Sam's review
Emperor of the Air by Ethan Canin
I like to think of Canin's work as the apotheosis of "Craft," as it's discussed and considered in the context of fiction workshops. Every story in this collection has a sort of airy, open quality, and he gets you through major plot points and time shifts with nary a bump to be seen. There are significant pluses and minuses to this talent of his, this ability to manufacture resonance from fragments and knit seamless stories together. The craft displayed in these stories makes them extremely readable; I first read it in high school, and liked it then. But reading it now, there's nothing thrilling in any of these stories, and no subject beyond the endlessly archived topic of suburban families falling slowly and surely apart.
