No One Belongs Here More Than You Review

Over the tragic winter vacation, I finished No One Belongs Here More Than You, a book of short stories by Miranda July.  This was recommended to me by my friend Eric, who now has two gold stars.

My favorite story in this collection is about a woman who teaches swimming in her kitchen since she doesn't have access to a swimming pool.  Her students lie on the floor to practice their strokes.  They put their faces in bowls of water and turn their heads to breathe.

These stories are short, but their charm is in how much they pack into that space.  July presents moments--brief, brief moments--that fit into and highlight the larger story of the characters' lives.  When Eric recommended this collection, it was in the context of having an immediate problem in a plot, situated in a larger, more chronic problem that existed before the story begins and will continue to exist after the story ends.  The immediate problem affects he chronic one, changing it or how it's viewed, solving it or making it worse.  I started to think about how this concept comes up in my writing.  I hadn't given it much conscience thought, but it's always there.  Since I started thinking more actively about it, the idea was forefront during the outlining process of the Firebird Story.  We'll see if my thinking about it makes a difference or shows itself in any visible way.  This collection exemplifies this idea.  These stories are about a single moment, but with that moment they tell about the characters more generally.  When you look back on it, the incident itself turns blurry and the more chronic issue takes center stage as what the story is about.  And she does this with such minimal discussion of the greater problem that this is an achievement. 

July conveys her characters just as quickly and colorfully.  They have quirks, character traits, odd little thoughts that add spice enough that with just one, I know the character.

"Past a certain age, they give up on the name games, which is regrettable for someone like me who loves anything that involves going around a circle and saying something about yourself.  I wish there was a class where we could just keep going around the circle, around and around, until we had finally said everything about ourselves."

Oh, look!  I know so much about this narrator now.  I can picture this character perfectly.  She's one of those people who are secure in their identity and how it's expressed and shared, who like talking about themselves.  One of those people that like introduction games.  Personally, I hate introduction games with a burning passion, but maybe this works so well because it's so counter to my experience.  And that's another strange thing about this collection: looking back, I don't really like any of the narrators.  They have deep flaws that I wouldn't want to read about for more than a short story, but their flaws, their selfish or lazy or uncharitable or naive thoughts are presented so honestly that I have to respect their humanity, and that I can go along with them for the short story.

These are masterfully told.  They're odd and horrifying and quirky.  Thumbs up.