Shopgirl

by Steve Martin

book data

7126 ratings, 3.41 average rating, 802 reviews (more data...)

rating	frequency	%
5		13%
4		33%
3		36%
2		13%
1		3%

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published

December 8th 2005 (first published 2000) by Phoenix Press

binding

Paperback, 176 pages

isbn

0753820285 (isbn13: 9780753820285)

description

From the comic genius of Steve Martin comes a contemporary fable of life an love from the point of view of a shopgirl behind the glove counter at Neim...more

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Shannon rated it:

(review of isbn 0786891076)

02/26/08

bookshelves: festival-of-suck, own

Read in February, 2008

recommends it for: boring people

OH, what an utterly FASCINATING look into the totally important and equally fascinating stereotypes regarding heterosexual sexual relationships. Everyone in this book could have died in a fire, and I wouldn't have cared. The girl, I hate her. I refuse to believe this girl is smart, everything she does indicates that she is a complete idiot. But the reader is supposed to accept that she is smart because Steve Martin cleverly includes this in the narration by saying something like "She is s...more

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4 comments

Mikayla rated it:

(review of isbn 0786866586)

07/18/07

Read in January, 2001

A lot of people seem to like this book, but I think they're just trying to be nice to Steve Martin. He will be okay. He is good at a lot of other things. Michele doesn't like this book either. I think the word she used to describe it was "vapid." I read this book so long ago that I don't remember the details of why I hated it, but I think the general reason was that I felt the female character was continually placed in a position of lack in a masculine symbolic economy, in which she wa...more

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Lissa rated it:

(review of isbn 0786891076)

09/27/07

Read in June, 2007

I picked up Shopgirl at the Strand for $4.95. I had heard of it vaguely as the movie with Steven Martin in it as an adaptation of the book Steve Martin wrote. I purchased it as a book that I could take with me on vacation and have it be ultimately disposable. Sometimes this trick backfires on me as I end up really liking a book and toting it home with me regardless of my original intentions. This is not one of those times.

Shopgirl tells the story of depressed, artist Mirabelle who works beh...more I picked up Shopgirl at the Strand for $4.95. I had heard of it vaguely as the movie with Steven Martin in it as an adaptation of the book Steve Martin wrote. I purchased it as a book that I could take with me on vacation and have it be ultimately disposable. Sometimes this trick backfires on me as I end up really liking a book and toting it home with me regardless of my original intentions. This is not one of those times.

Shopgirl tells the story of depressed, artist Mirabelle who works behind the glove counter at Neimann Marcus. She has few friends, doesn’t do much with her art, and is basically wafting through life trying not to get mired in depression. Enter Ray Porter (the Steve Martin character), a 50 year old man also drifting through life, searching for the perfect woman by running through all of the imperfect ones as fast as he can. The two embark on a relationship which predictably ends badly, but also predictably teaches both of them something about themselves and allows them to grow as people and friends.

I didn’t have super high hopes for this book at the outset, having seen another example of Steve Martin’s writing in the play Picasso at the Lapin Agile (a play which starts in a very promising manner and ends with an Elvis impersonator beaming down into a small French café in Monmartre. Really.) Surprisingly, this book is relatively well written and even contains some witty insights on relationships between people. Here are two examples of such passages:

… Jeremy does have one outstanding quality. He likes her. And this quality in a person makes them infinitely interesting to the person who is being liked. (p8)

“I am traveling too much right now,” he says. In this sentence, he serves notice that he would like to come into town, sleep with her, and leave. Mirabelle believe that he is expressing frustration at having to leave town and that he is trying to cut down on traveling. … So now they have had the Conversation. What neither of them understands is that these conversations are meaningless. They are meaningless to the sayer and they meaningless to the hearer. The sayer believes they are heard and the hearer believe that they are never said. (p64-65)

That being said, I couldn’t get past the fact that this book is essentially chick lit. It might be semi-good chick lit (if that isn’t an oxymoron), and it may have been written by a man, but it’s chick-lit nevertheless. It has all of the hallmarks of chick-lit with a little bit of Paulo Coelho style self-discovery – no wonder it was a NYT best seller. I can’t recommend it without reservation, but if you want a short book for a quick plane/train ride, it would certainly do the job....less

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Jennifer rated it:

(review of isbn 0786891076)

11/25/08

bookshelves: 2002, fiction

Read in May, 2002

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Diane rated it:

(review of isbn 0786891076)

04/08/08

Read in April, 2008

recommended to Diane by: Co-worker
recommends it for: People who like words

This book was a surprise to me, loaned for on-the-plane reading after I'd finished the book I'd brought on the trip.

I had low expectations of the writing and the story. Both were pleasant surprises. Written in almost elegant prose, the characters in their small lives unfold. Vignettes of their lives are neat and complete, stacking on top of and inside one another, until the chain of experiences moves each character to a different place. It may seem insignificant or that the characters ju...more

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1 comment

Eileen rated it:

(review of isbn 0786891076)

05/08/08

bookshelves: fiction

Read in July, 2007

I love Steve Martin. <---This was how I was going to begin this review. Cushioning the harsh criticism with true admiration. Before I continued ...after that first line I decided I was much too harsh and I went into other goodreads reviews of this book to see how close my opinion was with the general public...and I found what I had predicted I would find. A whole bunch of people who loved his book. In between those admirers i found a few, who like me, love his work and want to make known how ...more

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Theresa rated it:

08/03/07

bookshelves: 2007reads

Read in March, 2007

"She knows that she needs new friends but introductions are hard to come by when your natural state is shyness." p.4

"However, Jeremy does have one outstanding quality. He likes her. And this quality in a person makes them infinitely interesting to the person being liked." p.8

"She is offering herself to him on the outside chance that he will hold her afterward. She feels very practical about this and vows not to feel bad if things don't work out. After all, she te...more

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Becky rated it:

(review of isbn 0786891076)

03/22/08

bookshelves: adultbooks

Read in March, 2008

recommends it for: Allison, Ellen S., Tamara

I re-read this during the snowstorm and liked it almost as much as the first time. I have not seen the movie, because it can't be as good as the book. I have not written down any favorite quotes, because I would have basically been transcribing the book. The novella is short and the story is quiet, with only three (maybe four) main characters. I've probably never identified with an adult character as much as I do Mirabelle (even though she suffers from clinical depression and I do not). How Stev...more

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3 comments

Laura rated it:

(review of isbn 0786891076)

09/15/07

bookshelves: fiction

Read in May, 2005

Steve Martin, how I love you.

But please, please, please don't write anything ever again.

Kisses,
Laura

PS: Please stop being in movies involving the words "dozen" or "bride" in the title. K thanx.

PPS: Also, if you specifically note on one page that your character does not have a couch, only a FUTON OH MY GOD HOW CLICHED IS THAT, as a really lazy way of saying she "isn't grown up yet," and then later say that a visitor to the character's apartment nev...more

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1 comment

Shaindel rated it:

(review of isbn 0786891076)

05/10/08

Read in January, 2004

recommends it for: Steve Martin fans, novella fans, people with emotions :-)

I read this book out of curiosity because I'd always wondered what kind of writer Steve Martin is. (I mean, I'd used his quote "I think I did pretty well, considering all I started out with was a bunch of blank paper" for YEARS in writing classes, at the tops of syllabi, etc. I could at least see what he'd done with that blank paper.)

I was pleasantly surprised. I *really* liked this novella. It was the right size for the story. I think too often writers cram a lot into a short ...more

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2 comments

Holly rated it:

(review of isbn 0786891076)

05/22/08

Read in May, 2008

Main theme I gathered from this book is that "pain changes our lives." or is what makes us grow.

When I first started this book, I was like "oh, brother." But I kept reading because a friend recommended it to me and I trust his opinion on things. I ended up really enjoying the read. And, although it was a bit racey and graphic, I found myself identifying with some of the characters thoughts and feelings.

Here is one of my favorite about how one person believes wha...more

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Daniel rated it:

(review of isbn 0786866586)

04/11/08

Read in April, 2008

There are a handful of writers I've come across who've successfully broken the "show, don't tell" rule every writer is taught. Kurt Vonnegut was one, and Steve Martin is another. It'd be hard to imagine Vonnegut in "Breakfast of Champions," for example, giving the reader all the information he wants to convey about Kilgore Trout, Dwayne Hoover and Eliot Rosewater through action and dialogue alone. Similarly, Martin in "Shopgirl," which is almost completely lacking i...more

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Sheila rated it:

(review of isbn 0786891076)

03/24/08

I don't know why, but I almost want to perceive the story of the relationship of Mirabelle and Ray Porter as the author's parable of all relationships between older men and younger women.

A shy young woman toils in relative obscurity, unseen and unappreciated by her contemporaries (men and women alike), still emotionally a child waiting to bloom; an older man takes notice of her and is able to appreciate her youth and freshness and need for someone to notice.

Of course, there's the sex; ...more

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Emily rated it:

(review of isbn 0786891076)

02/23/08

bookshelves: novels

Bored, I checked this out of the library one day, and I have to say, I found it surprisingly affecting. It's easy to sneer at Steve Martin for being a lit-pretender, but this wasn't a pretentious book in the least. It's a melancholy (not depressive), wise, and well-drawn portrait of a young woman in a sad, tender, no-strings-attached relationship with a wealthy older man who cares for her, but does not love her, and while this may sound banal, there's something extraordinary about this ability...more

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Kelly rated it:

(review of isbn 0786891076)

03/12/08

Almost everything about this book works surprisingly well. The tone and style of the narration brings the reader very effectively into the life of Mirabelle, a girl who is lonely and longing to connect with other people. She doesn't get the opportunity to do so very often since she is both shy and employed at the glove counter of Neiman Marcus that seldom has any customers.

It is at the glove counter that Mirabelle meets Ray Porter. Ray Porter is a well-appointed older gentleman who treats Mi...more

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Dawn rated it:

(review of isbn 0786891076)

08/08/08

bookshelves: books-i-will-never-read-again

Read in July, 2008

recommended to Dawn by: Saw the movie first
recommends it for: NO ONE

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

Have you ever really, REALLY wanted to read something, serasrch ALL over for it, finally found it, and then were so genuinely disapointed by it you could almost cry?? THAT is how I feel after reading "Shopgirl".

I saw the movie (with Steve Martin, Claire Danes and Jason Schwartsman, who I believe givbes an amzing performance) and while being dark, sad and VERY twisted, I truly enjoyed it (if you want a truly surreal experience, rent "Shopgirl" and "stardust" ...more

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Gerry rated it:

(review of isbn 0786866586)

07/10/07

Shopgirl may be thin, but it's not light. Some might think that Martin, in his debut novella, would go for the easy laughs of his earlier books, Cruel Shoes<i/> and <i>Pure Drivel. Instead he draws a stunningly lifelike portrait of a young woman, Mirabelle, and the two suitors who don't so much win her heart as force it to change alliances.

There's humor--how could there not be--but it's found in characters and not situations. This is not a book populated by props wh...more

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T rated it:

(review of isbn 0786891076)

05/08/08

bookshelves: in-my-library

Read in January, 2003

recommends it for: chumps

A haunting tale...in that I am still haunted by Martin's borderline misogynistic caricatures of women (and what he thinks we do in public restrooms (page 101)). He writes like a child who got a thesaurus for Christmas but has never read a great book, or been allowed to use the f-word, or met a woman, owned a pair of testicles (page 18), or employed an editor.

Don't believe me? Check out how he named his main character: Mirabelle Buttersfield. No one is named Mirabelle Buttersfield! Unless th...more

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Blair rated it:

(review of isbn 0786866586)

03/13/07

Read in March, 2007

You know that thing that stand up comedians do where they describe a situation that everyone has been through but no one ever verbalizes, so it's very funny when they, on stage, verbalize what they take as every person's thoughts on the subject and you think "hey - he's right!" That's what this book does - and does very well in a pretty refreshing style (It is Steve Martin, after all). I wasn't big on the story itself, but seriously loved the writing. Book is short and sweet - pick i...more

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Taylor rated it:

(review of isbn 0786885688)

06/20/07

bookshelves: favorites, fiction, own, the-power-of-love, to-reread

Read in January, 2001

recommends it for: women everywhere, men who think there are no good women

One of my all-time favorite books, absolutely. The plot isn't anything remarkable or ground-breaking - a woman is mis-treated by men, they eventually come around, one sooner than the other - but how he handles it is really just so emotionally moving, which is, to me, vastly more important. Even though I know the ending, even though I've read it a handful of times (and seen the movie, which was surprisingly well-translated, though still not quite so good as the book), the last 20-30 pages still m...more

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