The story of two young men, vastly different and from opposite worlds, who meet at Columbia University. One, Orno, comes from a small town in Missouri, unsophisticated and hopelessly behind. The other, Marshall, is a brilliant New Yorker who lives right on the edge.
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hardback book in good condition sent first class post
Like Philip Roth and Robert Penn Warren, Ethan Canin won the Houghton Mifflin Fellowship for rising stars whose first books hit big. His luminous 1988 story collection, Emperor of the Air remains a must-read, and his second novel, For Kings and Planets, is recognizably part of the Canin constellation first established in those stories. Typically, they feature a straight guy (an accountant or some other sober type) transfixed by the spectacle of an out-of- control guy (a delinquent and/or child-prodigy brother or brother figure to the main character). This time it's Orno Tarcher, a Missouri farm boy thunderstruck by his Columbia University classmate Marshall Emerson, a theatrically bratty, sometimes suicidal Manhattan genius. "I grew up with farmers and insurance salesmen," says Orno. "I grew up with Kennedys and insurance salesmen," says Marshall. "I grew up with pigs everywhere," says Orno. "And we had that in common," Marshall replies. (In keeping with their characters, Orno becomes a sensible dentist and Marshall a cynical, coked-up Hollywood producer.)
Canin sensitively evokes Orno's prosaic world--you'd have to read Jane Smiley's The Age of Grief for better fiction about dentistry. But Orno mostly exists to relate Marshall's appealing, appalling antics, his manic raps about his childhood amid the ruins of Istanbul, his sabotage of his own (and Orno's) love life and his oedipal strife with his brilliant but cold parents. "Our family seal is a snake twisted in knots," says Marshall's lovely sister. And, reader, Orno marries her. Page for page, Canin's stories better show off his gift for epiphany, but the novel gives him room to develop character, entangle plots, and make a stab at the heart of the family romance. -- Tim Appelo
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Seller: WorldofBooks, Goring-By-Sea, WS, United Kingdom
Hardback. Condition: Very Good. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged. Seller Inventory # GOR006254859
Quantity: 1 available
Seller: MostlySignedBooks, San Francisco, CA, U.S.A.
Hardcover. Condition: Good. Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good. 1st UK edition. Good in very good dust jacket. SIGNED by the author on the title page (signature only). 1st UK edition, 1st printing, complete number line. Dust jacket has rubbing, mild edgewear, and scratches. 348 p. Audience: General/trade. Book would be fine except for age-darkening to the edges of the pageblock and a crack in the front hinge at the title page. By the Guggenheim Fellowship-, California Book Award-, National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship-, The Lyndhurst Prize-, Henfield/Transatlantic Review Prize-, and Houghton Mifflin Literary Fellowship-winning author of 'A Doubter's Almanac' and 'The Palace Thief'. Signed UK editions are rare. Where possible, all books come with dust jacket in a clear protective plastic sleeve, sealed in a ziplock bag, wrapped in bubble wrap, shipped in a box. Signed by Author(s). Seller Inventory # Alibris.0008773
Quantity: 1 available
Seller: Hunt For Books, Blackburn, United Kingdom
Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good. 1st Edition. For Kings and Planets by Ethan Canin. 1998. Hardback. UK first edition. Book and jacket in very good condition. Jacket has not been price clipped. A little bumping to edges, especially top of jacket. Pages a little sunned to tips of pages. Clean throughout. Bookseller Inventory #HFB002051. Seller Inventory # 002051
Quantity: 1 available
Seller: Collectors Bookstore, Antwerpen, Belgium
Hardcover. Condition: Fine. For Kings And Planets by Ethan Canin. Published by Bloomsbury Press in 1998. Hardcover ISBN:9780747536253. Collectible item in very fine condition. Seller Inventory # 0747536253
Quantity: 1 available