Shopgirl

by Steve Martin
(2000 | 130 p)

"She moved from Vermont hoping to begin her life, and now she is stranded in the vast openness of L.A. She keeps working to make connections, but the pile of near misses is starting to overwhelm her. What Mirabelle needs is some omniscient voice to illuminate and spotlight her, and to inform everyone that this one has value, this one over here, the one sitting in the bar by herself, and then to find her counterpart and bring him to her."

Shopgirl offers a glimpse into the mismanaged lives of Mirabelle, Jeremy, and Ray Porter.

Mirabelle, a self-proclaimed artist, is depressed, medicated, and lonely. She's 28 and works the glove counter at Neiman Marcus. On very rare occasions she draws; her artwork is stunning and bleak. She worries. Mirabelle moved out to L.A. to find her self.

Jeremy is 26 and stencils logos onto amplifiers for a living. He sees this as art. Jeremy has no ambitions and absolutely no clue. Today is all that matters to Jeremy. He meets Mirabelle at the laundromat and they have a short and awkward courtship.

Ray Porter is a recently divorce millionaire and is nearly twice as old as Mirabelle. He's a genius and socially sophisticated, he's also terribly self-absorbed. He is intently looking although he's not certain what he's looking for. Ray Porter is kind and vulgar. He takes more than a passing interest in Mirabelle.

This novella is subtle. Steve Martin uses his trademark dry humor to make the isolation and incompetence of these characters not only palatable, but enjoyable. Ray Porter's coarse language and near adolescent sexuality makes an oddly appropriate paring to Mirabelle's insularity. Jeremy's eventual metamorphosis sets the tone for a book that is, ultimately, about growing up. Captivating.