Reception
In his review in the New York Times, John Lanchester called it an "elegant, bleak, desolatingly sad first novella" and added, "The prose here is sometimes flat . . . the happy ending feels as if it has wandered in from somewhere else; and there is a touching confidence in the efficacy of self-help books. But there is nonetheless an impressive gravity about Shopgirl. Its glints of comedy are sharp and dry . . . The novella has an edge to it, and a deep, unassuageable loneliness. Steve Martin's most achieved work to date may well have the strange effect of making people glad not to be Steve Martin."
Sienna Powers of January Magazine said "Shopgirl is the work of a mature, self-possessed writer . . . Martin infuses his story with a dark verve that is his own. The author's tone is at once blasé and gentle and in the novella's 130 pages, he quietly presents us with a cast of characters that it's difficult not to care about."
In Entertainment Weekly, Margot Mifflin graded the book B with the comment, "Once you adjust to his newfound sincerity, Martin's shift from public follies to private frailties registers as courageous and convincing. If only he'd fleshed out his supporting cast, this would be Pure Gold."
The book entered the New York Times list of bestsellers at #6 on October 29, 2000. It peaked at #4 and remained on the list for fifteen weeks.
Read more about this topic: Shopgirl (novella)
Famous quotes containing the word reception:
“To the United States the Third World often takes the form of a black woman who has been made pregnant in a moment of passion and who shows up one day in the reception room on the forty-ninth floor threatening to make a scene. The lawyers pay the woman off; sometimes uniformed guards accompany her to the elevators.”
—Lewis H. Lapham (b. 1935)
“He’s leaving Germany by special request of the Nazi government. First he sends a dispatch about Danzig and how 10,000 German tourists are pouring into the city every day with butterfly nets in their hands and submachine guns in their knapsacks. They warn him right then. What does he do next? Goes to a reception at von Ribbentropf’s and keeps yelling for gefilte fish!”
—Billy Wilder (b. 1906)
“To aim to convert a man by miracles is a profanation of the soul. A true conversion, a true Christ, is now, as always, to be made by the reception of beautiful sentiments.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)