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The Palace Thief

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“Extraordinary for its craft and emotional effect . . . [Ethan Canin is] a writer of enormous talent and charm.”
– The Washington Post

“Character is destiny,” wrote Heraclitus–and in this collection of four unforgettable stories, we meet people struggling to understand themselves and the unexpected turns their lives have taken. In “Accountant,” a quintessential company man becomes obsessed with the phenomenal success of a reckless childhood friend. “Batorsag and Szerelem” tells the story of a boy’s fascination with the mysterious life and invented language of his brother, a math prodigy. In “City of Broken Hearts,” a divorced father tries to fathom the patterns of modern relationships. And in “The Palace Thief,” a history teacher at an exclusive boarding school reflects on the vicissitudes of a lifetime connection with a student scoundrel. A remarkable achievement by one of America’s finest writers, this brilliant volume reveals the moments of insight that illuminate everyday lives.

“Captivating . . . a heartening tribute to the form . . . an exquisite performance.”
– The Boston Sunday Globe

“A model of wit, wisdom, and empathy. Chekhov would have appreciated its frank renderings and quirky ironies.”
– Chicago Tribune

224 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1994

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About the author

Ethan Canin

24 books293 followers
Highly regarded as both a novelist and a short story writer, Ethan Canin has ranged in his career from the "breathtaking" short stories of Emperor of the Air to the "stunning" novellas of The Palace Thief, from the "wise and beautiful" short novel Carry Me Across the Water to the "epic" America America. His short stories, which have been the basis for four Hollywood movies, have appeared in a wide range of magazines, including The New Yorker, The Atlantic Monthly, Esquire, The Paris Review, and Granta, and have been selected for many prize anthologies.

The son of a musician and a public-school art teacher, he spent his childhood in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and California before attending Stanford University, the University of Iowa Writers' Workshop, and then Harvard Medical School. He subsequently gave up a career in medicine to write and teach, and is now F. Wendell Miller Professor of English at his alma mater, the Iowa Writers' Workshop, where he has been privileged to teach a great number of talented new writers. In his spare time he is very slowly remodeling two old houses, one in the woods of northern Michigan and the other in Iowa City, where he lives with his wife, their three children, and four chickens.

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Profile Image for Maciek.
569 reviews3,552 followers
August 9, 2013
The ancient Greek word for character is Ethos - the basis for "ethics", the study of morality and principles relating to right and wrong conduct. Heraclitus, the famous pre-Socratic Greek philosopher, held a belief that a person's ethos is their daimon, which actually translates as "fate". Ethos Anthropos Daimon - Man's character is his fate.

Heraclitus thought that man's character was his essence, and ultimately determined how an individual would experience life - he saw character as a system of beliefs, opinions, stances towards and ideas about oneself and the reality surrounding us. These were ingrained in one's nature and would shape his/hers destiny; it wasn't to be found in heavens above or hell below. Fate was to be uniform with our nature: good traits would prove to be beneficial, and flaws would be tragic.

Character and destiny stand at the heart of four novellas which comprise The Palace Thief. I bought the collection on the spur of the moment, not even having heard of the author before. Simply speaking, I chose to bet my limited assets on an unknown horse - truth be told it wasn't very much, but it definitely more than paid off. I have read the stories contained within The Palace Thief and kept thinking about them since, re-reading them and looking for the author's other work. A random find proved to be a great discovery.

Ethan Canin himself must have thought a lot about character and destiny; he spent years learning medicine at Harvard and in his spare time - when most medical students would do nothing else but just steal some sleep - he wrote fiction; his first collection of short stories, Emperor of the Air was published in 1988,when he was just 27 and still a student. After he earned his M.D. in 1991 he moved to California to practice medicine full-time, but continued to write; stories in The Palace Thief have been written in 1993. In 1998, Canin decided to leave medicine for good and devote all of his attention to writing,and joined the faculty of Iowa's Writers Workshop. This is not a change we see often in today's society - but I'm happy to report that Ethan Canin's sentences are as sharp as his scalpel.

In the stories collected in The Palace Thief Canin writes about men, their relationships and subjects typically male: finance, baseball, professorship. Stories about all these subjects have been written before, but Canin has the skill and talent to make them his own; he doesn't resort to cliches to describe a middle aged man's psychology and doesn't resolve to maudlin sentimentality when describing his protagonist's regret about wrong choices and missed opportunities. These stories are bittersweet, filled with neither happiness or sadness; Canin takes everyday struggles and turns them into mirrors for readers to reflects on our own choices in life.

Accountant, the opening story, is a perfect beginning for the volume and a great display of Canin's rigor as a writer. Not a word is wasted in its opening, which introduces the protagonist and sets the tone and theme for the rest of the story - all in one paragraph. I quote it here in its entirety:

I am an accountant, that calling of exactitude and scruple, and my crime was small. I have worked diligently, and I do not mind saying that in the conscientious embrace of the ledger I have done well for myself over the years, yet now I must also say that due to a flaw in my character I have allowed one small trespass against my honor. I try to forget it. Although now I do little more than try to forget it, I find myself considering and reconsidering this flaw, and then this trespass, although in truth if I am to look at them both, this flaw is so large that it cannot properly be called a flaw but my character itself, and this trespass was devious. I have a wife and three children. My name is Abba Roth.

Does such thing as a fatal flaw really exist? This was the question which began Donna Tartt's The Secret History, published just a year before The Accountant. Canin's story is considerably different, as it features an older protagonist whose crime is of an entirely different nature; Abba has more in common with Ethan Canin himself than with Tartt's Richard Papen. He's far from clueless - he's a poised and businesslike Jewish accountant, who does not laugh or stray from his chosen path of a career. Yet he cannot help but think about what he considers to be the flaw in his character, similarly to what Canin must have thought of when fighting with himself over the decision of abandoning medicine and pursuing a literary career.

The opening is remarkable because it's tone is just right for Abba's character - not poetic but businesslike and formal, showing someone who plans every action in advance and spends hours analyzing every posssible outcome. Every word is carefully chosen, and there's no room for spontaneity - even Abba's wife and daughter don't escape his judgment and their successes and failures are listed as entries in a register. Abba is married with daughters and safely nested in a California suburb, making more money than most of us could ever hope to see, and by his own admission achieved success by devoting himself to his career. Still, when Abba is invited to an event organized by his childhood neighbor, Mr. Peters - owner of a successful auto-parts company - he wonders about their respective lives. When Abba went to school to study accounting, Mr. Peters started his own business; when he asked him for a start-up loan of a thousand dollars Abba refused, thinking it impractical and without benefit to himself. Contrary to his expectations Mr. Peters's business blossomed, and he now invites Abba to a fantasy baseball camp featuring former baseball heroes - a marketing event for his enterprise. Abba cannot help but be jealous of his neighbor's success and regrets not loaning the money - and getting his share of it. He accepts the invitation, sensing that Mr. Peters is about to ask him to manage his books, and enters the camp to undergo what will be a test of his character and will. Canin's play with contrasts is masterful here, as it is in all of the stories contained within this volume, and he succeeds at creating a memorable character of a person who by all accounts should have been boring and dull.

The next two stories, Batorsag and Szerelem and City of Broken Hearts are both coming of age tales, though in very different ways. The former is the story of William, a young teenager who grows up in the shadow of his eccentric brother, Clive - a math prodigy, and has apparently invented a fictional language to communicate with his friends (unfortunately the surprise was lost for me as I immediately knew what it was). The story takes place in the early 70's, just after Vietnam; a turbulent period is contrasted with the queen of all sciences - mathematics, requiring precision so out of character for Clive who nonetheless manages to solve every problem put before him. Very, very good.
City of Broken Hearts contrasts two different generation: Wilson Kohler, a man in his 60's tries to come with terms with his recent divorce. He's confused with the world, and lost; his son, Brent, now in his 20's, comes to visit and tries to ease his father back into life. Brent is shocked with his father's cluelessness and poor attempts at socializing; Wilson is shocked with how easily Brent approaches life. The balance of power has completely shifted, and the son takes the father's hand in this story and guides him through a late growing up.

The title story is the last one, and it's the most powerful one and a perfect closure - my favorite from the volume. The Palace Thief is narrated by a Mr. Hundert (he never reveals his first name), a teacher of ancient history at Saint Benedicts, a prestigious private school for boys. Hundert has not married and devoted his whole life to Saint Benedicts, teaching his pupils the importance of great leaders from centuries before they were born, hoping to convey to them the importance of character and ideals and turn them into great leaders themselves. The story opens with Hundert being roused out of retirement by Sedgewick Bell, a former pupil who invites him to an exclusive reunion of his class after 41 years. Hundert remembers him as son of an influential and powerful senator from Virginia, and a boy who disrupted his familiar teaching routine. From all sides young Sedgewick appears to be nothing more but a troublemaker and a poor student, upsetting Hundert's classes and doing his best to strip them from almost reverent seriousness with which Hundert treats his Romans and Greeks. Hundert is upset by Sedgewick's antics but treats the boy as a challenge; he responds by questioning Sedgewick and using his lack of knowledge against him in front of the class: all other pupils know the answers to Hundert's questions easily, while Sedgewick does not. Hundert did not study the machinations of ancient emperors for naught - the tactic works brilliantly, as he not only turned Sedgewick clownish antics against himself but also made the boy study the course material as to not appear dull and stupid to his classmates. In fact, Sedgewick performs so well that Hundert, despite himself, selects him as a contestant for Saint Benedict's annual tournament: Mr. Julius Caesar, which he organizes and where the three best students answer his questions about ancient history. The winner is receives the title of the great emperor himself. This tournament will prove to be Hundert's greatest challenge, one which will force him to consider his own ideals and character, changing his life forever. Although Hundert introduces the story as one "without surprises", this is hardly true - The Palace Thief is really a wonderful story of a teacher's relationship with his students, of morality, standards, convictions, privileges and politics with surprising twists in-between. Truly terrific stuff - I loved it and have read it again since.

The Palace Thief is not full of literary experimentation and post-modern fireworks. These stories are classy and stylish, casual old-fashioned storytelling with moments of epiphany reminiscent of the great masters, such as Cheever or Carver. I was reminded of Fitzgerald's great stories from the jazz age but more subdued and quiet, such as Bernice Bobs Her Hair or The Ice Palace where a single scene changes everything in the lives of the protagonists. Canin's imagery is lingering and the stories themselves have great cinematic potential - particularly The Palace Thief, which has moments of real pathos - so it's no surprise that two of them were adapted to the screen: Batorsag and Szerelem as Beautiful Ohio and The Palace Thief as The Emperor's Club. Because of my admiration for The Palace ThiefThe Emperor's Club and found it to be quite good (Kevin Kline turns in a good performance as Mr. Hundert) but the source material remains superior. I have read the title story of this collection again and will revisit the others as well, and urge everyone who has yet to read them to not wait and dive in - they are all certainly worth your time and I hope that they will too leave their mark on you as they did on me.

Profile Image for Mike.
56 reviews15 followers
May 27, 2008
Mr. William Hundert, the protagonist and narrator of Ethan Canin’s novella “The Palace Thief,” is a classics teacher almost as obsessed with issues of character and the character development of his students as he is with the history of ancient Greece and Rome. As a scholar of classical antiquity, Hundert must certainly be familiar with the etymological derivation of the word “character” from its Greek origin as “engraved mark.” (”character.” Online Etymology Dictionary. Douglas Harper, Historian. 13 Jan. 2008. .) As the word has evolved into English, it is often also associated with the notion of a “distinctive mark or imprint on a person’s soul.”

Whether consciously or not, Mr. Hundert seems determined to leave his own distinctive mark on his students. Describing his vocation at St. Benedict’s, for instance, he explains that “I gave service there to the minds of three generations of boys and always left upon them, if I was successful, the delicate imprint of their culture” (p. 155, emphasis added). In a pivotal exchange with Sedgewick Bell’s father, the senator, Hundert states his goal even more explicitly: “It’s my job, sir, to mold your son’s character” (p. 163). As the dedicated teacher declares in the story’s movie version: “However much we stumble, it is a teacher’s burden always to hope that, with learning, a boy’s character might be changed, and so the destiny of a man.”

For Hundert, the stakes involved in his character-molding efforts are extremely high. As an avowed disciple of Heraclitus, Hundert clearly agrees with the Greek philosopher that a “man’s character is his fate”—or destiny (p. 193). Sadly for Mr. Hundert, however, Senator Bell disagrees that Sedgwick’s teacher’s responsibility transcends strictly academic training. “I’m sorry, young man,” he condescends to Hundert, “but you will not mold him. I will mold him. You will merely teach him” (pp. 163-164). In the movie version of Ethan Canin’s novella, the senator continues: “Teach him his times tables. Teach him that the world is round. But (only) I will mold his character.”

In both The Emperor’s Club (movie) and the story on which it is based, Hundert’s efforts to shape young Sedgewick’s character—and thus his fate or destiny—all come to naught. Whether due to his father’s poor example or pernicious influence on his son—or something engraved on his nature from birth, what Hundert describes as “the corruption in [Sedgewick’s] character” (p. 195) dooms his teacher’s most conscientious efforts to alter his wayward student’s fate. As a result, Hundert finally concludes that he has “failed” Sedgewick by not succeeding in reshaping his character via their interactions both in high school and thereafter.

Perhaps Mr. Hundert draws some ironic consolation from the conceit that he has failed to reshape Sedgewick Bell’s personal character. But I believe he also overestimates the influence his character-building tutelage might have on students like his. (Hundert’s presumption that he might alter “a boy’s character…, and so the destiny of a man,” in other words, smacks of the mortal flaw of hubris!) All of our life’s experiences influence the person we become and the kind of character we develop. Our parents naturally have an enormous impact on this process—as do our teachers, coaches, religious mentors, other role models, etc. But aren’t we also just as responsible and accountable ourselves for our own character development as are the external influences on each of us?

According to one important excerpt from her famous Diary, Anne Frank emphasizes a similar point: “How true Daddy’s words were when he said: ‘All children must look after their own upbringing.’ Parents can only give good advice or put them on the right paths, but the final forming of a person’s character lies in their own hands.” (sic) I wonder what Mr. Hundert might think of Anne Frank’s observation. I wonder whether he could draw any solace from how it would apply to his sense of profound disillusionment over the fate of his former student, Sedgewick Bell.
Profile Image for Jen.
192 reviews8 followers
August 1, 2010
Revisited, I gave considerable attention to the first story titled “Accountant.” A piece that masterfully plays with structure and narration. This story, told from a first person perspective, follows Abba Roth, a forty-nine-year old accountant with a wife and three children.

The story moves back in time, for seventeen pages, to reveal Abba’s formative years with a close friend and schoolmate, Eugene Peters, who Abba perceives as a kind of rival. Abba goes on to college, to become an accountant, while Eugene stays behind to work for an automotive garage.

After college, Eugene approaches Abba for a loan. Abba, newly out of school, haughty about his degree, does not see any benefit in loaning to his old friend. Eugene gets help elsewhere, and becomes enormously successful. Abba finds himself bitter about his friend’s success, and remorseful he couldn’t help when he had the chance.

Abba finds himself at a point in the present, where Eugene might again ask him to participate in a mutually beneficial business prospect… and, as they say, the plot thickens from there. Using a troubled man’s unreliable narration, Canin pushes Abba to unthinkable lengths. The story reminded me of Cheever’s “The Five-Forty-Eight,” one of my all-time favorites.

Canin strikes me as a man’s writer; he writes solely (in these stories) about men and men’s relationships, academics and baseball, however, he is a good enough storyteller to keep me interested for the duration.

Profile Image for Jessica.
585 reviews23 followers
May 1, 2011
The Palace Thief is a collection of four stories, each almost exactly 50 pages in length, and each centering on a male protagonist looking somewhat wide-eyed at the world, largely unawares that those around them are laughing gently behind their backs. In one story, an aging accountant wonders how, of all possibilities open to him, he'd ended up with the life he'd lived; in another, a young boy puzzles over a cryptic older brother; in the next, a divorced man's son tries to help him find happiness; and in the last, an elderly schoolteacher looks back over a mistake he allowed to happen over and over again. Canin's writing is delicious, like a masterfully prepared dessert which you can't decide whether to savor slowly or rush to devour. I ended up choosing the latter.

The storytelling is exquisite. The stories themselves are, from beginning to end, bittersweet, and each ends more with the protagonist settling and accepting his fate and past, than with a resolution or feeling of either happiness or sadness. And I just can't get over how well-written the stories are. I can't think of the last time I got THIS sucked into a text. Every few pages I'd tell myself I simply HAD to stop and put myself to bed, but I couldn't bear the thought of stopping before I'd devoured the whole thing. And I'm very glad I did, even though my poor aching body will probably try to convince me otherwise in the morning.

Read this. Right now.
Profile Image for Janine.
5 reviews
September 17, 2023
As a teacher I enjoyed the plot - a history teacher from a prestigious boarding school and his interactions with one particular student from when he enters his classroom to when the boys becomes a politician. It certainly makes you think about truth and honesty and the effect we can have as teachers. Now to decide if my year 10 class of mainly girls will enjoy it or be bored by it !
December 17, 2018
The Palace Thief was quite an interesting book. It is interesting because there was good character development. However, nothing really happened in Hundert's life. This made the book kind of boring for me. I did enjoy some parts over others. I would honestly say that my favorite part would have to be when Charles Ellerby became the headmaster over Hundert. I wouldn't say it was funny how Hundert never really did stand up for himself because it felt more annoying and it helped make the book a little bit predictable. This book definitely was interesting to me in the sense that made me feel annoyed at times yet enjoying other parts, and at the same predicting other parts.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
9 reviews
December 17, 2018
This book was ok at it's best. The plot was very underwhelming in the sense that nothing exciting really happened. I can agree that the books message of people sometimes will never change is very agreeable, but besides that there was nothing that can or will change my opinion on it.
May 20, 2022
I'm not sure how to feel about this book. It really confused me sometimes with many words I didn't know. But overall, I enjoyed the plot.
December 13, 2018
This book was quite predictable because what do you expect from a troublemaker? Not only that, but when has a person actually changed? I liked, but didn't like the book at the same time since you could assume what would happen next. A man who is supposed to follow moral doesn't which does not make sense because it's what he believes in, but follows them at the very end when it's too late. With said, I do like how Hundert treated his students as his own, saying "my boys" but he didn't show emotions towards them. It was more of a bland book because Hundert basically had no emotions to show towards anyone because of his lifestyle. There was more of his thoughts about the school and students in the book than his personal life which can already tell us a lot about him. Overall, I thought it should've been better with context if more emotions and character was involved.
4 reviews3 followers
December 20, 2018
I somewhat liked this book but I didn't love it. I wouldn't reread this back because it is not the type of books that I enjoy to read.
18 reviews2 followers
December 12, 2018
The Palace Thief was a good book and it had very difficult words on it. I actually read the book in school as an actual class. In the beginning when we started reading part of the book I actually didn't like it however, towards the end it was kind of good. It was good because it shows how a teacher that can't speak up for himself spoke up when he saw that an old student of him was cheating. It has really great lessons like don't cheat and when someone has morals their morals are never going to go away.
December 13, 2018
This book kind of gives a lesson, which is that people never change . In the beginning it’s about a teacher named Mr. Hundert who teaches at St. Benedict’s School which is a border school for all boys . They have a contest and between a couple students but the most important ones were Deepak and Sedgewick. Mr. Hundert realizes he was cheating through out the whole contest and asks a question that wasn’t on the study guide which makes Sedgewick lose the contest . A couple years later to when the boys are all grown up , Mr. Hundert is Ames to retire by his best friend since he won the Headmasters Chair. Sedgewick asks Mr. Hundert and all the boys for a rematch on his private island, so they all fly out their is Sedgewicks helicopters. During the rematch contest he thought Sedgewick has changed since he wasn’t cheating , Hundert realizes Sedgewick moving his ear a lot and asks a question that wasn’t on the study guide . He was cheating again. Hundert was very hurt because he thought he had changed but he didn’t . All in all , this story reflects on how people don’t change no matter how long time ago something happened .
Profile Image for djt.
106 reviews4 followers
January 14, 2013
I found Ethan Canin's four stories in "The Palace Thief" to be very enjoyable reading. Each of them reflects the very deepest of human emotions and are very revealing of how character flaws develop in even the most ethical persons. I very much enjoyed the beautiful prose in Ethan Canin's writing. I think my only disappointment with each of these stories was I really expected them to take a completely different turn to their end,and instead found them to be not spectacular, but definitely rewarding, so probably the problem is not Canin's story ending, but my expectations that probably were fashioned around my comparison to other writers and other writing styles.
Profile Image for Linda Hart.
746 reviews177 followers
January 7, 2010
This novella has 2 main characters (aclassical Greek professor, and a bright, popular student) who are pitted against each other. One is concerned with the nature of leading an examined life and the other is concerned with the quickest way to worldly success. The compromising of ethical principles is a theme in the story, i.e. "romantic" politics vs. "real" politics. The reader learns that Values = Actions; The end depends upon the beginning. This would be a great book to read and discuss with students of any age.
May 21, 2022
The palace thief was an ok read for me because since the point of view of the main character is a teacher, therefore there are some words where I did not know the meaning of until I would search what the meaning of the word was and I would understand it better afterwards. I liked the idea of the plot of how it shows that the same people over time don’t change which is shown with Mr.Hundert and Sedgewick.

Profile Image for Ryan.
1,107 reviews39 followers
August 21, 2020
The stand-out piece in this collection of novellas is 'The Palace Thief' (later filmed as The Emperor's Club). I've bonded with strangers over the quote used as a moral lesson early in the story. ('I am Shutruk Nahunte, King of Anšhan and Susa, Sovereign of the land of Elam...')

Canin's unfussy, concise style and regard for his flawed characters should serve as a lesson to many authors.
1 review
January 17, 2018
I think it was a really good book my favorite part of the book was when sedgewick invited mr. hundert to the 2 competition because he cheated again and it was funny to me that he still don't learn his lesson. Sedgewick really just organized the whole thing basically to tell the people that he's trying to for senate. But after all l i really liked the book it was really good.
January 18, 2018
My favorite part of The Palace Thief is when Sedgewick invites everybody that was in his class to the Julius Cesar contest. It shows that he still hasn’t changed and that he is still arrogant. The moral of the story is that some people don’t change no matter what.
Profile Image for Trevor Pearson.
406 reviews11 followers
January 10, 2018
Accountant is the first entry in Ethan Canin's collection of four novellas that from a thematic standpoint focus on transformational time periods in American history and culture and adapting your own family dynamics with all of these external factors at play. Three of the four stories begin with a confession, and as a reader, of course you’re left wondering and interested in what had taken place, but judging by the deliberate and subtle tone you can’t help but think what the author had in store that would counter mediocrity commonly found in suburban life.

Abba Roth of the lead story always thought of everything and demonstrates it right off the bat with his narration, he generally covers all the bases. Abba sets the scene by prefacing the story with primary characteristics of being an accountant and detailing some of his own shortcomings as a man that inhibited his work and had tarnished his legacy to some degree. An accountant is a profession that demands exactitude, great attention to detail and depending on your levels of success, negotiating skills; sounds a lot like scouting for a significant other and if you refer back to Abba’s personal plight he could’ve been more diligent in that regard as well. Throughout Abba's respected career one thing kept standing in the way of achieving true honour amongst his peers and the feeling got stronger and stronger as time went on. He had always been a disciplined student and displayed restraint when foregoing normal college age activities for his studies. He could never have envisioned a time where acting on impulse would ever come to realization. Accountant is a story of two friends going their separate ways, and down separate paths in which each believe was the right way for them and end up reaching their own brand of success. The story highlights the types of characters that people have and the ultimate feelings of disappointment or regret in certain aspects of their lives. Regret and dissatisfaction is a fact of life, it is unavoidable, it is just a matter of how you deal with it and having it best serve you.

“Evening had descended quickly, and because in the presence of my daughter the darkness was suddenly embarrassing, I went to the desk and switched on the lamp. The bulb is a small one, and standing in its weak light with my daughter behind me, I was seized, as I sometimes am, with sadness. I suppose I wax wondering, although it is strange for me to admit it, why, of all the lives that might have been mine, I have led the one I have just described.”


Batorsag and Szerlem is the second entry and finds a family forever changed after a complicated year in 1973 Ohio. Older brother Clive is a high school mathematics whiz kid but the younger brother William always felt that there was something strange about him. Clive and his good friend Elliot spent plenty of time together meditating, listening to Clapton, smoking weed and even developing their own language. The world was changing and the parents were doing their part to keep up with the new era of peace, love, and rock and roll, which presented a somewhat unorthodox childhood for the two boys but a new normal that they took in stride. Clive remained very private and liked to rebel which his parents also took in stride while William was not quite the scholar that Clive was which did not pose a problem for the parents. There was a nice give and take feel about this family as unique as they may have been. William was very different than Clive and embraced the excitement of what storytelling could bring, which the parents encouraged while also confiding in him to not fall in the same traps as his older brother. They understood that man was not born with out flaws but it came increasingly hard to keep up with the changing times. Most of the time the hardest change is the one you don’t see coming and it proves to be for this family. Best story of the bunch for me.

“They dried themselves with their shirts, whispering a few words in their language while I listened with my eyes closed. Sandra still slept, waking now and then to turn herself over. I heard Clive and Elliot wringing out their hair and lying down on the rocks, and then the small, steady splash of pebbles being tossed into the water and Clive humming a Clapton lick between throws. Lethargy welled over me. Just before I slept I was aware of all the smallest sounds of the quarry--the tiny chime of lapping waves, my brother's humming, the occasional groan of rock shifting in the heat and the plink of pebbles in the water. Sandra snored, just slightly. When I woke the sun was gone.”


City Of Broken Hearts is the third entry and is set in Boston in the early 90's and when you think about the sports landscape at that time it certainly was a city streaming with tears. Wilson is a recent divorced middle aged man with a twenty-year-old son named Brent who is more than ready to leave the nest and embark on his own life. Through all his own personal problems, which started to mount as of late, Wilson always had his beloved Red Sox to turn too, but after every last out in the ballgame and last call at the pub there was always the lonely walk down Yawkey Way back home to an empty three bedroom home and that inescapable dread of isolation. What has compounded that problem is that his only child had become private, not revealing much of his personal life and ambitions leaving Wilson more alone than he initially thought. Over time their interests had changed as well as the social causes they pursued. The Boston Red Sox brought them back together for one day but Wilson began to understand that it could be for the last time and without love what else does Wilson have to live for.

“In the days that followed he did not feel sad exactly, just blank, as though if he could not report to Abbie about the events of his life, they had not really happened. He cried for the first time since the death of his father, but the tears did not seem to come from sadness nor to relieve it. They seemed biological, and he watched them, like symptoms.”


The Palace Thief is the last entry and the narrator begins by expressing that there is no honour in this retelling of a defining moment in his life but he seems unapologetic in what he had done and is detailing his regret and grievances to serve as a warning for future educators. Mr. Hundert is a teacher of the classics at an exclusive preparatory school in rural Virginia called St. Benedict. Unmarried with no children Mr. Hundert always felt that he was busy enough with Roman history and expecting students, that it left little time for personal interests outside the confines of the school. To him the art of teaching along with the sanctity of St. Benedict's was his life, so much so that he lived in humble quarters at the institution and traversed the outside world on rare occasion. He took great pride in molding students and for three generations he enjoyed transforming them from boys into the aspirational men that they were projected to be. It wasn’t until a senator's son was brought into his life that he would confront his own power of influence in comparison to that of a thirteen-year-old boy. In his career he had never met a student that was so combative, put in such little effort yet still maintained a control over the class. This may be Mr. Hundert's greatest battle yet.

“When they read of the reign of Augustus Caesar, when they learn that his rule was bolstered by commerce, a postal system, and the arts, by the reformation of the senate and by the righting of an inequitable system of taxation, when they see the effect of scientific progress through the census and the enviable network of Roman roads, how these advances led mankind away from the brutish rivalries of potentates into the two centuries of Pax Romana, then they understand the importance of character and high ideals."


The stories in this collection deal with common problems in a generally non-linear fashion. What the author does is take the reader slowly through some of the normal day-to-day events of the characters, their beliefs and motivations, and gradually inserts some moments where you can start to figure out where the pathway to a potential problem may be. The big reveal is not all that surprising but what is unexpected is the way he utilizes his characters to enact their desires in a beautiful and at times tragic way. I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the stories, not because of any doubt, just that what appears to be a limited subject matter makes it hard to be that affecting. I think the human element and the uniqueness of the events that take place combined with the slow progression and the eventual crescendo make for a great collection of stories. Recommended.

4 reviews1 follower
January 7, 2019
I did not like this book one bit because everytime we read this book I would want to go take a nap.
This book in other words was really boring because the events were not entertaining and the story is told from hunderts point of view only.
What is better books or movies? Have you ever taught and had the time to compare a book to a movie? Well today we are comparing and contrasting “The Palace Thief” which is the book to The Emperor's Club which is the movie. The creator of this story is named Ethan Canin.The movie will always be better than the book because it has a more entertaining factor and you can also see multiple views of the story not just narrator's point of view.
The book can’t even be compared to the movie because of how uneventful the book is. In the book the narrator Mr. Hundert was a very lonely person who doesn’t even have a life other than teaching at that school. An example is when he states, “I spent most of that day and the next one sitting at the desk in my study, watching through the window as the school wound down like a clock spring toward the strange, bird-filled calm of that second afternoon of my retirement, ,when all the boys had left and I was alone”(Canin 185). This quote shows us how lonely and depressing this man is as he had nothing to do in life if he wasn’t in that school teaching. While Hundert’s life is so miserable in the book, in the movie he gets scenes with a woman he loves and plays baseball with his student which in the book he would never do.
The movie can also be appreciated more because of the fact that there's scenes where Hundert is not in. The book is not interesting because of the factor that your inside Hunderts head all the time and don’t have the possibility to see anybody else's point of view. An example of someone else’s point of view is when you are able to see Martin Blythe’s kid go to the school were hundert taught which showed forgiveness for what he did to him when he let another one of his student’s be in a competition when really he let him take his spot without having a higher grade than what Martin Blythe. This scene is important because it shows us how he felt about Hundert which is that he is a bright teacher. On the other hand the book is boring because the book ended with a scene where Deepak a former student at an old age had a heart attack and realizes that his student were adults while he was still seeing them like children. This scene is worst than the last scene from the movie because in the book he is still lost in life and in the movie he comes back to teaching has a wife and knows that there is second chances and that a man’s character doesn’t change.
In conclusion, for this example the book was worst than the movie because of the lack in entertainment and because all the time spent in Hunderts head. I'm not saying that books are worse than movies is just that in this case it is true. According to my knowledge I have a better expression towards movies because of the fact that I don’t like reading which I know is bad but either way I’ll give a book a shot. I hope that someone can respond to this in a different way and tell me how the book is better.

12 reviews
May 20, 2019
I thought that Hundert was very pathetic and always felt sorry for himself. When things were getting bad or worrying he just felt bad for himself and didn't do anything. He set himself up with some morals to live by which he never followed because he was too weak to stand up for them. The book only focused on Hundert and Sedgewick which made it dull since Hundert was all about his work and he had nothing going on for him while Sedgewick was a charismatic jerk who showed how people dont change.
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331 reviews
March 9, 2020
I love Ethan Canin's short stories. This collection contains four longish short stories, 3 about men who are unable to change or do so only as a last resort, an accountant who fought hard all his life to be in control steals and gives up a big client; a man who can’t get over his wife’s leaving and can’t find a female partner learns to listen to a woman; and a teacher of the Roman Empire can’t get out of his role as a teacher even in retirement.
7 reviews
February 7, 2023
i feel like this book was good it has a nice story and a nice moral that people never really change and they stay the same their whole life the book i really enjoyed the story about mr hunderts life at saint benedicts and how he to deal and teach sedgewick who never does change and how he lives his life after being forced to retire. he didn't really know what to do his whole life had been spent in st benedicts . this has a good story but it has some strong vocabulary so if you don't know these words you should study them and then read
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 7, 2023
I liked the main the of the book (people never change) because it really made me think about it and see it in the real world. I sort of agree with the theme of the book, but i still believe that someone can change little by little. My favorite part of the book was when Mr. Hundert finds out that Sedgwick is cheating again through his hearing device because it really shows how Sedgwick never changed.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
5 reviews
February 7, 2023
When i first started reading the book it felt kind of confusing since it started off with the narrator talking about the past, but after reading some more I started finding it more interesting and liked it. I feel like this book still needed more towards the ending like what happens with the boys and Hundert, Is Sedgewick still a liar and is Mr.Hundert still all by himself? Although I do recommend this book because it is interesting.
8 reviews
May 23, 2023
I rate this a 5 star because the book's central theme is integrity for many reasons. The author, uses integrity as the central idea of his short story, since the narrator, Hundert, believes it's his job to mold his students' characters so that these boys can grow up to become influential leaders with good morals.
7 reviews
January 18, 2018
At the beginning this book had challenging words that made it hard for me to understand the context.
I like this book because it makes me think critically and has expanded my vocabulary. This book is about a teacher who believes it is his responsibility as a educator to teach his students morals. There is events in the book that make it intense to find out what will happen next. I recommend this book to people who enjoy debating!
4 reviews
January 19, 2018
I really enjoyed this book. IT was about a kid that his name is Sedgewick. He's a complete jack ass starting school. He has a rich dad who is the senator. When they get older he hosts a rematch about Julius caesar because he lost the first one. In conclusion sedgewick remakes the contest but not to win but to get the votes so he can be the next senator
January 20, 2018
I think that it was fun reading the book. It was also exciting to see what was going to happen next. It was very long but, made me curious of what was going on in the book. And also made me curious about why sedgewick kept cheating, and mad me curious about will they catch him cheating and give him a punishment or what.
8 reviews
June 5, 2018
At first this book didn´t really catch my interest because it had bigger words that I didn´t understand, which made it hard for me to understand what was going on. Honestly I did not like because its written like people used to talk before and that really doesn´t amuse me.
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