I've always been impressed with Steve Martin, the Renaissance man. We all know he can do comedy and act, and he even wrote the witty film Bowfinger too. A few years ago, I saw his paintings at The Belagio in Vegas and have been reading his witty articles in The New Yorker for years. But now I'm also enamored with his books. Granted they are not adventure and plot driven but they are insightful and I love getting lost in his words and writing style. In his first novella, Shopgirl, I was amazed at how well he understood women. I was like, guys know that about us? lol. Although I must warn new readers, at times throughout the book I also felt depressed like the heroine was.
Last month I read his second book, The Pleasure of My Company, which has now been released on paperback. It's about a male character and his OCD obsessions and his struggle to overcome them. Again it is Martin's commentaries on society and people are what is really interesting.
The following description really impressed me, I'd love to be described and analyzed so thoroughly by another person. But then again I might not like what I hear ;) "I see something that describes her more clearly. It occurs in the pauses in her speech when her eyes fix on an air spot roughly waist-high and she seems to be in a trance. And then suddenly it's as if her mind races, trying to catch up to real time, and she continues right where she left off. If you saw her in these moments, you might think she was collecting her thoughts in order to go forward. But I see it another way: her mind is being overwhelmed by two processes that must simultaneously proceed at full steam. One is to deal with and live in the present world. The other is to re-experience and mourn something that happened long ago. It is as though her lightness pulls her toward heaven, but the extra gravity around her keeps her earthbound."
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