All Fours
Miranda July
The New York Times–bestselling author of The First Bad Man returns with an irreverently sexy, tender, hilarious, and surprising novel about a woman upending her life A semifamous artist announces her plan to drive cross-country, from LA to New York. Twenty minutes after leaving her husband and child at home, she spontaneously exits the freeway, beds down in a nondescript motel, and immerses herself in a temporary reinvention that turns out to be the start of an entirely different journey. Miranda July’s second novel confirms the brilliance of her unique approach to fiction. With July’s wry voice, perfect comic timing, unabashed curiosity about human intimacy, and palpable delight in pushing boundaries, All Fours tells the story of one woman’s quest for a new kind of freedom. Part absurd entertainment, part tender reinvention of the sexual, romantic, and domestic life of a forty-five-year-old female artist, All Fours transcends expectation while excavating our beliefs about life lived as a woman. Once again, July hijacks the familiar and turns it into something new and thrillingly, profoundly alive.
“Everyone thinks doggy style is so vulnerable, but it’s actually the most stable position, like a table. It’s hard to be knocked down when you’re on all fours.” Ohh I finally get it ❤️
0Full disclosure, I haven't finished yet (about 70% done) but I've been feeling lost about the protagonist's children. I know Sam is alive and well, but she mentions having two babies during her scary birth where one baby lives and one dies. Earlier, when she first tells the story of Sam's birth, she only mentions Sam and their near-death experience during labor. We never get an backstory of why Sam uses they/them pronouns (especially since they're so young, 8 years old), which at first I took as a choice on Miranda July's part to normalize alternative pronouns - but now I'm wondering if it has something to do with the two babies she mentions during the birth, like Sam is the embodiment of the dead and the alive baby? Are both Sam? Were there actually two babies, or was this her artistic/spiritual interpretation? Did I miss the explanation of Sam's pronouns?
1this tampon scene is absolutely wild 😭 the whole plot is just a train wreck, I can't look away
0Your rating:
This book was a wild ride -- I wasn't ready for it. Just as I was about to write it off (but still finish it b/c I cannot with unfinished things) b/c it seemed way out there and unrelatable, it suddenly became relatable in a not-the-circumstances-but-the-feelings way. Whoa! And then where it ended/wrapped up -- yep. As a 40 something year old woman who's been married, divorced, long-term situationshipped, and also recently had a hysterectomy (TMI much?), this was a sudden whoa into feeling seen (in non-obvious ways). Now I'm convincing my friends to read it b/c I feel like we have so much to discuss!
1One of those “I said it was weird, I didn’t say you would like it” type of novels. I had no expectations going into this, but even if I did I couldn’t have anticipated where this story would take me. Even now, I don’t know how to describe it - part philosophical musing on menopause, aging as a woman, monogamy, domestic life and desire, part second coming of age story, part voyeuristic glimpse into the mind of an eccentric and emotionally driven woman. There’s no doubt Miranda July is exceptionally talented - this is worth the read for some of the one liners alone. There were some parts that seemed to meander aimlessly, but that’s the point - the journey is the destination. Worth sticking out!
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