It Chooses You - Hardcover

Laden with offbeat, emotionally isolated characters...mordantly funny * * Vogue on No One Belongs Here More Than You * * Weird doesn't begin to cover it, but wonderful (in the literal sense of the word, as in full of wonder) does * * Elle on No One Belongs Here More Than You * * Incredibly charming, beautifully written, frequently laugh-out-loud funny, and even, a dozen or so times, profound -- Dave Eggers on No One Belongs Here More Than You Their stories are weird, touching and, in the case of Ron...unsettling. No less compelling than the characters themselves, though, is July's scrutiny of what she's doing. * * Observer * * The book is amusing...but more than that, it is weirdly heartbreaking. I was touched by the terrible sadness of foundering lives observed up close and sympathetically. * * Herald * * July's empathy and obsession with human connectivity bring real warmth. [It Chooses You] provides an intriguing insight into American society. * * Big Issue * * A moving portrait of 13 LA lives and the writer's own journey, which is made all the more awesome by her hilarious, deadpan writing style. * * Cooler Magazine * *

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 clas-sifieds 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 humour, this is a story of procrastination and inspiration, isolation and connection, and grabbing hold of the invisible world.