This Tuesday was very exciting for me. Some good things happened. You have to hold onto days like that when sometimes you might feel persecuted by fate.
Then Zach Sampinos chooses to surprise you. If you have ever met him, he is a quiet guy, but I tell you don't underestimate him. As moderator of the Hard Boiled Book Club, this week he had a Miranda July Trivia Competition with prizes. Luckily, completely by chance, I had done some googling of July online this afternoon. So guess who rocked the Trivia competition? Yes it was moi. I won a copy of Me You and Everyone We Know on DVD, which was very spiffy. In 2005 I fell in love with the film which she wrote, directed, and starred. It was a wonderful surprise. Again folks if you live in the SLC area and are looking for a fun book club (with occasional prizes!) I urge you to drop on by. Details can be found here.
This month's book club centered around Miranda July's No One Belongs Here More Than You. This was actually a re-read for me. I initially read it when it was released in 2007 because I'm interested by July's mix of emotional truth and offbeat sensibilities. She is an artist who has a very original view of the world that is rooted in her entire being. This bleeds through in all her work. It doesn't feel calculated or posed. Call me naive but I think it's for real.
This time around I was impressed more by the raw honesty that permeates this collection of short stories. Every page is full of complex emotional truth that can be overwhelming and somewhat depressing. The main theme of these stories is the need to be loved, even if it's not in a healthy relationship. There's also a fair share of self-deception and solipsism in her characters. As some of the fellow book-clubbers pointed out the characters were often unlikeable or fair too quirky. I think that this is by design. July writes in a stream of consciousness, first person narrative style that emphasizes the characters self-centered mentalities. I believe that July's message is that it is because of this selfishness that the characters cannot build the relationships that will make them happy and loved. These characters are not supposed to be successful due to their own emotional self-destruction.
Noticeably my favorite characters were the least selfish. Particularly the lead characters in "Swim Team" "Something that Needs Nothing" and "The Sister" find power after laying open their own hearts. I think that July is at her best when she allows her characters to be awkward and vulnerable without being solipsistic. Miranda July's characters are so unafraid to be human, it hurts. But from the pain, magic emerges, and in that magic is the essence of what it means to be human. Again I honestly feel that their is real human emotion on every page.
Have a great week! Book Slave.
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