Shopgirl- Steve Martin-- A Book Review
We all know Steve Martin. The former stand-up comedian who rose from the obscurity of television writing and parlayed his comedic talents into motion picture stardom. It was a tedious and difficult journey for Martin as he tried to break free from his enormous success as the "wild and crazy guy" into a credible film actor and eventually an accomplished playwright and authour. It has been a seesaw battle for Martin as he tries to keep a delicate balance between his zany comedic movies such as "The Jerk", "The Three Amigo's", "The Man With Two Brains" and his more daring, slightly more intelligent films such as "Pennies From Heaven", "L.A. Story" and "The Spanish Prisoner." If anything Steve Martin has always been trying to show the world that he's more than just a wacky funny man with an arrow through his head but a consummate intellectual. Shopgirl, Martin's first novel, is another step forward to proving that point.

The story is centered on the trial and tribulations of a young woman trying to find her place in the vacuous emotional wasteland known as Los Angeles. Mirabelle leads a solitary life working in the virtually unnoticed glove department in the posh department store known as Neiman's in Beverly Hills. Using no portion of her master's degree in Fine Arts during her working hours she spends her lonely evenings carefully working on the charcoal drawings, which truly give her pleasure. Mirabelle is clearly portrayed as a typical sympathetic heroine. She longs to grow beyond the counter at Neiman's into something more fulfilling, but is held back by her own emotional problems and lack of friendships. While trying to conquer her own personal issues she longs for an honest, loving relationship with someone. Enter Ray Porter. Ray Porter a divorced, mature businessman from Seattle becomes Mirabelle's knight in shining armour for the moment. Two complicated individuals who yearn to find true love and happiness yet both approach relationships with totally different mind sets. Mirabelle typically wishes for a monogamous relationship with an intelligent, confident, and independent man who would help support her in her quest for greater things. Ray, who mentally sizes up relationships with cold calculating precision. Mathematically orchestrating relationships from first meeting to eventual coital embrace. Obviously their relationship is not fated to be successful by any means, but the exploration of their two different personalities and how they interact with each other makes for interesting reading. The novel is primarily focused on these two characters, although there are secondary characters who initially are fairly interesting, do not make major contributions to the story until the final chapters.

In many of Steve Martin's movies there always seems to be an underlying theme of love lost only to be found again and this novel is no different. Despite its disappointing movie like ending, Martin's description of his characters thought processes are top notch. In fact they are the driving force behind this novel. The fact that the novel takes place in Los Angeles is practically non-existent compared to the introspection of his characters and that's what makes this an interesting read. Martin's clean-cut descriptions of the surroundings and the characters that lie within are interesting as they are succinct. This is Martin's first novel and I'm sure it's not his last. I enjoyed reading behind the lines about the characters relationship but was disappointed by the ending. Despite that fact, I still feel that Shopgirl is more than worthy of a casual page flip at your local bookstore.

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