It Chooses You [Hardcover]

Miranda July (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 15, 2011 | ISBN-10: 9781936365012 | ISBN-13: 978-1936365012

In the summer of 2009, Miranda July was struggling to finish writing the screenplay for her much-anticipated second film. During her increasingly long lunch breaks, she began to obsessively read the PennySaver, the iconic classifieds booklet that reached everywhere and seemed to come from nowhere. Who was the person selling the “Large leather Jacket, $10”? It seemed important to find out—or at least it was a great distraction from the screenplay.

Accompanied by photographer Brigitte Sire, July crisscrossed Los Angeles to meet a random selection of PennySaver sellers, glimpsing thirteen surprisingly moving and profoundly specific realities, along the way shaping her film, and herself, in unexpected ways.

Elegantly blending narrative, interviews, and photographs with July’s off-kilter honesty and deadpan humor, this is a story of procrastination and inspiration, isolation and connection, and grabbing hold of the invisible world.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Voted a "Can't Miss Read for December 2011" by Oprah Magazine.

"July, an artist, writer, performer and film-maker who creates work 'about people trying to connect in one way or another and the importance of that' has moved from casual wondering to something substantive and extraordinary."
—Hermione Hoby, the Guardian

About the Author

Miranda July is the author of No One Belongs Here More Than You, winner of the Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award. Her writing has appeared in The New Yorker, Harper’s, and The Paris Review. July wrote, directed, and starred in the film Me and You and Everyone We Know, which won a special jury prize at the Sundance Film Festival and the Camera d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival. Her second film, The Future, was released this summer.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 208 pages
• Publisher: McSweeney's, Irregulars (November 15, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 9781936365012
• ISBN-13: 978-1936365012
• ASIN: 1936365014
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (27 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #183,234 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars I'd say it's a tour de force but I don't know what that means... November 16, 2011

By Tal Rico

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

Before buying this book, I think you have to consider that it is inherently weaker when viewed as a stand-alone work. I think the full weight of the book (and title) is realized when it is taken as a companion piece to the author's recent film "The Future."

That being said, I think this book is definitely worth buying but also, definitely worth reading after seeing the movie. But, in short, this book is an eccentric, and somewhat enviable, exercise in procrastination. Miranda July, in an effort to avoid working on a looming screenplay, pushes herself beyond the normal, typically fruitless and non-constructive StumbleUpon sessions most of us fill our time with. She picks up a copy of the local PennySaver and looks to the classifieds for some sort of cosmic understanding through the mundane or curious items listed and the people who are selling them. A narrative ties all of the interviews together and lends some insight as to what compels the author to continue conducting interviews.
Because it's mostly handled with wit and saddled with the author's neuroses it doesn't come across as pedantic or preachy, she only seems to be looking for some practical enlightenment. Really, though, it's more a story of the journey than anything she may have learned through it. Still, like all of Miranda July's work, it feels poignant and significant and I can never quite say why. I do know that I feel somehow fulfilled whenever I read her books, watch her movies or browse her website.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars One of a kind December 12, 2011

By Kathleen Sara

Format:Hardcover

There is one thing I've learned while reading Miranda July's stories, they are all 'one of a kind'.

It didn't take me long to finish this beautiful little book, "It Chooses You", but once I did I wanted to read it all over again. These are the poignant stories of people who could live right next door to you, or maybe they're about you, yourself.

Another thing I learned, Miranda faces realities in her creative mind that most of us avoid looking at. She's witty, she's humble, she's honest....and she makes me cry.....and I can't give you the answers to her posed questions about life, other than to say, you have to read Miranda July's stories to find your own answers to this conundrum we call life....she is definitely one of a kind, as is this book.

22 of 31 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Not quite January 9, 2012

By Teragram

Format:Hardcover

I eagerly anticipated this book's arrival to my local library for weeks--because the concept is intriguing. I was disappointed, however, with the execution of this concept. The author seemed far more interested in how each encounter could be used to tell the audience something about herself, rather than telling each individual's story. Many times it seemed like the author enjoyed portraying these characters negatively....for example, the woman holding the small feline, photographed with her belly hanging out...I bet she would have liked the author to have used a photo that did not expose her belly. Or for the author not to devote a page and a half making it clear that she was disgusted by the ambrosia salad she spent hours making. What could have been an opportunity to tell the stories of these individuals who placed ads in the PennySaver turned out to be a collection of unkind vignettes that illuminated very little about the individuals interviewed, and revealed little of substance about the author. These are real people. I hope none of those featured in this book pick up a copy.