"The Pleasure of My Company," by Steve Martin,
Hyperion Press, 2003
163 pages.
Audiobook on Audible.com: 4 hours, 45 minutes.
Although Steve Martin does not actually use the phrase, obsessive-compulsive disorder is the lens through which the world is seen in "The Pleasure of My Company."
The hero (and it is worth noting here that the main character really is very heroic, in his own very neurotic way, if only in his own mind) of this book, Daniel Pecan Cambridge, is so crippled by self-imposed rules and fears that, for him, ordinary tasks like answering his mail or going to the store or even crossing the street are Homeric sagas.
Cambridge starts his story by explaining that MENSA, the self-congratulatory organization for geniuses, has obviously made a clerical error on the IQ test he has submitted for admission, leaving a digit off his score. Obviously, the result should read 185. Cambridge hopes to use his impending MENSA membership to impress the woman of his dreams. The particular woman of his dreams changes regularly, depending on how she fits into the stringent framework of his life. His life, you see, is governed by strict rules: the lights burning in his apartment should always add up to a particular wattage and he can only cross the street where there are opposing, scooped-out driveways, for instance. Obviously, this sort of thing puts huge restrictions on his life, to say nothing of his love life.
The other looming issue in Cambridge's life is his submission in an essay contest sponsored by a frozen pie company, explaining why he is "The Most Average American."
By the time the reader has gotten very far into "The Pleasure of My Company," Cambridge has explained himself so thoroughly that he really does seem average. Martin has done a wonderful job of putting a reader so completely inside Daniel Pecan Cambridge's head that the world seems to take on a new warmth and clarity, albeit a neurotic and panicked one.
"The Pleasure of My Company" is simply one of the funniest books I have "read" in a very long time. I use quotation marks because I listened to the audiobook version of this novel over the course of a week on my commute to and from work. As read by the author, it is enormously engaging. Although I rarely laugh when I am by myself, no matter how funny the joke, I laughed aloud on three separate occasions while listening to Martin read his book.
Admittedly, there is a slightly uncomfortable, there-but-for-the-grace-of-God edge to the humor. Perhaps I find it so funny because I can empathize entirely with Daniel Pecan Cambridge. Perhaps less neurotic people will not find his life so sympathetic.
"The Pleasure of My Company" is not for a reader searching for answers to deep questions, or a strong plot. The joy of this book is entirely in its rhythm and internal logic. However, in its own twisted, convoluted way, this is a feel-good book. Cambridge manages to reach accommodations with the world and his life does move forward, though never in a straight line. Reading about it left me warm and happy.
