The Pleasure of My Company

Steve Martin, The Pleasure of My Company . New York: Hyperion, 2003. 163 pp.

In his second novel, Steve Martin (yes, the actor) tells the story of the “redemption” of Daniel Pecan Cambridge. Daniel is a narcissistic neurotic so frightened of walking off curbs that he maps out a serpentine route to the Rite Aid (the only store he can get to by a curbless path) to purchase his multiple prescriptions and to ogle the pharmacy clerk, Zandy. Something of an idiot savant, Daniel can also instantly name the day of the week for any given date and work out a 16 x 16 magic square, each row and column of which adds up to 491,384. He begins to break out of his cocoon when he intervenes to help his therapist, Clarissa, and her son Teddy, who are being terrorized by Clarissa’s violent ex, thereby living out a secular version of the dominical saying about giving one’s life in order to save it. There are flaws and character inconsistencies in the novel, and Martin, like many actors, is frequently tempted to sentimentality, especially in the depiction of Teddy. But Martin’s offbeat humor, inventive writing, and basic decency save the book from its moments of melodrama.