Description
Book Review
Title:
Emperor of the AirAuthor:
Ethan CaninCategory:
Fiction
In her book entitled Walking on Water, Madeleine L’Engle recalls that “as a child, it was through story that I was able to make some small sense of the confusions and complications of life”. Although I am no longer a child, I cannot think of a better way to describe my deep appreciation for Ethan Canin’s collection of short stories entitled Emperor of the Air.
A long time favorite of mine (and a key component in my decision to pursue creative writing), Emperor of the Air is a beautiful book of stories that deal with simple, everyday events experienced by ordinary characters. Canin takes these everyday stories and punctures them with moments so rich you can almost taste them, moments that quietly ask to be noticed amidst the monotony and the steady pace we all become so dependent on. He finds the extraordinary aspects in ordinary situations, and shows how a conversation with a neighbor, an average afternoon at the movies, and a quiet winter evening at home have the potential to shine with meaning and significance.
Emperor of the Air’s characters are fragile and vulnerable; in other words, they are real. They buy houses, grow tired and old, fight with their parents and fall in and out of love. Canin wisely chooses to write from the first person point of view in all but one of his nine stories, allowing the reader to develop an intimacy with the character they are reading about. His stories explore various relationships, ranging from fathers and sons, husbands and wives, brothers and sisters, to casual exchanges with acquaintances or strangers. These interactions often lead to sudden revelations that have been lurking nearby for ages, as well as quiet moments of reflection and self-discovery that arrive gently and unannounced, the way so many turning points in life seem to transpire.
His characters’ relationships are also vehicles for examining and portraying the conflict, sadness, and pain experienced in everyday life. Everyone rids themselves of any instinct to sugarcoat their stories, and in turn they reveal personal secrets and family backgrounds, hidden dreams and private regrets. There aren’t any fake smiles here.
So often in literature, I come across characters who are living in a time or place that I cannot relate to, and while it is enjoyable to transport myself to these locations in an attempt to better understand others, there are times when I subconsciously wish I was reading about a character I could relate to. Emperor of the Air provided me with just this. Of course, some stories involve characters I can’t directly identify with (elderly men and women, married couples, etc.). However, Canin is able to focus on extremely universal emotions and desires, making me feel connected and understood. I’ll give a quick example. Frank Manlius, the elderly narrator in my favorite story “We Are Nighttime Travelers”, finds himself distanced from his wife by the physical and emotional strains of life. As I read Frank lament that he is “every part sore from life”, I was able to nod my head in agreement as I realized that I’ve felt the exact same way, many times before, and until that moment had been unable to put that feeling into words. To me, that is a sign of a successful story; having a reader walk away feeling better equipped to, as Madeleine L’Engle phrased it, “make some small sense of the confusions and complications of life”. Canin’s collection of stories offers his readers a chance to better understand the little wonders that make up each day, and the simplicities of human nature that unite us all.
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