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Books : Fiction : Contemporary Fiction: 1970 Onwards : Authors A-Z : M : Martin, Steve
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Of all the celebrities who've tackled novels in recent years, one of the most conspicuously successful in the field is comic actor Steve Martin. In books such as Picasso at the Lapin Agile and Shopgirl, Martin showed the same dazzling wordplay that marks his film and TV work, and his new novel, The Pleasure of My Company, builds on the earlier work to produce a book that is both effortlessly entertaining and beautifully wrought.Martin's protagonist is Daniel Pecan Cambridge, a thirtyish loser whose life is wrecked by a whole slew of neurotic compulsions and tics. The small, irrational fears that plague most of us are the bane of Daniel's life, but he resolves to shed these straitjackets and move into something like normality. One of his aims is a normal relationship with a woman and there are several potential targets in sight: his therapist Clarissa, struggling to relieve him of his demons, Zandy, the beguiling assistant in the chemist's shop, and Elizabeth, selling apartments in his street.
But his compulsions are only one of his problems; his neighbour Bob has been murdered and Daniel is in the frame for the crime. The attention of the media seems set to keep him living an abnormal life for quite some time, which might undercut his hopes of winning the "Most Average American" competition.
Novels by comedians can often collapse into a series of one-liners, and while there are some zingers here, Martin is a real novelist--this quirky black comedy has both a solidly realised structure and a sharply etched cast. Daniel is a wonderfully characterised anti-hero--a natural, perhaps, for Martin himself to play when the inevitable movie is made. --Barry Forshaw
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Of all the celebrities who've tackled novels in recent years, one of the most conspicuously successful in the field is comic actor Steve Martin. In books such as Picasso at the Lapin Agile and Shopgirl, Martin showed the same dazzling wordplay that marks his film and TV work, and his new novel, The Pleasure of My Company, builds on the earlier work to produce a book that is both effortlessly entertaining and beautifully wrought.Martin's protagonist is Daniel Pecan Cambridge, a thirtyish loser whose life is wrecked by a whole slew of neurotic compulsions and tics. The small, irrational fears that plague most of us are the bane of Daniel's life, but he resolves to shed these straitjackets and move into something like normality. One of his aims is a normal relationship with a woman and there are several potential targets in sight: his therapist Clarissa, struggling to relieve him of his demons, Zandy, the beguiling assistant in the chemist's shop, and Elizabeth, selling apartments in his street.
But his compulsions are only one of his problems; his neighbour Bob has been murdered and Daniel is in the frame for the crime. The attention of the media seems set to keep him living an abnormal life for quite some time, which might undercut his hopes of winning the "Most Average American" competition.
Novels by comedians can often collapse into a series of one-liners, and while there are some zingers here, Martin is a real novelist--this quirky black comedy has both a solidly realised structure and a sharply etched cast. Daniel is a wonderfully characterised anti-hero--a natural, perhaps, for Martin himself to play when the inevitable movie is made. --Barry Forshaw
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Shopgirl is comedian Steve Martin's first foray into fiction, and manages to be as assured as it is surprising, coming from the usually zany Martin. Set in contemporary Los Angeles, its fascination with the surreal body fascism of upper-class America feels like familiar Martin territory, but the shopgirl of the book's title is the figure that will surprise Martin fans. Mirabelle Buttersfield works in the glove department of Neimans, "selling things that nobody buys any more". Spending her days waiting for customers to appear, Mirabelle "looks like a puppy standing on its hind legs, and the two brown dots of her eyes, set in the china plate of her face, make her seem very cute and noticeable". Lonely and vulnerable, Mirabelle spends her evenings taking prescription drugs and drawing "dead things", while pursuing an on-off relationship with the hopeless Jeremy, who possesses "a slouch so extreme that he appears to have left his skeleton at home". Then Mr Ray Porter steps into Mirabelle's life. He is much older, rich, successful, divorced, and selfish, desiring Mirabelle "without obligation". Complicating the picture is Mirabelle's voracious rival in the opposite sex, her fellow Neimans shopgirl Lisa, who uses sex "for attracting and discarding men".The mutual incomprehension, psychological damage and sheer vacuity practised by all four of Martin's characters sees Shopgirl veer rather uncomfortably between a comedy of manners and a very black comedy. There are some startling passages of description and interior monologue, but the characters are often rather hazy "types". Martin tries too hard in his attempt to write a psychologically intense novel about west coast America, but Shopgirl is still an enjoyable, if rather light read. --Jerry Brotton
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Of all the celebrities who've tackled novels in recent years, one of the most conspicuously successful in the field is comic actor Steve Martin. In books such as Picasso at the Lapin Agile and Shopgirl, Martin showed the same dazzling wordplay that marks his film and TV work, and his new novel, The Pleasure of My Company, builds on the earlier work to produce a book that is both effortlessly entertaining and beautifully wrought.
Martin's protagonist is Daniel Pecan Cambridge, a thirtyish loser whose life is wrecked by a whole slew of neurotic compulsions and tics. The small, irrational fears that plague most of us are the bane of Daniel's life, but he resolves to shed these straitjackets and move into something like normality. One of his aims is a normal relationship with a woman and there are several potential targets in sight: his therapist Clarissa, struggling to relieve him of his demons, Zandy, the beguiling assistant in the chemist's shop, and Elizabeth, selling apartments in his street.
But his compulsions are only one of his problems; his neighbour Bob has been murdered and Daniel is in the frame for the crime. The attention of the media seems set to keep him living an abnormal life for quite some time, which might undercut his hopes of winning the "Most Average American" competition.
Novels by comedians can often collapse into a series of one-liners, and while there are some zingers here, Martin is a real novelist--this quirky black comedy has both a solidly realised structure and a sharply etched cast. Daniel is a wonderfully characterised anti-hero--a natural, perhaps, for Martin himself to play when the inevitable movie is made. --Barry Forshaw
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