Rating: 
Summary: The best crafted fiction of the year
Review: Mr. Martin has written a love story, but it's a true love story. He alternately explores with candor the relationship between a young girl and an older man and the relationship of the writer with his own characters. I fear that serious readers will ignore this book because of Mr. Martin's reputation as a fine comic, suspecting therefore that the book itself is a comedic effort. In a sense, it is a comedy, but in the ancient Greek definition of that term. No one dies, and life itself deserves commentary punctuated by clarity, verve, fun, and sometimes a psychic telescope and sometimes a psychological microscope. I will never know how an author can pack so much satire, joy, and seriousness into such a slim work, which is such a pleasure to read.
Rating:
Summary: A Small but Wise Book
Review: Steve Martin's writing, choice of words, descriptions, and inner dialogues just blew me away! What a guy! Within the first three pages, I felt Mirabelle's desolation and loneliness. Just the title: Shopgirl. So old fashioned --no "sales associate" or other fancy title. The reader immediately got a sense of the hand-to-mouth existence Mirabelle was leading due to this almost dead-end, low-paying job at Nieman Marcus. I was touched by the sentence about the one thing she really wanted: "someone to talk to". Later in the book, Martin made her paralyzing depression so very real to me that I could feel her desperation and clearly imagine her hitting bottom, emotionally. Here's a *Martinism* I loved...he calls Beverly Boulevard a "chameleon street". Very clever choice of words. Here's another: "One man stands in the kitchen of a two-million dollar house that overlooks the city, and the other in a one-room garage apartment that the city overlooked." Mirabelle's relationship with the elusive and wealthy Ray Porter is played out in this short but ultimately satisfying novel, proving that a good author can tell a complete story in only 130 pages. Mirabelle and Ray dance around each other, both misinterpreting the nuances of the relationship. While I felt sorry for Mirabelle and her less-than-ideal life, I also felt sorry for Ray. He was the real proof of the cliche that "money cannot buy happiness." I would highly recommend this book. If you have any chance to read or listen to any of Martin's interviews, they will enhance your enjoyment.
Rating:
Summary: Brevity is the soul of wit.
Review: a short and sometimes poignant laugh.
Rating: 
Summary: Steve Martin's mind trip
Review: Reads like a movie script. A subtextual voice tells us what and why the characters are thinking, while the narrative rolls along disclosing what they are doing and saying. Bit of pop psychology, but Steve Martin is a very creative individual; seeing where his mind is worth the trouble. Reminds me of his first (?) movie, "Pennies from Heaven." It is a fast read, which holds your attention.
Rating:
Summary: A Wonderful Book... The Steve Martin You Don't Know
Review: I think it's always amazing when we learn that people have more than just one talent. Mr. Martin has proven himself on the silver screen, but he's also proven himself in the world of fiction. Shopgirl is a wonderful book. A delight to read. A can't put down type of novella. I think everyone has a Mirabelle in their life, or at one time felt the way Mirabelle feels. Martin does an excellent job of bringing this lonely wallflower of girl to life. Her emotions are true and accurate, and anyone who reads this book feels sorry for her. Sorry because she's lonely. Sorry because she's smart, but lacks common sense. Sorry because she has never understood the way that love and sex and romance work together. Sorry because the only lessons she's learned are ones from pain. This shows a different side to Martin that most of us didn't know existed. We see a sensitive caring man who has sympathy for the lonely and misunderstood. This book will make you cry and laugh. It's a "must read" by any standard. Don't miss out.
Rating: 
Summary: The mystery of Shopgirl
Review: "Shopgirl" is beautifully written. Steve Martin writes graceful prose with an economy of words, each thoughtfully selected and placed with care in delicately balanced sentences. Mirabelle, a 28-year-old perched behind the glove counter at Neiman's in Beverly Hills, is introduced so tenderly and with such intimate understanding that you cannot wait to meet the man who will be attracted to her. Ray Porter sees Mirabelle and responds to something specific and unnameable inside her. And so begins a two-year relationship between the 50-year-old, wealthy Ray Porter and the enigmatic Mirabelle. "Shopgirl" is not a dissection of a failed affair with blame to be assigned, errors to be identified, and apologies made. It is instead a quiet exploration of the characters' interior lives. Steve Martin cradles their relationship, peers at it, and gently turns it over to consider its beauty and mysteries once again. The observations which percolate up from Steve Martin's subconscious provide light-handed insight without bludgeoning the reader with direct explanation. Several themes bubble to the surface in "Shopgirl": mystery; loneliness; beauty; fragility; pain; and inner lives beneath the surfaces presented to the public. We learn that the old-fashioned accessories which Mirabelle sells are as irrelevant and out-dated as the qualities of loyalty and acceptance which Ray Porter values in her. We see the inevitable failure of a relationship which is not fully satisfying to Ray Porter, yet which retains his attention for two years because he cannot unravel the inexplicable mystery of his attraction to Mirabelle. And we know that a true understanding of Ray Porter's inner self is as far out of his reach as an understanding that Mirabelle is a mirror for his soul. But my favorite theme is Steve Martin's struggle to explain the inexplicable. That Ray Porter's attraction was not random. That whatever it was started from an extremely small place that Ray Porter could not have identified, even under torture. We know Ray Porter is not capable of describing the visceral reaction he experienced in response to a young woman about whom he knows nothing, but Steve Martin is brave enough to try.
Rating:
Summary: Shopgirl
Review: Great Fun! Particularly if you have ever lived in the insanity of Los Angeles. Very interesting insight from the author - he obviously has a feminine and masculine psychie and incredibly sensitive to both genders. Entertaining and insightful for all! Thanks Steve!
Rating:
Summary: All I need is this thermos...and this book!
Review: Kudos to Mr. Martin for gracing the marketplace with this deft, original novel of manners. "Shopgirl" manages to examine SoCal life without wallowing in the kind of cynicism that makes so many LA novels a bore. We've seen Martin's patient, observant nature at work before - in his L.A. STORY (his surprisingly moving mid-90's comedy), and in his pieces for the New Yorker - but he's writing on a higher level here, like LIGHT YEARS-era James Salter, but with a sense of humor and a slightly more generous spirit. I'll be rereading this book as soon as I get it back from the last person I loaned it to...
Rating:
Summary: Insightful, funny, and a great read
Review: Is there anything Steve Martin can't do well? He's a veteran writer, but this is the first "story-driven" work outside of the cinema that he's done and it's as an accomplished a novella as I've read.
Rating:
Summary: A Very Good Read
Review: Let me first say what Shopgirl is not. It is not a laugh out loud comical adventure. Casual fans of Steve Martin would be hard pressed to ascertain he is the author if the book was published anonymously. What Shopgirl is, however, is a rather poignant look at modern day relationships. And while Shopgirl certainly has some funny and entertaining moments, I found the strongest part of the book to be the insightful look at how differently men and women view relationships. Steve Martin has done a good job of creating an entertaining quick read that still offers the reader more than comic relief. For fans of this book, I would also recommend the novella Fried Calamari that takes a very entertaining and insightful look at how differently men and women view relationships.
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