SOURCE: Kramer, Peter D. “Riches in the Doctor's Bag.” Book World—The Washington Post (17 February 1994): C2.

In the following review, Kramer contends that The Palace Thief “constitutes a broadening of literary scope for a writer of enormous talent and charm.”

Chekhov, Bulgakov, Maugham, Celine, William Carlos Williams, Walker Percy. For the physician-author the question is always whether he will be one more “doctor who writes” or whether he will join the select group of writers who are also doctors.

Ethan Canin, then a medical student, now a resident, made an acclaimed debut in 1988 with the story collection Emperor of the Air. The tone was set by the first line: “Let me tell you who I am.” All but one of the stories were told in the first person; all featured a distinctive, believable voice; all turned on an uncharacteristic transgression that revealed the narrator to himself.

Canin's 1991 novel...