The Pleasure of my Company
‘An immensely entertaining, laugh-out-loud funny read'
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- 25,00 kr
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- 25,00 kr
Publisher Description
'Martin' s prose shows that he has comic talent to burn' The Times
'It's like reading PG Wodehouse on acid or Monty Python on Valium: calmly surreal . . . innocent and playful, original and funny - a lot of fun' Observer
Daniel Pecan Cambridge is a young man whose life is rich and full, provided he never leaves his apartment. Outside there are 8-inch-high curbs and the possibility of seeing a gas station attendant wearing a blue hat. So, apart from occasional visits to Zandy, shop assistant at his local pharmacy and potentially his perfect woman, Daniel stays home a lot.
But then - Bob from downstairs is murdered. Daniel, finding himself a suspect, agrees to a TV reconstruction of the murder inquiry, which looks set to backfire.
The chronicle of a modern-day neurotic yearning to break free, The Pleasure of My Company is filled with Steve Martin's trademark humour, tenderness, and out and out hilarious wordplay.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Martin's first novella, Shopgirl (2000), was a revelation, a compassionate yet cool, meticulously crafted tale of a young woman's affair with an older, successful man not what most readers were expecting from the famed comic actor and author of Pure Drivel. Martin's second novella continues the enjoyment, offering another story with a conscience, one funnier than Shopgirl but put together just as smartly, if very differently. Martin forgoes the distanced omniscient narration of Shopgirl by plunking readers into the head of one the odder yet more charming protagonists in recent fiction, Daniel Pecan Cambridge, a gentle soul suffering from a mild mix of autism and obsessive-compulsive disorder. Daniel, 33, lives in a rundown Santa Monica apartment, his life constricted by an armor of defensive habit (all the lightbulbs in his apartment must equal 1,125 watts; he can't step over curbs so can cross streets only where two opposing driveways align, etc.), his dull days punctuated only by imagined romances and visits by his student social worker, lovely and kind Clarissa. Daniel's ways (a product of child abuse, Martin shows with subtlety) are challenged when Clarissa and her infant son, Teddy, move in to escape an abusive husband; when Daniel wins a contest as "Most Average American" and must give a speech to claim the $5,000 prize; and when his beloved grandmother dies, sending him on a road trip of discovery back home. This novella is a delight, embodying a satisfying story arc, a jeweler's eye for detail, intelligent pacing and a clean, sturdy prose style. What's most remarkable about it, though, is its tenderness, a complex mix of wit, poignancy and Martin's clear, great affection for his characters. Many readers are going to love this brief, big-hearted book.