Customer Reviews

SHOPGIRL.

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a short but very sharply observed novella of a young artistic shopgirl, Mirabelle, who sells gloves at Neiman Marcus and attracts the attention of a wealthy older man (Ray Porter/ Steve Martin) and a younger guy who at first is clueless. The thing I found interesting about the book is how well Martin gets into the mind of a younger woman. This is definitely one of the best instances of a man writing about a woman. Often, being a woman myself, I find female main characters written by men to be one sided or just projections of some sort. This isn't the case here. We get to see Mirabelle as a whole person. I read in the Times that the person Mirabelle is based on is herself an artist. The author of that article said that Martin had described her very precisely.

The scenes where Martin shows the different ways Mirabelle and Ray are interpreting the same conversation are so well observed. I felt like the ending was a bit rushed, but other than that, this is a great short read.

Shopgirl was FANTABULOUS .... interesting... entertaining...clever... just what I would have expected from such a talented man... I'm looking forward to reading more of his work. I'm planning to pass on this book to my fellow Seniors in Sun City... I know they'll enjoy it...