Recently read: No one belongs here more than you

[Originally published at the now defunct group blog explananda.com]

Miranda July. No one belongs here more than you

The phrase “no one belongs here more than you” is just hyperbolic enough that it’s hard to imagine it being said sincerely to anyone who actually belongs. It’s a fitting title for this collection of short stories about socially isolated, often sexually dysfunctional, depressed, obsessive compulsive misfits. Running through all the pieces, whether they’re narrated in the first or the third person, is the same creepy sensibility and manner of expression. I don’t know if that means that July isn’t terribly good as a writer at going beyond a single voice, or whether it means that she’s able to brilliantly explore a sensibility through a series of different characters. In any case, this book was as difficult to put down as it was disturbing.

Comments

Author: ben wolfson
Date: 2008-12-13

Also, the cover design is praiseworthy.

Author: Chris
Date: 2008-12-13

It is. It’s vaguely Universal-Bibliothekish.

Author: ben wolfson
Date: 2008-12-13

I got a lot of pleasure out of the fact that different copies are different colors.

Author: Chris
Date: 2008-12-14

Ah. I did not know that.

Author: Chris
Date: 2008-12-14

That they’re different colours, that is. Not that you get pleasure from that fact - though I did not know that either.