The Pleasure Of My Company
âI understood that as much as I had resisted the outside, as much as I had constricted my life, as much as I had closed and narrowed the channels into me, there were still many takers for the quiet heart.â Steve Martin
Steve Martinâs âThe Pleasure of My Companyâ came to me as a gift from a friend (Thanks @robbbyking ) and I couldnât be happier that I got a chance to giggle a little with it. As someone who is absolutely new to Martinâs writing, this was the most pleasant surprise of all. A story about a young man who has found incomparable comfort in his own construct of a Santa Monica life. Whether it is in confines of his apartment or his distance from the 8 inch curb he has traced all the way to the nearest Rite Aid, he is convinced he is safe.
The Pleasure of My Company is the chronicle of a modern-day neurotic, Daniel Pecan Cambridge, yearning to break free. This extreme but hilariously narrated case of neurosis is a constant undercurrent of the book. As Daniel describes it - âwalking in a self-imposed narrow corridor of behavioral possibilitiesâ . He canât handle crowds or public transport, worries about billboards that donât contain palindromes or names that canât function as anagrams. Odd at first but towards the end of this book, the reader tends to start yearning for those interesting hooks. I became an instant fan of the intelligent pacing and a clean, sturdy prose style.
If youâre looking for an enjoyable read, I strongly recommend picking up a copy so you can really cherish spending time with this lovable odd duck, as I did. I donât think this will be the last Steve Martin book Iâll read.