Product Description

Brochure, poster, advertising in national newspapers

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #63453 in Books
• Published on: 2004-07-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 176 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
Of all the celebrities who've tackled novels in recent years, one of the most conspicuously successful in the field is comic actor Steve Martin. In books such as Picasso at the Lapin Agile and Shopgirl, Martin showed the same dazzling wordplay that marks his film and TV work, and his new novel, The Pleasure of My Company, builds on the earlier work to produce a book that is both effortlessly entertaining and beautifully wrought.

Martin's protagonist is Daniel Pecan Cambridge, a thirtyish loser whose life is wrecked by a whole slew of neurotic compulsions and tics. The small, irrational fears that plague most of us are the bane of Daniel's life, but he resolves to shed these straitjackets and move into something like normality. One of his aims is a normal relationship with a woman and there are several potential targets in sight: his therapist Clarissa, struggling to relieve him of his demons, Zandy, the beguiling assistant in the chemist's shop, and Elizabeth, selling apartments in his street.

But his compulsions are only one of his problems; his neighbour Bob has been murdered and Daniel is in the frame for the crime. The attention of the media seems set to keep him living an abnormal life for quite some time, which might undercut his hopes of winning the "Most Average American" competition.

Novels by comedians can often collapse into a series of one-liners, and while there are some zingers here, Martin is a real novelist--this quirky black comedy has both a solidly realised structure and a sharply etched cast. Daniel is a wonderfully characterised anti-hero--a natural, perhaps, for Martin himself to play when the inevitable movie is made. --Barry Forshaw

THE TIMES
'Martin' s prose shows that he still has comic talent to burn.'

Review
'Martin' s prose shows that he still has comic talent to burn.' (THE TIMES )

'Witty, wry, clever and ultimately uplifting, this is a work of real talent.' (SHE )

'This svelte and wickedly funny novel.' (DAILY MAIL )

'a string of entertaining, Martin-style riffs about a retarded man trying to get a date.' (THE INDEPENDENT )

'The poised prose and acute humour make this an immensely entertaining, laugh-out-loud funny read.' (THE OBSERVER )

''Don't miss out on an extraordinary outing.' (DUBLIN EVENING HERALD )

'A gentle tale with the premise that no man is an island.' (THE SCOTSMAN )

Customer Reviews

Absorbing, touching and hilarious...
A couple of days ago, I was sat on a train from Edinburgh to London for 5 hours. It was hot and cramped, and there were so many screaming children on board it sounded more like a zoo. But I didn't much care or even notice, because I had this book! It absorbed me from page 1. The characters are fabulous and the vivid, cringe-worthy descriptions of surprisingly believable situations had me suppressing snorts of laughter and drawing alarmed looks from the fellow passengers of Coach D. It manages to be a touching description of a man with a potentially life-altering mental illness at the same time as being a love story, a slapstick comedy and a self-effacing look at American culture. Maybe it's just because the words of Steve Martin are so distinctive, but I think this would make a wonderful film.

Just brilliant
This is the kind of book that you can read all in one go. Preferably on a Sunday afternoon when it's raining. It's brilliantly written, but although some have said it to be laugh out loud funny, I think the true strength of this novel is Martin's ability to make you fall in love with a crazy, and probably very annoying, man. You can't help but be captured by Daniel. I finished this with a little sob, glad for the character and Martin but kind of disappointed that my time with them was over.

"This all started because of a clerical error"
These the words printed on the reverse of quite simply the best book I've ever read.

Being a student I don’t have much time to read, or more
realistically, don’t want to. I have been a huge fan of Steve Martin's films for a long time now, "Bowfinger" being my favourite. So, I thought I'd try out one of his books. This book is brilliant, witty, ingenious and extremely clever. It has opened my eyes to the joy of reading, as I am currently reading another of his books "Pure Drivel". The storyline is based around a neurotic 30 something year old male who is torn between 3 women, each extremely different, beautiful in their own way. Being very shy he finds various different ways to see them, without the torment of having to ask them out. It follows his weird and wonderful journey as he gets to know them better, encountering endless obstacles, such as the dreaded kerb, and the much feared light bulb!

Beautiful storyline, superb humour, good job it all started because of a clerical error!