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A review by beedew
It Chooses You by Miranda July
3.0
3.5 stars.
The interviews July conducted could have been longer. I would have loved more pictures of the people and their homes. Those are my main complaints and each is a request for more.
This is a book that made me feel. July has a gift for accomplishing this. She takes her audience through the spectrum of human emotion in her art, whether it be short stories, film, or performance pieces. She is bold without being manipulative. July's eye for details that reveal a larger truth has always been a guiding force in her work.
She has been criticized for being precious and quirky, but ultimately these criticisms are unfair and inaccurate. To really be successful as an artist, a person must possess a certain amount of self-importance and bravado. July has the bravado. The self-importance is there too, but it is in a fascinating tug of war with a deep sense of humility in the face of the world and the small roles we create. This struggle is the book's saving grace. These interviews, better described as glimpses into the lives of others, could have so easily become exploitive or sentimentalized. July's sense of responsibility in presenting the stories of those she meets is a constant presence in the book. She is consistently harsh with herself when analyzing her interactions with others. She is smart enough to realize she must be a character in these interviews and opens up about all the potential ways her perceptions could interfere with objective journalism. She is not above judgment, but always points her hardest gaze inward. It is in these moments of self-criticism that some of the books most poignant revelations come to fruition. July enters the story adrift and wanders from interview to interview silently pleading for answers to her own creative struggles.
I am not sure if this book was released to stand on its own or if it is meant to be a companion piece to her film, The Future. It works better as the latter and, if that was the intention, I would bump my rating up to four stars. A familiarity with her film (I was familiar with the key plot points and characters but had not viewed it) enriched the reading experience. I wish I had seen the movie before reading It Chooses You. In any case, I will certainly be seeing it now.
The interviews July conducted could have been longer. I would have loved more pictures of the people and their homes. Those are my main complaints and each is a request for more.
This is a book that made me feel. July has a gift for accomplishing this. She takes her audience through the spectrum of human emotion in her art, whether it be short stories, film, or performance pieces. She is bold without being manipulative. July's eye for details that reveal a larger truth has always been a guiding force in her work.
She has been criticized for being precious and quirky, but ultimately these criticisms are unfair and inaccurate. To really be successful as an artist, a person must possess a certain amount of self-importance and bravado. July has the bravado. The self-importance is there too, but it is in a fascinating tug of war with a deep sense of humility in the face of the world and the small roles we create. This struggle is the book's saving grace. These interviews, better described as glimpses into the lives of others, could have so easily become exploitive or sentimentalized. July's sense of responsibility in presenting the stories of those she meets is a constant presence in the book. She is consistently harsh with herself when analyzing her interactions with others. She is smart enough to realize she must be a character in these interviews and opens up about all the potential ways her perceptions could interfere with objective journalism. She is not above judgment, but always points her hardest gaze inward. It is in these moments of self-criticism that some of the books most poignant revelations come to fruition. July enters the story adrift and wanders from interview to interview silently pleading for answers to her own creative struggles.
I am not sure if this book was released to stand on its own or if it is meant to be a companion piece to her film, The Future. It works better as the latter and, if that was the intention, I would bump my rating up to four stars. A familiarity with her film (I was familiar with the key plot points and characters but had not viewed it) enriched the reading experience. I wish I had seen the movie before reading It Chooses You. In any case, I will certainly be seeing it now.