Miranda July

A NEW YORK TIMES TOP TEN BOOK OF THE YEAR A WASHINGTON POST NOTABLE BOOK OF THE YEAR ONE OF TIME MAGAZINE’S TOP 10 FICTION BOOKS OF 2024 ONE OF NPR’S “BOOKS WE LOVE” 2024 NAMED A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR BY: THE NEW YORKER ● VOGUE ● FINANCIAL TIMES ● OPRAH DAILY ● VULTURE ● VOX The New York Times bestselling author returns with an irreverently sexy, tender, hilarious and surprising novel about a woman upending her life “A frank novel about a midlife awakening, which is funnier and more boldly human than you ever quite expect . . . nothing short of riveting.” —Vogue “All Fours has spurred a whisper network of women fantasizing about desire and freedom. . . . It’s the talk of every group text."—The New York Times “All Fours possessed me. I picked it up and neglected my life until the last page, and then I started begging every woman I know to read it as soon as possible.” —The Cut A semi-famous artist announces her plan to drive cross-country, from LA to NY. Thirty minutes after leaving her husband and child at home, she spontaneously exits the freeway, checks into a nondescript motel, and immerses herself in 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.

A Novel

All Fours

Emiley Jones

The only dangerous lie was one that asked me to compress myself down into a single convenient entity that one person could understand. I was a kaleidoscope, each glittering piece of glass changing as I turned. 

…but most of life is a vapor of unconscious associations, never brought to light.

If birth was being thrown energetically up into the air, we aged as we rose. At the height of our ascent we were middle-aged and then we fell for the rest of our lives, the whole second half. Falling might take just as long, but it was nothing like rising. 

So. It wasn't over. The past could come back, fully formed, at any moment, unlocked by a random combination of sounds and movements.

But surely a woman was more complex than a puppet boy and she might become herself not once-and-for-all but cyclically: waxing, waning, sometimes disappearing altogether. 

So, this was the cost of that free feeling each morning. Brutal. But there was enough hypocrisy built into life, one shouldn't choose it.

Maybe they were curious about the haunted house but not so curious that they wanted to risk their own home becoming haunted.

…if I took all these things at once I could black out for an hour or two, but it wasn't worth it; waking up to reality was worse than already being there.

“…but it's actually the most stable position. Like a table. It's hard to be knocked down when you're on all fours."

katie h.

"Everyone thinks doggy style is so vulnerable," Jordi said, "but it's actually the most stable position. Like a table. It's hard to be knocked down when you're on all fours."

All Fours quotes

Join the club