Shopgirl: A Novella
Steve Martin's first foray into fiction is as assured as it is  surprising. Set in Los Angeles, its fascination with the surreal body fascism of  the upper classes feels like the comedian's familiar territory, but the shopgirl  of the book's title may surprise his fans. Mirabelle works in the glove  department of Neiman's, "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, she passes  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 her "without obligation." Complicating the picture is  Mirabelle's voracious rival, her fellow Neiman's employee Lisa, who uses sex  "for attracting and discarding men."The mutual incomprehension, psychological damage, and sheer vacuity practiced by  all four of Martin's characters seesShopgirlveer rather uncomfortably  between a comedy of manners and a much darker work. 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 anomie, butShopgirlis  still an enjoyable, if rather light, read.--Jerry Brotton