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4.04 AVERAGE
4.04 AVERAGE
An account of July interviewing people selling items in the PennySaver while putting off finishing a script. I don't think July's writing will be for everyone but I really enjoyed this. To be fair, I mostly really enjoyed the premise and reading the different vignettes about the PennySavers but July's commentary and philosophic writing provided a good framework. This is nonfiction (narrative nonfiction?) but her style would definitely lend to modern fiction stories and it almost reads as such. It was a short book, not necessarily a light read but it made me less intimidated to read more by this author in the future for sure.
(I do really want to see her movies now)
(I do really want to see her movies now)
Phoenix got me this book from the library. part behind-the-scenes memoir, part random interviews with people chosen from the pennysaver classifieds. much of it was like reading a long-form "Found' magazine. as such, I loved it. and everything was told with miranda July's signature rambling quirkiness, but much easier to digest than her novel that I could never finish. then in the last chapter, the randomness finds purpose and closure out of nowhere, providing a very satisfying conclusion. I really want to watch the movie it's about now. good stuff, I would like to own this one.
3.5 - fajna lektura na leniwy wieczór. Ale nie jest to wielka literatura.
This book captured so much for me it is hard to put into words. It is both nothing special and everything. It made me reflect on the thing I love most about my job - getting to meet so many different and unique people each with their own stories. The stories in this book both devastated me and brought me joy and were everything that’s the best and the worst about the world and being alive and Miranda July just gets me.
those who are wary of getting into miranda july may want to start here
emotional
funny
reflective
sad
What a wonderful, interesting, creepy, disturbing book. There's a real familiarity to her circumstances—being stuck with one project, and following the thread of another interest in hope that it will guide you out of the darkness. I also appreciated her loving and respectful (albeit a little distant) attitude toward her subjects. Errol Morris does similar work with unusual folk who live around the edges of society, but his tone always feels more judgmental; Michael Moore famously interviews outliers, but can be downright cruel. Some of the writing is lovely, and the truth is so naked, I felt embarrassed at times. A fine, obsessive read about a finely-calibrated, obsessive soul and her work.
emotional
funny
reflective
fast-paced
Gobble. Gobble. Gobble. Finished. This book didn’t stand a chance once I started. Miranda July lives in LA and is trying to finish a screenplay but can’t seem to concentrate on its completion. She is distracted by, then obsessed with, the Pennysaver. She contacts, interviews, and photographs some of the people who are selling items in the Pennysaver ( e.g., Large Suitcase, Glendale; Care Bears, Bell; Conair Hair Dryer, Sun Valley.) The book introduces us to an assemblage of people while capturing the final chapters of the Pennysaver era.
Here is a quote I like….
“We had to winnow life down so we knew where to put our tenderness and attention; and that was a good, sweet thing. But together or alone, we were still embedded in a kaleidoscope, ruthlessly varied and continuous, until the end of the end. I knew I would forget this within the hour, and then remember, and forget, and remember. Each time I remembered it would be a tiny miracle, and forgetting was just as important — I had to believe in my own story.”
― Miranda July, It Chooses You
Here is a quote I like….
“We had to winnow life down so we knew where to put our tenderness and attention; and that was a good, sweet thing. But together or alone, we were still embedded in a kaleidoscope, ruthlessly varied and continuous, until the end of the end. I knew I would forget this within the hour, and then remember, and forget, and remember. Each time I remembered it would be a tiny miracle, and forgetting was just as important — I had to believe in my own story.”
― Miranda July, It Chooses You
Miranda is one of the best short story writers I've read!