Miranda July

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, 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 45-year-old female artist, All Fours transcends expectations 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.

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."

He pushed it—and his finger—deep into me, the rest of his whole hand cupping my cunt. He was very careful not to move his finger or palm, but neither could he seem to leave. We sat there, breathing hard together, for a long minute. Then he withdrew and I wiped with toilet paper and stood, suddenly clumsy as if I’d already forgotten how to do anything for myself. There was only a very tiny smear of blood on his jeans, no one would ever notice. He washed his hands. We looked at each other in the mirror, very seriously and then slowly smiling. Sex was great, but this. This was something we’d never do with anyone else. Our thing. 

Emiley Jones

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

…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.

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

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.

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

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. 

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

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. 

Had I been slightly better prepared for this book’s bold plot I think I would’ve rated this book higher. I believe that the subject matter was important, and themes of women aging, of desire, and of feeling like there is a second you, a second life, stuck under something that will emerge one day when the stars align were incredibly well executed. I could read July’s words endlessly, now that I know it’s so much more than a woman hiding out in a hotel room to find herself.

Emily McMeans

Can’t tell if I’m extremely excited or in fear of perimenopause after reading this. feeling inspired, full of questions, full of shock. The inner world of this character is an interesting one and one that all should read 

Amalie

Unlike any book I’ve ever read! Menopause, non monogamy, mild stalking - what’s not to like? Very funny 

Allegrachatterjee

i’m in between liking it and not so much… there’s so much. it’s all just happening. some parts were helpful with where i am right now. a bit of not feeling alone in a feeling. not a favourite by any means but i think i appreciate it here now. 

aisha

Had me riveted. Funny and tender and gross and somehow so relatable as a human woman. Absolutely loved it. Could not put it down other than to gasp and process what I just read. Weird and raunchy but also profound and beautiful, I was sat. 

erin alise 

a staunch, frantic, high-up-there book (if possible)

abi a

Raw, unsettling and darkly funny in places. An offbeat midlife crisis journey with a woman experiencing a sexual awakening at 45, covering love, desire, birth trauma, perimenopause, self and identity, and how relationship and family structures can change over time. Got the impression that this was autofiction, it certainly seemed like there were many overt parallels between the author and narrator’s lives.

Laura Dobie

Super fucking weird. Enjoyed the authors voice on the audio though and learned a bit about menopause and perimenopause which I found helpful. Really didn’t like the main character at all but felt like I was supposed to like her. 

Lily Dendy

Margo Koss

chaotic and thrilling. highlighted the inevitability and importance of being perverse in your pursuit of you-ness 

petrina

Similar to reading Sedaris - I spent most of the time marvelling at July’s ability to write about weird, mundane human experiences in such a charming and compelling way. 

g.m.

One woman’s spiral into the loss of self and sexuality later on in life through a rambling self crisis. I’m giving it 2 stars because I finished it (book club strikes again) but it was not easy. This is a stream of consciousness. This is a woman’s spiral and every thought in the way. It’s honestly just a lot. 

Audiobook is narrated by the author who is incredibly monotone. Discussed with my friend what the purpose of the book was, and decided it was an inner monologue from a woman going through somewhat of a midlife crisis. She feels that she is nearing the end of her sexual life and struggles with it. A very very sexual book that is in no ways sexy.

Amanda 

No question that girl can write, and think. Made me lolz. But I’d hate to be her friend and she’d probably hate to be mine. Is she neurotic or a sex addict? Not sure but I felt really sad at the end. 

Whitney Losee

I was looking for an elevated beach read and I got an elevated beach read. 

unpredictable until it became all too predictable. 

I was looking for an elevated beach read and I got an elevated beach read. 

unpredictable until it became all too predictable. 

“Nobody knows what's going on. We are thrown across our lives by winds that started blowing millions of years ago.”

Love her writing, appreciated where she was going, did not enjoy the journey of getting there. As sexually graphic as the book was, with a descriptive focus on all imaginable types of bodily fluids, I didn’t experience the book as remotely sexy. Not that I needed it to be, but the countering effect was unsettling. The main affair was, to me, idiotically drawn out and obnoxious. There are ways to blow up your life and there are other ways to blow up your life that maybe don’t involve such extreme self absorption, delusion and stark abandonment of your family and child. 

Typically I like flawed characters and enjoy not judging their flawed journeys. Maybe I would have rooted for her more if Miranda had spent some time making her (and Davey for that matter) a little more likable. Whatever sparks they were feeling, I as the reader could feel zero percent of them. 

I often enjoyed her darker humor. She had brilliant insights. I can appreciate her courage and openness. Her neurotic and messy employment of that courage and openness was not something I was particularly inspired by and in fact often found childish and insufferable. Though, again, I can appreciate where she was going and that we are all a little fucked up.

Kat Albanese

“Nobody knows what's going on. We are thrown across our lives by winds that started blowing millions of years ago.”

Love her writing, appreciated where she was going, did not enjoy the journey of getting there. As sexually graphic as the book was, with a descriptive focus on all imaginable types of bodily fluids, I didn’t experience the book as remotely sexy. Not that I needed it to be, but the countering effect was unsettling. The main affair was, to me, idiotically drawn out and obnoxious. There are ways to blow up your life and there are other ways to blow up your life that maybe don’t involve such extreme self absorption, delusion and stark abandonment of your family and child. 

Typically I like flawed characters and enjoy not judging their flawed journeys. Maybe I would have rooted for her more if Miranda had spent some time making her (and Davey for that matter) a little more likable. Whatever sparks they were feeling, I as the reader could feel zero percent of them. 

I often enjoyed her darker humor. She had brilliant insights. I can appreciate her courage and openness. Her neurotic and messy employment of that courage and openness was not something I was particularly inspired by and in fact often found childish and insufferable. Though, again, I can appreciate where she was going and that we are all a little fucked up.

This book was not for me. :)

It was cool, mid-life questions, community, feminist, kinda funny, lotsa sex. Stacks of it. A bit neurotic at times. I liked it ok. 

Gabe Cortez

miranda july the woman that you are.. i’m speeches

mallorie 🦌

"I tried to remember how Pinocchio had become a real boy. It had something to do with being in a whale, maybe saving his father‘s life. I hadn’t done anything like that, 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"

Perfect, PERFECT balance of funny, devastating, self-aware, self-loathing, giving/getting the benefit of the doubt, being insane and irrational, finding your way through with grace + thoughtfulness + care. 

Dizzying. I was so enraptured, also the most painfully, blindingly aroused I've ever been from a book (I listened on audiobook, so not sure if this counts as 'reading' but I'm counting it. I think hearing July read it aloud made all the difference– her voices, intonation. So great.)

Annie Millman

"I tried to remember how Pinocchio had become a real boy. It had something to do with being in a whale, maybe saving his father‘s life. I hadn’t done anything like that, 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"

Perfect, PERFECT balance of funny, devastating, self-aware, self-loathing, giving/getting the benefit of the doubt, being insane and irrational, finding your way through with grace + thoughtfulness + care. 

Dizzying. I was so enraptured, also the most painfully, blindingly aroused I've ever been from a book (I listened on audiobook, so not sure if this counts as 'reading' but I'm counting it. I think hearing July read it aloud made all the difference– her voices, intonation. So great.)

Frederik De Bosschere

I did not know what I was in for but I kind of liked it.

Karmen 

This novel certainly doesn't take no prisoners.  It got guts to talk about mid-40 woman thoughts inside out even the (supposed) ugly, the grey, the soft and the weak, the plain and the beautiful. But that's judgemental. I should say instead that there is no hiding place, no dust under the carpet here, everything is shown in full garden spot light right in your face and I like it for that. Not easy reading at times. Not sure I "liked" that woman but it's not important, really. 

I also found it funny even in the most lonely moments of the main character I don't remember the name of, and it's probably because it's not mentioned (TBC!). There are very very beautiful moments between her and the others, especially the ones with her child Sam. 

Whatever we fancy or experienced with others, in this book, the author achieved to make me enter in the intimacy of someone very different from me and I thank her (or they maybe? need to check that) for that.

Barbara

This novel certainly doesn't take no prisoners.  It got guts to talk about mid-40 woman thoughts inside out even the (supposed) ugly, the grey, the soft and the weak, the plain and the beautiful. But that's judgemental. I should say instead that there is no hiding place, no dust under the carpet here, everything is shown in full garden spot light right in your face and I like it for that. Not easy reading at times. Not sure I "liked" that woman but it's not important, really. 

I also found it funny even in the most lonely moments of the main character I don't remember the name of, and it's probably because it's not mentioned (TBC!). There are very very beautiful moments between her and the others, especially the ones with her child Sam. 

Whatever we fancy or experienced with others, in this book, the author achieved to make me enter in the intimacy of someone very different from me and I thank her (or they maybe? need to check that) for that.

Gently lowered the crashing plane onto a lake, no ripples, like a coordinated stunt. It felt like the book had ended about 100 pages from the actual end then out of nowhere, meaning arrived. Miranda is proving to be a tenacious writer. 

All Fours

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