Steve Martin is a talented guy. He’s had a successful stand-up comedy and acting career since the 1970s; he’s written/co-written funny screenplays like The Jerk, Three Amigos, and L.A. Story; he’s published novels and written a Broadway musical; he’s an avid art collector and he plays a mean banjo; he’s won five Grammys, an Emmy, and a host of other awards. Throw in that stint performing magic on Main Street in Disneyland and you can say he’s lived a highly successful life. So, I feel kind of okay about bashing on this book a little bit, because I think he can take it.
The Pleasure of My Company is about a troubled man named Daniel Pecan Cambridge who lives in Santa Monica. Daniel has severe OCD and much of the plot revolves around that though, to be honest, I also thought he was on the autism spectrum. The novel is told in first-person perspective, and Daniel never indicates what might be “wrong” with him, other than that he has lots of rules he has to follow, such as planning his routes so that he never has to step down from a curb. The cast of characters in Daniel’s life includes Philipa, the actress who lives upstairs, and Brian, Philipa’s boyfriend; Elizabeth, a real-estate agent whom Daniel has never met yet but on whom he is allegedly in love; Zandy, the pharmacist at Rite Aid and another crush; Clarissa, a psychologist-in-training who meets with Daniel a couple of times a week. He tries to get personal with her and learn more about her, but she keeps the relationship professional. The novel traces Daniel’s interactions with these characters as he navigates life with his condition.
This novel didn’t hit any emotional notes as far as I am concerned. It is written to amuse, but it didn’t elicit a single chuckle from me. Daniel strikes me as a stereotypical “nice guy,” but the reader is expected to overlook his romantic obsession with every female in his life on account of his struggles with his OCD/autism. In the end he gets a happy ending which, frankly, is in no way earned. At 163 pages, the author could have dedicated a bit more ink to developing a believable plot line in which Daniel’s relationship with a woman develops; instead it’s tacked on with the assumption that readers like a happy ending so let’s give Daniel a break and hook him up. Honestly, this novel reads like Martin had a deadline to meet so he churned it out over a free weekend.
Ah well, I suppose I’ll just drop this book off in a Little Free Library and listen to some bluegrass instead.
