Rating: 
Summary: Wild & Crazy It Ain't
Review: If you're looking for another helping of the zany humor for which Steve Martin is best known, don't buy this book. It is most definitley not a knee-slapper and might not even make you laugh out loud. It's just not that kind of a book. What it IS is an elegant, wryly humorous character sketch.Steve Martin is a talented, observant writer who takes what might in other hands be a banal storyline and crafts it into a marvelous sort of literary still-life. There is no plot to speak of; the beauty of this novella lies in its descriptions and clever turns of phrase. The book revolves around the largely unexceptional love life of Mirabelle, a shy, depression-prone sales clerk with an artistic flair and difficulty relating to her world. Her paramour, Ray Porter, is an emotionally-challenged older businessman who is unapologetically selfish. Two minor characters provide most of the comic relief: Lisa, a cunning, modern tart who takes Mirabelle's modest success in love as a personal challenge, and Jeremy, a confused Gen X'er who undergoes an improbable transformation. The funniest parts of the book are Martin's description of Lisa's sexual plotting, especially her unusual attention to, shall we say, personal hygiene. Martin writes with both empathy and humor but never overdoes it and never overreaches. He seems to understand that understatement is one of the most powerful of literary techniques. Some might say that this is a trifle of a book. Maybe so, but it is a delicious morsel all the same.
Rating:
Summary: Money Can't Buy Love
Review: Steve Martin continues to astonish us with his magnificent artistic growth and range of creativity. In this inadvertent morality tale, the wealthy art afficianado, Ray Porter, falls hard for the talented, sensual artist Mirabelle. She loves him too and will forever in all probability, but she needs more than the red light flashing on her answering machine. She needs him to respect her and earn her trust. Ray learns at fifty what he should have known as an adolescent from the Beattle's song, "I don't care that much for money. Money can't buy me love."
Rating:
Summary: Incredibly subtle, Incredibly beautiful
Review: I had no idea what to expect when I picked up Shopgirl. I know that Mr. Martin often goes back and forth these days between comedy and drama. I was not expecting comedy in the first place, having read and listenned to Pure Drivel and experiencing his amazing prose. Steve Martin has evolved over the years and is no longer just rabbit ears and an arrow through the head, and some of the reviewers in this forum seem to have missed that. I found the prose to be very subtle in its nature... everything is a little dark and a little sad. The characters are tragic in that they destroy themselves while they feel as though they are doing the right thing. It is sometimes painful to watch, but you like them in the end and you want them to win. But if they made the right choices in the first place, then the story would be boring. You would have static characters that make the right decisions and no one would have anything in common with them because no one makes all the right choices. But under it all is an amazingly beautiful, detail-oriented writing style that crawls into the minds of each person and finds a little piece of us all in it. We see each character from the eyes of the other characters, and we see them from themselves. There is an interweaving of everyone. The beauty of the book is in the details.
Rating: 
Summary: Like an indulgent piece of Godiva -- short and satisfying.
Review: Four stars are cast for this "Novella" because there were no strings left untied -- when its finished you know the story is complete. It ranks short of five stars because the characters are terribly shallow and dull in my opinion. It was easy to walk through Mirabelle's days with her, but at times I wanted to absolutely shake the book at her decisions and behavior -- she was doomed from the beginning! as she painted an ugly sterotype for herself. Her lover, Ray Porter, meanwhile, kept my eyebrows raised and wondering: "Do men truly feel this way?" But alas, costly, yet valuable lessons were learned -- even if they were done up in the extravagance of "Hollywood-style" that most of us cannot relate to and have not experienced. Most of MY hard lessons were not quite so "gifted" as Mirabelle's were. Four stars are also for Steve's beautiful lines that create fantastic visuals. There are many, but one I'll share (without giving anything away) is when Mirabelle begins exercising some hutzpah in letting her mild-mannered Mom know she's not the virgin her Mother assumes her to be. She tells her Mom: "I'll be staying with him if you need to reach me." Catherine [the Mom] continues scrubbing the same plate for the next few moments. "In a hotel?" "Yes," says Mirabelle, and then, just for good measure, "but don't worry, Mom, I'm on the pill." "Well," says Catherine. "Well," she says again. Catherine rubs the plate, then in a modulation of voice so loaded with meaning that only Meryl Streep could duplicate it more than once, adds one more "Well." Isn't that a moment nearly all of us females have lived? And I do think men would enjoy this book also -- those fantastic visuals I mentioned are NOT just for women. So do buy the book and share it with your friends.
Rating:
Summary: A proud endorsement
Review: Steve Martin is a longtime friend who has written a thoughtful and intensely humanistic novella which strikes the heart and brain of any reader who has lived a life of personal relations and the inevitable ups and downs and questions facing one's life-experience with another person who is judged deeply important. I was moved and engaged as the portrayal of characters evolved, succinct and touching in their thoughts and deeds. Readers are invited in, without being asked, to be a part of the novella's unfolding dynamic human drama, without being overly-dramatic. What a thrill! I am proud indeed of Steve Martin's accompishment, as he shares his acute thoughts and feelings of human involvement with his readers and viewers in Shopgirl.
Rating:
Summary: THE ONLY VOICE TO TELL THIS STORY!
Review: Actor/comedian Steve Martin scores a hit with his debut novella - a view of love and life through the eyes of Mirabelle who works behind the glove counter in a West Coast Neiman Marcus. Mirabelle is plagued during the day by rival clerk, Lisa, and finds little consolation at night with a ne'er do well sometimes boyfriend. That is until she meets a wealthy older man. Mr. Martin brings all of his winning ways to the reading of Mirabelle's story, delicately exploring her self-reflection, deftly parodying Lisa who uses sex appeal for sales and the rich man who is used to getting what he wants.
Rating: 
Summary: There's no "there" there
Review: I could hardly get through this long short story. The dry, impersonal narrative didn't engage me at all and made me not give a hoot about the cartoonish characters or the story. There was no build-up, no moving forward. It was clinical, sterile writing. I found no humor in the story. If Martin was trying for any kind of pathos, it eluded me. There seems to be the makings of a beginning of a novel here, one that was aborted and published without being finished. An outline or start of a character study for a better novel, maybe. But in and of itself, a weak and uninteresting try. In my humble opinion, this book would not have received any attention if it weren't written by a well-liked celebrity.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful Story and Very Insightful
Review: Steve Martin has written a terrific novel that is as insightful as it is entertaining. He has accomplished the extremely difficult task of telling a great story in a brevity of words. Shopgirl reads quickly, but when you're done you feel that you have read something much longer because the reader gets so much out of the characters. I agree with the reader below who wrote that Mr. Martin does a great job of tapping into both the masculine and feminine psyches. In that regard, I would compare this book favorably to Fried Calamari (another insightful and entertaining novella about relationships where the author does a masterful job of presenting both gender's point of view). I would recommend Shopgirl to anyone and what I liked best about it was the complexity and development of the characters interwined into a rather poignant novella.
Rating:
Summary: Did he read my journals?? :)
Review: Bought the book and couldn't begin the novella until 2 weeks later (actually, this occurs with all of Steve Martin's works). Figured it out: I was "afraid" to begin 'Shopgirl' because I was "afraid" to finish. But, as always, I am humbled and thankful for his talent. I could go on about the plot etc, but you'll get that on interviews and other reviews. Mr. Martin has a rare gift of observation & even greater talent of placing the inexplicable into words. The shocking bluntness (bordering on crude in spots) is necessary to pull the reader further into the story and identify with the emptiness of the characters' lives & actions. It's pretty much how many 28-35 year olds exist with their gift of life-- it's impetus for change.
Rating:
Summary: Social dynamics in LA
Review: This is a little story with lots of layers. It has pace that breaths. No clutter. Powerful observation. The amusing asides open the way for the long somber look at loneliness and isolation. This is a complete tale. Steve, good job! Thanks. Pls write some more.
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