A Review of Steve Martin’s Unusual An Object of Beauty

I don’t really know for how long, but I’ve been a pretty big Steve Martin fan. His quirky humor fascinates me, and I enjoy watching Planes, Trains and Automobiles every time I get a chance to watch it. When he wrote a novel, I knew I had to read it. Then he wrote some more, and I still hadn’t read it. It took a while for me to pick one of them up.

An Object of Beauty
By Steve Martin

Review

Steve Martin managed to create a character that I loved to dislike. Lacey Yeager was opportunistic, conniving and just plain rude, but I enjoyed reading her entire story as told by her sad sack guy friend from college.

Overall, Martin crafted an entertaining and unique story. The book is about art in that Lacey is an opportunistic art dealer and her friend a freelance art writer. Throughout the book we’re treated to color reproductions of the art mentioned in the story. I really enjoyed this because I didn’t have to either remember what a certain painting looked like or Google the ones I’d never heard of.

Rating

Writing 4 out of 5 stars

Martin has a particular writing style that was clear throughout.

Character Development 4 out of 5 stars

Lacey was very unlikable. As I mentioned, I liked that. I also enjoyed that I wasn’t quilted into liking her in the end. She wasn’t misunderstood. She didn’t have a rough childhood. She was just all-around very unlikable.

Storytelling 4 out of 5 stars

I found the story very fascinating. It flowed along smoothly, providing enough hints and revealing enough details to make me wonder how it would end, but still be in the dark about some of the story up until the end.

Total 4 out of 5 stars 

Have you read any of Steve Martin’s work? What did you think?