation for four stories, each about 50 pages in length. The stories vary in quality and deserve to be looked at independently, though there are some common themes. For one, all of Canin's narrators are male. Second, baseball is mentioned more than once. Finally, all his characters seem to be supremely flawed, which I guess is the author's attempts at making them more realistic, but the characters never actually seem real. In three of the stories the narrators seem to suffer from the same flaw--they're arrogant and stupid. They get themselves into the type of predicaments you expect from network sit-coms. It left me wondering if the author is giving us insight to his own personality, or if this is just how a doctor who attended Harvard views the rest of us.

The four stories included are:

The Accountant (2 stars): The story is narrated by the titular accountant. Two childhood friends grow apart when one chooses college and the other goes directly into the workforce. The story is about the mistakes the accountant has made in life and the smug attitude that prevents him from realizing his missteps.

Batorsag and Szerelem (2 stars): This one is a coming-of-age tale narrated by a boy whose eccentric brother is extremely good at math. The older brother is also hiding something from his family. This story had a ton of potential, but I just felt like it wasn't executed well at all. It jumps around a lot and there's not enough character development. I believe there was enough story here for a novel; the author just didn't take the time.

City of Broken Hearts (4 stars): This one is a well-written, somewhat tragic story about a man in his sixties who is recently divorced and having trouble adapting to single life as well as relating to women and his son, who is attending college on the other side of the country. When the son visits his father in Boston, the two go to a ball game together, since baseball is the old man's passion. The father in this story is a sympathetic character. It's easy to understand his confusion and frustration. His baseball team lets him down, his wife has left him for another man, and his son is arrogant and so interested in proving he's a modern, sympathetic man that he doesn't take time to let his father remain part of his life.

The Palace Thief (5 stars): The best story in the bunch. A young teacher at a prestigious prep school feels some sympathy for a troubled student, which leads to him making some errors in judgement. The story revolves around their teacher-student relationship, as well as their relationship 40 years later. All of the stories in the book are compelling, but this one is the best. The main character is still flawed, arrogant, and perhaps stupid in his choices, but this novel offers the best character study and it's easily the stand out of the bunch.

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.

Ethan Canin's The Palace Thief is a collection of four short novellas that are all connected by the same themes; that of human nature and that emptiness we often feel deep within us whenever things are tough. Three of these stories are worth being praised, while the fourth might have been better had it been in a different collection.

The title story is probably the best of the whole book (and, also comes last, save the best for last right?). Here, we have a teacher who is faced with his greatest challenge, one that will span over many decades, one that will leave him changed forever. This story is touching and very affecting, about one man's struggle with morality. A real gem. My second favorite story was Batorsag & Szerelem, a moving story about one boy and his struggles brought upon being the youngest of the family. He is ceaselessly compared to his older brother, who is more intelligent and popular than he is. Living up to his big brother's reputation is one thing he will learn to try and passby in order to be happy with himself.

The story City of Broken Hearts is a very moving story about one man's realization of his life's emptiness. William is divorced and misses his son, who lives in another city. When his son comes back for a visit, he tries to come to peace with the past. But it is only when his son sets him up on a blind date that William will realize that he needs to fill the emptiness that is slowly eating him up.

After these great stories, it's kind of a downer to think back on the book's first story, entitled Accountant. Although the story is quite original and entertaining, it lacked the power and writing skills the author displayed so perfectly with the following three stories. Another story about a family man who has never been really happy with himself, this story is also one that deals with self realization and self depreciation. An enjoyable read, if only that.

Canin displays a great range of human emotions in this short collection. His writing is very affecting and powerful. His choice of words is always delibarate and purposeful. Every sentence has a meaning and leads somewhere, unlike other stories in collections by lesser authors, where half of it is composed of emptiness and the other half of a very weak plot and paper-thin characters. You will find none of that in this book. The Palace Thief is a highly engaging collection by one of the best new voice in dramatic fiction.

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.

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.

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

The last three pages of Batorsag and Szerelem are sheer literary perfection. Not since Faulkner's "A Rose for Emily" have I been rendered breathless by an author's work. All stories are concise, with a convincing voice for each of the diverse characters, but Batorsag and Szerelem is brilliant. A must read.

I, like the other reviewers here, was captivated and engrossed by these four stories. I was especially impressed with Canin's discovery of a distinctive voice for each of the stories. Each is a tiny piece of perfection in a world filled with mediocre writing. You won't find linear plots here...just secretive glimpses into the lives of ordinary people. Just reminders that everyone you pass on the street is living their own drama -- some in large ways, others in small ones. I sometimes felt as though I were looking over their shoulder, or leaning in to hear a whispered confidence. Totally engrossing.

For me, as mentioned by another reviewer, the standout in this collection was Batorsag and Szerelem. I found memories of my own childhood oddly stirred by the story, and I was profoundly moved by its quiet, yet powerful, end. Truly, each of the stories moved me in very different, yet equally strong, ways.

The only quibble I raise is one that is unique to my upbringing. I am from the state of West Virginia, as are two of the central characters in Canin's title story. While one reviewer cited Canin's undisputedly impressive knowledge of ancient civilizations on display in the story, I was disappointed by the character's reference to his days at Central Richmond High School. While Mr. Canin may be a scholar of the emperors, he falls into the all-too-common trap of confusing West Virginia with Virginia. Richmond, Mr. Canin, rests squarely within the Old Dominion...and we left their ranks around the time of the Civil War. Sorry to nitpick, but we West Virginians are fiercely defensive on that point. And, for those interested in that point, read Homer Hickam's touching (and well-written) memoir Rocket Boys...but definitely read The Palace Thief, too. :)

This writer was recommended to me by a writing coach. I started with The Palace Thief and can't wait to read the rest of Ethan's books. He creates unforgettable characters, fully realized and interesting, in situations that we can all identify with. I usually read non-fiction, but this is one writer who has given me a good reason to go back to well-written fiction. I'm glad to see that the art of the carefully chosen word is not forgotten.