Rating: 
Summary: Great Book
Review: "Pleasure of My Company" is a great book that detours from Steve Martin's previous territory but is still very witty. I found it fun and entertaining.
Rating: 
Summary: A beautiful novella by Steve Martin...
Review: Steve Martin is perhaps my all-time favorite comedian, and he has been for quite some time. He stole that personal rank after I watched his best film, "Planes, Trains and Automobiles," a film that also solidified my love for John Candy, and the first comedy of the 80s starring two comedians (not exactly known for great films) that proved to me that sometimes you shouldn't judge a film by its cover.What makes me prefer Steve Martin to someone like Jim Carrey or Chris Farley (who I despise), is that he actually relies on pure humor and old-fashioned comedic talent. But he ALSO does slapstick physical humor very well -- watch him run in "Planes..." and you'll laugh yourself silly! Yes, Martin is also very smart in real life, quite shy and an adamant collector of rare arts. There's a lot of quality and beauty lurking within his soul, and it is all unleashed in "The Pleasure of My Company," which isn't as laugh-out-loud hilarious as it is touching and uplifting. Daniel Pecan Cambridge is 29, 31, 33, or 35, depending on how he feels on a given day. (His real age is revealed at the closing of the book.) Daniel has obsessive-compulsive disorder, and this novel -- told through a first person narrative -- is essentially Daniel's journal and memoirs, beautifully written by Steve Martin in a simple, elegant, fast, and amazingly smart fashion. (I also noticed that the paragraphs had a space in between them, something not usually done in novels.) Because I missed out on Martin's first novella, "Shopgirl," I saw "The Pleasure of My Company" at my local commissary and was eager to read it soon. The book is only 162 pages long (not counting the acknowledgements and so on), and so I read it in about a day -- but it's a very good book. Not quite as rude or laugh-out-loud as one might expect, this is truly a beautiful book that Martin has written. And although he nails obsessive-compulsive disorder perfectly, with the character coming off a bit like Nic Cage's in "Matchstick Men," he doesn't poke fun -- it's the story of a restrained, lonely man who learns to open up to the world. Beautiful.
Rating:
Summary: Great Insight into OCD
Review: In 2001, Wired Magazine published an article entitled, "The Geek Syndrome" about a surge in the number of Silicon Valley kids diagnosed with autism in the late 1990s. Steve Martin's "The Pleasure of My Company" is a wonderful little book where the main character suffers from a another kind of brain disease along the same disorder spectrum called Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). The book is much more than that though. It is also about the meaning of friendship and family; how a true friend is a friend regardless of the accompanying troubles associated with the relationship and how family can exhibit examples of both extraordinary kindness and heart-stopping hatefulness. Although the topic is serious, Martin injects enough humor and happiness into the story to make it a light-hearted read and along the way, you learn a lot about what an OCD sufferer must go through.
OCD is easy to define but it manifests in an infinite number of ways. An obsession is a thought, idea, impulse, or image that
seems intrusive or senseless to the patient. A compulsion is a repetitive behavior designed to reduce or stop the obsession
or the anxiety caused by the obsession. People with OCD are aware of the bizarre nature of their Obsessions and Compulsions. Trying to stop them though causes extreme anxiety and prevents them from doing so. Martin tells the story through the viewpoint of Dan Cambridge, an intelligent man who is unemployable because of his OCD. Dan lives alone in a one room apartment in Santa Monica, California. Dan's OCD has caused an "escalating self-imposed narrow
corridor of behavioral possibilities" in his life. The chief inhibitor in Dan's life is his problem negotiating curbs.
Because of this he can barely get himself to the local Rite-Aid to buy necessities and he spends many hours alone dealing
with his obsessions and compulsions. Much of the first part of the book comes from the intersection of Dan's strange life and the lives of his fellow neighbors. Martin never moves into the heads of the neighbors. When Dan does something that is
obviously strange, Martin lets it sit there like an elephant in the living room. The reader is left to imagine the thoughts
of the other characters as they react to Dan's behavior. My son has struggled with OCD for years and in my opinion Martin nails the symptoms and the struggles that people with OCD
encounter. He must have some experience with the disorder because he accurately describes how OCD can debilitate a person to the point of not being able to function. He shows that the OCD sufferer, although hampered by this illness, is not crazy and often has a unique sense of humor about the strangeness of it all. One of the more fascinating compulsions for Dan is his
penchant for constructing elaborate magic squares; those matrices of rows and columns filled with numbers that sum to the same number at the end of each row and column. Dan's one lifeline is his Grandmother from Texas who seems to understand Dan's plight at the raw emotional level. Her death
and Dan's subsequent trip to his Grandmother's house, closes a chapter in Dan's life and opens up new possibilities for the
future. I highly recommend this book to anyone who knows a person afflicted with OCD. This is not a depressing book. It is funny. It is also sad but it is encouraging and has a happy ending. It will give you insight into how that person suffers daily. It has been difficult explaining my son's odd behaviors to friends and family. From now on, I will just hand them a copy of Mr. Martin's book.
Rating:
Summary: A Little Piece of Steve Martin
Review: I have read and watched most of Steve Martin's stuff and my favorite two books to date are: "Shopgirl" - the best - how he can write with a woman's perspective is awesome, and "The Pleasure of My Company" - the way he uses words to describe! I want to find out what Daniel Cambirdge is up to now - or probably the better way to say it: what he is thinking now! When I read these two books, I felt like I got a little piece of Steve Martin and it gives me the chills.
Rating:
Summary: A Tremendously Tender and Funny Story
Review: In SHOPGIRL, Steve Martin proved he could write a good, engaging novel. In THE PLEASURE OF MY COMPANY, Martin proves he can tell a great story! Daniel Pecan Cambridge wants what everyone wants: love. As the title suggests, Daniel spends a great deal of time alone. He lives out his days almost exclusively in his antiseptic, highly organized Santa Monica apartment. He ventures out only if he can navigate the 8-inch-high curbs he fears and avoid gas station attendants in blue hats. Daniel has obsessive-compulsive disorder. His search for love fills the book. It sends him to the local Rite Aid via a safe route to ogle Zandy, the young blond behind the counter: "The Rite Aid is the axle around which my squeaky world turns, I find myself there two or three days a week seeking out the rare household item such as cheesecloth." He dilly-dallies, checking out earplugs and "liquid-filled shoe inserts that claim to prevent varicose veins" while watching Zandy from afar. Killing time he even enters a contest: the Tepperton's Apple Pie Most Average American Essay Contest --- not once, but twice. Once as Daniel Pecan Cambridge and the other time as "Lenny Burns." The love search also sends him across the street to the polished Elizabeth, a real estate agent dealing with condos in his neighborhood. Daniel is obsessed with her, and fabricates meaningful exchanges out of experiences that are as mundane as passing each other on the street. He asks himself how he should talk to her: "Act like myself," he suggests. And then we peek into the workings of his mind. Rejected by Mensa (a clerical error, he estimates), he ponders the expression "Act like myself." "Let's say my shopping list consists of two items: soy sauce and talcum powder. Soy sauce and talcum powder could not be more dissimilar. So here's my point. This question I'm flipping around --- what it means to act like myself --- is related to the soy sauce issue. Soy and talc are mutually exclusive. Soy is not talc, and vice versa. I am not someone else, someone else is not me. Yet we're available in the same store. The store of existence. This is how I think, which vividly illustrates Mensa's loss." And vividly illustrates Martin's talent. Elizabeth and Daniel do eventually speak in Daniel's plot to get to know her, but he inflates the significance of their "relationship" in his mind so much so that when he turns his affections elsewhere, Steve Martin, in a beautifully descriptive and funny passage, compares Clarissa (his new object of affection) to Elizabeth: "She reflected light; Elizabeth sucked it up. Clarissa was a sunburst; Elizabeth a moon pie. So now my preoccupation with Elizabeth became a post-occupation as I turned my Cyclops eye onto Clarissa. Yes, I would always love Elizabeth in some way, and one day we would be able to see each other again but it was too soon right now. Better to let her handle her own pain, with her own friends, in her own way. But Elizabeth was at fault here. She had destroyed whatever was between us by making a profound gaffe: she met me." And then love sends Daniel to Texas, to the home of his family, and it's there that we discover the genesis of Daniel's disorder and that he is in fact capable of true unconditional love. It is no wonder that he wins the "Most Average American" contest --- not once, but twice. Despite his debilitating disorder he is the average Joe. And Steve Martin has written a tremendously tender and comic story about being that average Joe who counts ceiling tiles, adds up the household light bulb wattages, and harbors a host of other protective defenses and rituals rendered funny with Martin's clever pen. --- Reviewed by Roberta O'Hara
Rating: 
Summary: Good Screenplay Masquerading As An Adequate Book
Review: It was with mild anticipation and strong curiosity that I bought The Pleasure of My Company. I've found Steve Martin's comedy, theatre, and film work to be enjoyable, which made me eager to explore his writing endeavors. In the end though, I found the book to be a lot like Martin's recent films: pleasant, but not memorable. The strength of the book lies in the characterization of Daniel Pecan Cambridge. Thanks to some strong narration, Martin makes Cambridge so alive that even the rationalizations for his behavior seem somewhat logical. This strength is augmented by Martin's easygoing writing style, which allows Cambridge's story to move effortlessly from one situation to another. However, what undercuts these strengths is Martin's inability to delve into Cambridge's and the secondary characters' emotions beyond a perfunctory level. Because of this lack of depth, even the more outlandish scenes (like Cambridge's essay and his attempts to seduce Elizabeth) come across as either mildly humorous or mildly frustrating. This weakness, combined with a much too rushed ending, leaves the reader feeling somewhat dissatisfied with what could be a fascinating story. The Pleasure of My Company will probably make a good movie. In fact, I thought I was reading a screenplay treatment instead of a novel. But, situations and emotions which can be fleshed out by actors need to be detailed when they are put into a book. It is in this area that The Pleasure of My Company falls short. It was a mildly enjoyable read; but, in the future, I think I'll stick to Martin's other endeavors.
Rating:
Summary: Martin's is a Weird, Deep Mind
Review: I like Steve Martin. I like his movies, particularly ones such as LA Story and Bowfinger which give you a view on how he views the world. "Pleasure" is like this but on a much different scope. We sometimes view celebrities as having it all together but reading this book gives you a view of the insecurities and depth of Steve Martin's mind. But in the end I must be entertained. I found the first part of the book slow and slightly confusing. But after the set-up, the character development is excellent as you search for the subjects that you most identify with. And, of course, Martin's dry-witted humor is sprinkled throughout and quite entertaining. By the end of the book you are emotionally attached to the characters and enjoy the contrived, happy ending. While I was not bowled over by the book, I did enjoy it. It is a very short read.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful!
Review: Having been a huge fan of Steve Martin's comedic stylings I was bowled over by this book. His keen observations and hilarious descriptions of events and people had me in tears at several points and at others I wanted to weep in sympathy for the hero of the book. I have since read Shopgirl and found it to be nearly as entertaining but in a different way. I hope Steve Martin continues to write and hope he will one day write a full-length novel to prolong the fun!
Rating:
Summary: A sympathetic character
Review: I love a book where there is so much care given the careful choice of words, the construction of a sentence, the irony of a situation, and the love of the characters. Daniel Cambridge is the unusual subject and teller of his own story, that of an obsessive-compulsive man looking for a meaningful relationship and life from a base in his Santa Monica apartment. Daniel lives much of his life vicariously, but eventually ventures out of his fantasies and into the world. Steve Martin has written a well crafted tale with wit and great observation of what it is to be human.
Rating:
Summary: I now see the Rite Aid and Kinko's in a sweet manner
Review: I bought the Pleasure of My Company on audiotape. Steve Martin narrating the book brought the character, Daniel to life. It was like listening to the "secret neurotic thoughts of Steve Martin." Steve makes Daniel, a character you want to root and cheer on -- a true underdog. Daniel can be seen as strange and borderline creepy but he brings in such detailed logic of why "he does what he does" that I understand his fears. I myself can not step off curbs or turn on lights without thinking of Daniel. I love the fact that Steve uses common stores like Rite Aid and Kinkos as a central part of Daniel's day. I took away from this book realizing we are all human and to some point, we are all a bit common, but we all have a story and hopefully, a happy ending.
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