Gerry's review
Shopgirl
by Steve Martin
Gerry's review
Shopgirl by Steve Martin
Gerry's review
rating:
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 who stumble into ridiculous circumstances for a quick chuckle. It's a book where Mirabelle's older boyfriend is almost always referred to by his full name--Ray Porter--as if he were as esteemed as a visiting professor, where Mirabelle's job behind the glove counter at Neiman Marcus illustrates her life's trajectory.
Shopgirl also contains the single best physical description ever put to paper. Jeremy, Mirabelle's younger suitor, nails down his attraction to her.
"Jeremy's attrac...more
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 who stumble into ridiculous circumstances for a quick chuckle. It's a book where Mirabelle's older boyfriend is almost always referred to by his full name--Ray Porter--as if he were as esteemed as a visiting professor, where Mirabelle's job behind the glove counter at Neiman Marcus illustrates her life's trajectory.
Shopgirl also contains the single best physical description ever put to paper. Jeremy, Mirabelle's younger suitor, nails down his attraction to her.
"Jeremy's attrac...more
