Title: Canin is Not a Novelist
Product review: It's 0-for-2 on the novel front for Ethan Canin. I enjoyed his ten-year-old collection of short stories, "The Emperor of the Air," but found everything he has written since disappointing. Canin's characters in "For Kings and Planets" lie flat on the page, and the plot is so derivative and stifling I could see what was coming at every juncture. I found the ending especially maddening because I had invested a fair amount of time on this novel. It left me hungering for something surprising or meaningful or even conclusive to happen. Mostly, though, I found "For Kings and Planets" BORING. Canin just keeps reworking the same theme over and over and over in his writing, as if stuck in an adolescent script he can't see his way out of. Save yourself the money and pass this one up. I sure won't be buying any more books by Ethan Canin.
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