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    No One Belongs Here More Than You: Stories
    No One Belongs Here More Than You: Stories
    No One Belongs Here More Than You: Stories
    Audiobook4 hours

    No One Belongs Here More Than You: Stories

    Written by Miranda July

    Narrated by Miranda July

    3.5/5

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    About this audiobook

    Named a Top Ten Book of the Year by Time, the bestselling debut story collection by the extraordinarily talented Miranda July, award-winning filmmaker, artist, and writer.

    In No One Belongs Here More Than You, Miranda July gives the most seemingly insignificant moments a sly potency. A benign encounter, a misunderstanding, a shy revelation can reconfigure the world. Her characters engage awkwardly—they are sometimes too remote, sometimes too intimate. With great compassion and generosity, July reveals her characters’ idiosyncrasies and the odd logic and longing that govern their lives. No One Belongs Here More Than You is a stunning debut, the work of a writer with a spectacularly original and compelling voice.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSimon & Schuster Audio
    Release dateOct 16, 2007
    ISBN9780743571586
    Author

    Miranda July

    Miranda July is a writer, filmmaker, and artist. Her debut novel, The First Bad Man, was an instant New York Times bestseller, and her collection of stories, No One Belongs Here More Than You, won the Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award and has been published in twenty-three countries. Her writing has appeared in The Paris Review, Harper’s, and The New Yorker, and she is also the author of the novel All Fours. July lives in Los Angeles. 

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    Reviews for No One Belongs Here More Than You

    3.5/5

    867 ratings55 reviews

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    • 1/5
      She has an original voice, which she uses to say absolutely nothing at all.This is the kind of fiction you write when you have an overly comfortable life.File under: Wes Anderson meets McSweeney's meets migraine headache.
    • 3/5
      3.5/5 I did myself a disservice by reading July's (really great) novel "The First Bad Man" before reading this collection of short stories. Had I read in order, I would have been delighted to see the themes of "No One Belongs Here..." revisited and perfected in the long fiction format. I would have first been exposed to her metasexualism via snippets, and I would see it unfold over several hundred pages into a very clear picture of a new and nuanced kind of sexuality. I would have noted the consistency of her narrative voice, that you can read a half-paragraph and know it is Miranda July writing. I would have noted that her signature comedic-bathetic style, and her penchant for describing the 'magical' cures and rituals of ordinary obsessive-compulsive behavior--considered 'twee' by early readers of July--were decidedly proven to be the very opposite with the appearance of TFBM. Unfortunately, I can't know how much I would have liked this book when it first appeared. I don't know if I would have thought it was twee, or if I would have thought she is a blatantly raw talent worth keeping an eye on. Nevertheless, TFBM resists twee-ness, and in so doing asks that the reader look back to NOBH with new non-twee-seeking eyes. But what is twee-ness? A brand of sentimentalism? July's characters are almost all of them sentimentalists: they see themselves as lacking something crucial and they seek to fill their respective voids. They (on the whole) are particularly susceptible to faddish life-cures proposing to provide body/soul/world integration, self-fulfillment, a different improved! kind of life, a different improved! kind of worldview. Perhaps July's characters are twee, but I maintain that her handling of them is not. As a writer she is not mawkish, not mocking. She presents their sentimentalism to her readers and asks us to consider it. What I like about July generally speaking (besides what I have called her "metasexualism" in my review of TFBM), is that she is one of the few living writers successfully recovering (resuscitating) the long derided concept of "bathos," which (IMO) stands to be positively revalued in our modern lexicon. For too long "bathos" has been associated with a valueless or silly sentimentalism. Instead, July presents us with truly bathetic art--bathos as it should be understood--as an exceptional, evocative and stirring commonness. July's characters share a hopefulness that they will find redemption, be special (to themselves, to anyone), and this is also part of their commonness. We wish well for them (or I do), to transcend it; maybe even for their quack-medicines to work for them, or for them to exercise their hidden potential: connectedness wherever they can, in whatever weird way they choose. The allowance of this weirdness, I am conjecturing here, is bathos. To call it "twee" is to make it sound as though sentimentalism is easy or profoundly stupid, or both. July's characters are neither, but they may be (on the whole) naive. She reminds us that there is a logic to the ordinary, however it is lived, and in the absence of perceived connection and relation, people go mad in all kinds of small, undramatic, and often funny kinds of ways. They want to be self-soothing, or maybe just to be soothed.So all that said: read in order. This one is a let down (although it shouldn't be) after reading TFBM. NOBH one has it all, just differently. More diffusely, but just as interestingly.
    • 2/5
      The author created some pretty interesting characters who all seemed to be suffering from a latent discontentment that ended up manifesting in weird and often unsettling ways. Eventually this character pattern grew a little monotonous. There were a couple of stories that ended pretty ambiguously and I found myself either piqued by the vagueness or indifferently moving on. I liked the absurdity of the author's tone (especially in "The Swim Team"), but overall I think the abundance of anomalous sexuality detracted from most of the stories.
    • 4/5
      Beautiful and startling stories.
    • 4/5
      This book was interesting. I can't say I loved it, but I definitely enjoyed the stories and would read more by her. One thing that bothered me, though, was that they're all told in first person, all about different people, and yet all have the same, very odd/quirky voice to them. Which...would work fine if that were her narrative voice and she were writing in third person. Less so when I'm supposed to believe that every one of these people is this peculiar in exactly the same way.
    • 5/5
      Whimsical, eccentric and charming yet strangely it cuts like a knife.
    • 5/5
      Very enjoyable short stories though they were tragic and wonderful in equal mixture. I enjoyed this more than her movie.
    • 2/5
      I'm going to be frank here. I'm disappointed.

      Out of the many stories I've read, only two or three stuck with me. What bothered me is that most of the time I felt distant from the characters- it's like I'm watching a really bad play with really bad actors. I can't even empathize or feel anything for them.

      I was looking for short stories that, okay, do not necessarily have intricate plots, but still deliver a punch in the heart. Or in the gut. Whichever. It just didn't happen here, which is a shame.. considering that I fell in love with its cover (IT'S YELLOW, MAN. I CAN'T RESIST THAT).

      I don't get the hype either. It's what made me pick this up in the first place (aside from its gorgeous cover). I was actually overjoyed to see this in a bookshelf here in my country because I never expected to see it in the flesh, so I bought it on the spot.

      But meh. It didn't live up to my expectations :(
    • 5/5
      I loved both the literature and the reading. So authentic , and funny!
    • 5/5
      Strange yet deeply relatable stories. One of my favorite books.
    • 5/5
      Very enjoyable short stories though they were tragic and wonderful in equal mixture. I enjoyed this more than her movie.
    • 3/5
      The entire reading of No One Belongs Here More Than You wasn't a complete loss. Eight stories into the collection, there's a gem called "Something That Needs Nothing." Farther down the list, the last story, "How to Tell Stories to Children" was also a good one. I'll even throw in "Mon Plaisir" as something worth the time.

      But in the end, there isn't anything special about Miranda July's work. Even the blurbs on back cover are less than convincing. One even goes off to say he's coined a new phrase - July-esque. However, I couldn't help notice that July's work reminded me of another female author's writing, one I failed to mention above because I was saving her for this: Margaret Atwood. So George Saunders, perhaps your newly found phrase should be Atwood-esque.

      I won't be holding my breath for July's next collection/release, however, I'm not denying her a second chance. I think I'm going to do that from now on. Give authors who failed to capture me the first time around, a second chance.

      In summary, I suppose, I'll give her three stars. Average. Nothing special.
    • 4/5
      This is an amazing collection of short stories that silently weave in and out of genre and any type of categorization. It starts quirky and funny and sidles into heart rending despair. Definitely some stories stick out more than others, but I feel that everyone will find something in this book that they will remember for a long time.
    • 4/5
      I loved this author's first feature-length film, Me and You and Everyone We Know, which presented her as a quirky artiste. That is confirmed by this collection of stories, which are alternately sad, hilarious, twisted, physical, and bizarre. I recommend the collection but it is not for the faint of heart or anyone with a sense of prudishness as there is a lot of sexual content.
    • 4/5
      I read this book while on a solo trip to a new city, so there was something both unsettling and comforting about bringing these lonely characters along with me. I loved many of those stories, though I agree with other reviews that say some of them feel unfinished. To me, her endings either took my breath away or left me feeling like that final clincher was lacking, or that it was a little too much of a kick. I felt that way about the story "I Kiss a Door;" the end was built to feel like a shock, but the story hadn't revealed anything yet about the characters, so it came off as too contrived. Other stories were perfectly constructed and just weird enough, like "The Swimming Lesson" and "Something That Needs Nothing." Overall I loved the way the author took simple observations or universal feelings and spun them into something unique.
    • 4/5
      Miranda July's style is very evident, and shows throughout her film "Me And You And Everyone We Know" and very much here, in her short-story collection.

      I feel as though I could easily have become irritated by her characters, where the main person often attains the same view as she, seemingly over and over again. In some way. On the other hand, try and find a truly versatile writer, in that sense. And there are a lot more positives than negatives while reading this, put it that way.

      July does know how to write compellingly and in-depth, which I think is often hard when it comes to short-stories. These pieces vary in length, from two pages to something twentyish. The plots vary from story to story and often relate to basic human needs. Love, sex, money, work, friendship. Not in a corny, Oprah-would-love-this way, but rather in quirky ones, more emotive than intellectual. I can't really pigeon-hole this.

      Quite short, I'll say this is recommendable for all.
    • 5/5
      absolutely, uniquely brilliant.
    • 2/5
      Couldn't finish it. I don't usually give up on books, but for some reason I couldn't really get into Miranda July's writing. :(
    • 1/5
      this girl needs therapy! Very sick stories with horrid characters. Was recommended by Goodreads lists!!
    • 3/5
      Maybe it was because I read all of these stories at once, but I did not particularly like this collection. I thought there was too much unnecessary (to me) sexual stuff and too many damaged hipster people (makes sense that July is from Berkeley). However, I thought the stories "Something That Needs Nothing" and "How to Tell Stories to Children" were both really interesting. July is a talented writer, I just wish that she wasn't trying so hard to be edgy.
    • 4/5
      I admire July as a filmmaker primarily, but her stories are very strong and smart and occasionally very moving. Some stand out, others feel tepid, but others grow on your as the plot thickens. Very abstract at times, and almost flight-of-fancy, but very pleasing and a nice, light read.
    • 4/5
      Miranda July's great skill is that she distills very real and very awkward situations into richly brittle little stories.
    • 3/5
      In the end, I enjoyed July's work mainly because she effortlessly reveals the inner world of her characters. While sitting on the lowest level of a grassy outdoor amphitheatre, I lost track of time and consequently burned my shoulders reading her collection. However, some stories felt like starter pieces--not yet fully developed, on the cusp of something else entirely (the point, perhaps?).
    • 4/5
      way creepier than I would have imagined it to be!
    • 3/5
      There were some stories I loved. I loved the idea of teaching someone to swim with a floor and a bowl of water. There were some stories that just were okay.
    • 4/5
      I quite enjoyed this book overall. It's a collection of short stories, most of which centre around the theme of loneliness. We see what happens when people become completely self absorbed and forget how to communicate with those around them. A lot of the stories were interesting, quirky and thought-provoking. I loved "This Person" but "How to Tell Stories to Children'' dragged on and didn't make much sense.
    • 4/5
      The stories in Miranda July's collection No One Belongs Here More Than You tell of encounters and relationships outside the realm of what we, as readers, are often exposed to. Surprising is a good word for this collection. The characters and the situations we find them in are surprising to your average reader. The language—at times quirky, other times academic, sometimes banal, other times original—is equally surprising. There is a dichotomy throughout. It's July's ability to weave together stories that are seductive as they are tender that makes No One Belongs... so memorable. There are some standout stories in this collection, some that are average, and some that I forgot about before I started the next. Overall I enjoyed this collection; it was a pleasure to read in ways few short story collections are.
    • 4/5
      While I enjoyed some parts and thought they were simply perfect, I could hardly bare to read others, they were too much for me. Miranda July is so raw and uncomfortable at times, but reveals so much. I love her work!
    • 4/5
      It's pretty good. (8/10)
    • 4/5
      A delightfully odd collection of short stories!