Shopgirl by Steve Martin Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Shopgirl
Book Review: Don't waste your money
Summary: 1 Stars
This book is so horrible there are no words. It's the first time I had to force myself to finish a book. It's crass to say the least. Don't waste your money on this book. I love Steve Martins films but his writing leaves much to be desired.Book Review: Engrossing, even if this type of book isn't "your thing"
Summary: 5 Stars
I have to admit it. Books that center around unhappy lovelives generally bore me to unconsciousness and lead me to want to yell at the characters to get over it. With Shopgirl, however, Steve Martin shows that the genre can be engrossing, and once again establishes that he can really write. Much like his play about Einstein and Picasso meeting in a Paris cafe, there are various references to art, history, and philosophy that will be missed by many readers. I have to admit there were a couple I missed. More's the pity for me, as the analogies he draws into somewhat obscure history or philosphy are often hilarious, or at least damned compelling reading. The very first line of the book should be enough to let you know the intelligence of the writer ("When you work in the glove department at Neiman's, you are selling things that nobody buys anymore."). The book never backs down from there. I would disagree with reviewers who called the characters shallow or call Ray a "player." He is actually portrayed as someone who is searching, and just doesn't know any different. If any character came across as a caricature, it would have to be the man-hunting Lisa. Descriptions of her, and the the rest of the women coming out of the plastic surgery office, are impossible not to find simultaneously amusing and sad (unless, of course, you are one of those "patients").Book Review: Intelligent fiction which engages the heart
Summary: 4 Stars
The novella is an art form which gives expression to a compact, intense literary experience for both author and auditor. "The Fox" by D. H. Lawrence is one such work. Another fine example and a Pulitzer prize-winner is the spare, elevated, compelling prose of Thornton Wilder's "The Bridge of San Luis Rey." "Shopgirl" is another. What is striking about "Shopgirl" is the intensity of reader-engendered emotion in response to Martin's characters. I had the experience of many in picking up the book to see whether or not Martin could write at all, and discovering to my surprise that I was unable to put it down. How much of this work is autobiographical is immaterial, since all of us are, like Odysseus in Tennyson's "Ulysses," a "part of all that we have met." What is delightful, wistful, sad, and encouraging is to watch the characters, seemingly cast in one dimension, become round, whole, living and breathing human beings in all their hope, desperation, and folly. Ray is perhaps the saddest man of all; he is not a bad man in the customary sense. He is stunted emotionally to the degree that he is unable to accept the frank, uncomplicated, generous love of Mirabelle for what it is, and never learns that no one loves without joy, and without pain. His insular nature never allows him true intimacy with her, despite her willingness to give without reservation or expectation of reward. She matures by the pain he causes her, and even Jeremy matures because he wants something for which he must reach. Two spirits grow together; one fails the impetus to mature and is left sadly behind. This novella is not stunningly brilliant, nor is it substantially lacking. It is in any case a tour-de-force for Martin as a first-novella. He has demonstrated that his range is broader by far than the "wild and crazy guy" of his younger days as a TV performer. Bravo, Mr. Martin, and bravo for a screenplay and film adaption that was intelligent and faithful to his novella. Claire Danes is simply luminous as Mirabelle, and Martin is quintessentially Ray. I'm happy to have bought the novella, and the DVD of the same title. You will enjoy both.
Book Review: Lackluster
Summary: 1 Stars
This book is written in a detached style, often in a passive voice. You never get inside any characters and get to know or care about them. Steve Martin does way more "telling" than "showing" and you end up feeling like you are reading a summary of a story, not a story itself.