In a series of stories that are shocking, sexy, charming, and ultimately unforgettable, Miranda July explores the hearts and minds of characters who are desperate for human connection and yet don't know what to do when it actually happens.
In the brilliant opening story, "The Shared Patio," a woman longs to share her neighbor's life, but learns that her fantasy of him has no resemblance to reality.
In "The Swim Team," a young woman teaches three elderly citizens in a town with no water how to swim.
A man who works at a leather factory gets set-up by his co-worker for a date that never arrives in "The Sister."
In "Something That Needs Nothing," a young woman's job at a peep show changes her identity in the eyes of her friend, allowing for their relationship to take a different course.
In these stories Miranda July shows a remarkable skill for inhabiting the hearts and minds of a varied cast of characters, imbuing them with a tenderness and humanity that is the mark of a great writer.
"These stories are incredibly charming, beautifully written, frequently laugh-out-loud funny, and even, a dozen or so times, profound. Miranda July is a very real writer, and has one of the most original voices to appear in fiction in many years. Fans of Lorrie Moore should rub this book all over themselves -- she's got that perfect balance of humor and pathos. There has been no more enjoyable and promising a debut collection in many a moon." -- Dave Eggers
"These delightful stories do that essential-but-rare story thing: they surprise. They skip past the quotidian, the merely real, to the essential, and do so with a spirit of tenderness and wonder that is wholly unique. They are (let me coin a phrase) July-esque, which is to say: infused with wonder at the things of the world." -- George Saunders, author of In Persuasion Nation
"Miranda July's is a beautiful, odd, original voice -- seductive, sometimes erotic, and a little creepy, too." -- David Byrne
"A woman gives swimming lessons in her kitchen -- of course! Miranda July can make anything seem normal in these truly original stories. She has first-rate comic timing and a generous view of the human condition. Maybe best of all, there's joy here, too, often where you would not expect to find it." -- Amy Hempel, author of The Collected Stories of Amy Hempel
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