Items related to For Kings and Planets
Synopsis
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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Review
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, but his second novel, For Kings and Planets, is nonetheless recognizably part of the Canin constellation. He repeatedly features a straight guy (an accountant or 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, his Oedipal strife with his chilly, brilliant 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
From the Publisher
"Shimmering...luminous...For Kings and Planets leaves you wounded and healed." --Christopher Lehmann-Haupt, The New York Times
"The most mature and accomplished novelist of his generation. For Kings and Planets stands head and shoulders above the crowd." --Alan Cheuse, "All Things Considered"
"Breathtaking...outstanding...Scot Fitzgerald himself would have been honored by his company." --Dan Cryer, Newsday
"Brilliant...richly lyrical...An homage to the Golden Age of American Romanticism." --David Wiegand, San Francisco Chronicle
"Masterful...A classic parable of the human condition." --Publishers Weekly
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
- PublisherTrafalgar Square
- Publication date1998
- ISBN 10 0747536252
- ISBN 13 9780747536253
- BindingHardcover
- Edition number1
- Number of pages348
- Rating
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For Kings and Planets
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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
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For Kings and Planets [SIGNED COPY, FIRST UK PRINTING]
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Bloomsbury Publishing PLC, London, 1998
ISBN 10: 0747536252
ISBN 13: 9780747536253
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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
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For Kings and Planets
Published by
Bloomsbury, 1998
ISBN 10: 0747536252
ISBN 13: 9780747536253
Used
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First Edition
Seller: Hunt For Books, Blackburn, United Kingdom
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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
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For Kings And Planets
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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
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