It's so cute that his name is Socksy!
This is surprising, too. For some reason.
On impulse and because I like Steve Martin, the comedian, when I saw a book on tape by him at the library, written and read aloud by him, I picked it up. Only 3 cassettes, a very short little novel titled Shopgirl.
And it's a good novel! I mean, he can write fiction. It's a serious book, if a minor one. His heart is in it. And he's very smart. Its writing is amateurish here and there, and stating rather than showing is its shortcoming as literature, one he makes into a style, actually; but it is definitely not shlock. It is full of feeling, sentiment, but is not sentimental. It's acute, less simple than it seems, and is a rather brave (in the sense of chance-taking) book for him to have written.
Kind of surprising. I didn't know the book existed. I've seen respectful reviews of much less acute and less true, and more pretentious, books of fiction. I wonder what kind of review it got. Had you ever heard of it?
Is it spelled shlock, or schlock? |
