"Shopgirl" protagonist Mirabelle is a quietly beautiful, introverted 28-year-old woman who works at the glove counter in the Neiman Marcus store in Beverly Hills. Of course, she's also an aspiring artist. With few customers stopping to buy gloves, Mirabelle's work day is largely solitary. So are her nights, although her solo social life is occasionally punctuated by visits to art galleries or a rendezvous with Jeremy, a slacker "with a slouch so extreme that he appears to have left his skeleton at home." Then one day a stranger named Ray Porter leaves an expensive pair of gloves (purchased at Neiman's) at Mirabelle's door. There's also a note asking her to have dinner with him.

It turns out Ray Porter is a wealthy, divorced businessman who's almost twice Mirabelle's age. Although he lives in Seattle, he keeps a home in Los Angeles as well. The bulk of "Shopgirl" revolves around Mirabelle and Ray and how their relationship develops, or fails to develop. Martin, however, doesn't tell his story in traditional fictional style. In fact, most of the novella violates the old adage that a writer show SHOW you what a character is doing or feeling, rather than TELL you about it. As a result, "Shopgirl" seems more like a light "essay" on relationships than a traditional novel. At times, Martin's writing resembles a case study by a therapist capable of clever turns of phrase: "Mirabelle participates in several other good coversations throughout the rest of the evening. The thoughtful nature of these exchanges makes her feel that this is exactly what she should be doing and that she couldn't be doing anything better."

Fortunately, this approach is serviceable, partly because of the story's short length (130 pages), and because Martin is indeed capable of clever turns of phrase. In contrasting Jeremy and the story's central character, Martin writes, "He never complicates a desire by overthinking it, unlike Mirabelle, who spins a cocoon around an idea until it is immobile." When Mirabelle tells her mother that she's staying with Ray in a hotel on a visit to New York, her mother says "well" twice, "then, in a modulation of voice so loaded with meaning that only Meryl Streep could duplicate it more than once, adds one more 'well.'"

The narrative of "Shopgirl" sometimes meanders along tangents that are left hanging, such as Mirabelle's father's baggage from his tour of duty in Vietnam. In the end, it leads to a rather predictable coupling and uncoupling of characters.

This slim volume shows us another layer of the creative abilities of Steve Martin. To translate it into acting terms, "Shopgirl" certainly isn't worthy of an Academy Award, but what you see here makes you hope Martin keeps writing.

Grade: B