"All Fours" by Miranda July is a novel that brims with irreverence, humor, and unexpected tenderness. The story follows a semifamous artist who, on a whim, leaves her husband and child in Los Angeles to embark on a cross-country drive to New York. However, she quickly diverges from her plan, exiting the freeway and checking into a nondescript motel. This impulsive detour sparks a journey of self-discovery, reinvention, and exploration of personal boundaries.

July's writing shines with her signature wry voice, impeccable comic timing, and deep curiosity about human intimacy. The novel is an intricate blend of absurdity and poignancy, capturing the protagonist's quest for freedom and a new kind of life. The narrative delves into themes of sexual, romantic, and domestic life, particularly focusing on the experiences of a forty-five-year-old female artist.

The book's strength lies in its raw, honest depiction of the protagonist's inner life and her interactions with those she meets along the way. July's ability to craft moments that are simultaneously hilarious and heart-wrenching is evident throughout the novel. The protagonist's journey is filled with unexpected turns, revealing profound truths about identity, desire, and the human condition.

However, some aspects of the novel may not appeal to all readers. The narrative includes a significant amount of explicit sexual content, which at times feels gratuitous and distracts from the central story. Additionally, the plot loses some coherence and focus in the latter part of the book, as it veers into increasingly bizarre and surreal territory. This shift may leave readers feeling disoriented and disconnected from the initial premise.

Despite these issues, "All Fours" remains a compelling read, especially for those who appreciate July's unique approach to storytelling. The novel's exploration of the complexities of middle age, the challenges of personal reinvention, and the search for meaning in everyday life are handled with sensitivity and depth.

Overall, "All Fours" is a bold and engaging novel that will resonate with readers who enjoy character-driven stories that push the boundaries of conventional fiction. While its explicit content and narrative detours may not be to everyone's taste, the novel's emotional honesty and humor make it a worthwhile read.

A married mother in her 40's in California sets out on a road trip to New York but doesn't make it very far. This book takes an interesting turn that I'm sure will spark interest in many women in their 40's who feel stuck in their lives. However I didn't like the main character which took away for the overall appeal of the book.

Thank you to NetGalley, author Miranda July, and Penguin Group Riverhead for providing me with a free ARC in exchange for my honest opinion!

What a time reading this!! I can honestly say I never knew where this book was headed, and upon ending it, I still don't lol. This book was funny and weird and sexy and disgusting and real and fake and soooo many more adjectives. It is definitely not for everyone, but I did get quite a bit of enjoyment out of reading it. I was able to relate to the protagonist in several instances of just feeling too much and making up scenarios constantly. I feel as July had a very real and human portrayal of fears and desire throughout, and I am definitely left with a lot to think about. I thought the queer portrayal was great, and I ADORED Sam!! I was definitely hooked in the beginning, lost steam towards the middle, and gradually got some back towards the end, so for me personally, pacing was a bit of an issue. I also found myself getting a little too annoyed with the protagonist, as she is definitely unlikable in many ways. However, I had an overall good time reading this because it was so original!

This is a strange, funny and sad novel about all the different ways to define love, marriage, parenting. It’s somehow relatable and off-putting at the same time, as if someone can mirror a person’s deepest secrets that they are desperate to keep hidden. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

t’s Miranda July time. All Fours (out Tuesday, May 14) has already been declared the first great perimenopausal novel and the hottest thing in a while to hit group texts, and my instinct is to read it as broadly as possible, rather than as veiled Miranda July autofiction (note). The novel is built as a journey in which the hero goes nowhere: The main character leaves her husband and child to make a cross-country artist pilgrimage to NYC, but never makes it out of L.A., stopping at a motel on the edge of the city having felt a bolt of lust for the Hertz rental car man at a time when she worried her libido was falling off a cliff (the main character can hear her husband’s penis “whistling like a kettle” when it has been too long).

Instead, she moves into and refurbishes a motel room in outer L.A., creating a space from which to push the walls out on what her life still could be from the midpoint on through the next 40 or so years. There is sex in the room but also some satisfying mosaic tiling, art after a drought. After completing her “trip,” the character returns to the room once a week with her husband’s blessing, and it functions as a loophole of sorts, allowing her to leave the marriage, leave her life, without totally breaking the ties. It’s a parallel universe.

Mothers rarely have the ability to bust out of town altogether, so they scratch out corners of their homes to act as a weirdo mom-space of one’s own — an introvert nook (h/t to Joanna Goddard + Cup of Jo), an “invite-only studio over the garage” (my friend S), a cottage over the road from her house (actor Jessica St Clair of the Deep Dive pod), or that classic temporary mom-space: the bathroom. A few years ago, Tressie McMillan Cottom wrote about a COVID concept house design that included a “secret mom’s room” on the second floor accessible only through the master bedroom, which really did make you wonder:

It has a bookcase, a false bookcase door, an opening — again, only accessible through the master bedroom. It is decorated with floor pillows, reminiscent of California cult chic. It looks like the kind of space where one is expected to chant and to achieve vibrations that will pull them closer to the ultimate energy source. Or whatever.

This domestic expansion goes back past Woolf to Austen, who wrote around the way women were shut out of public life. She found possibility and intimacy in the private sphere while emphasizing just how limiting it was—her characters’ entire lives take place in drawing rooms. (Women’s space also a big theme in the very very good Time’s Mouth from Edan Lepucki last year.)

Like the painting of a woman standing outside a cave on the wall of the motel room in All Fours, the entrance to the women’s space may be hidden, and the woman outside may be unable to enter, or she may be protecting something important. Or in my case, she may be eating.

A renowned artist sets out on a cross-country road trip only to hide out in a motel thirty minutes from her home, husband, and child. This detour prompts an unhealthy obsession and a second coming of age. The narrator’s voice in All Fours is distinct, interesting, and self-aware as she considers the feminine fear of aging, bodily autonomy, art, sex, and desire. July’s writing evokes a myriad of emotions and will eagerly push you out of your comfort zone. Equally hilarious and tender, this honest portrait of a middle-aged woman unraveling and carving out a new life for herself is unforgettable.

All Fours by Miranda July is definitely a singular book. It's take on a woman struggling with middle age and identity was trenchant, biting, and often hilarious. I appreciated the situations depicted in the novel and the main character's processing of her feelings and actions was incredibly well done. I especially thought the links to the past (her child's most unusual birth) were emotionally resonant. I will admit that I had a difficult time identifying with the MC - she's just a MUCH more sexual/sensual person than I am and sometimes the situations and descriptions got to be a bit too much for me. But I know that's a matter of taste and connection to particular kinds of books, and I thought the writing in this one really helped me through sections I didn't identify with quite as much.

This is the kind of book I want to talk about with anyone who will read it. Parts made me wildly uncomfortable, and parts made me laugh and parts made me nod my head in understanding and isn't that the point? You have to read all the graphic parts to get to the really good bits about her mid life awakening. Thoroughly enjoyed.

The narrator of July's insightful and unusual All Fours is a semi-famous woman in her mid-forties. She lives in Southern California with her husband, Harris, and her child, Sam. Harris is a bit conventional, while the narrator is anything but. On the way to New York City for a solo vacation, she stops at a hotel in Monrovia and becomes infatuated with a younger (and married) Hertz employee named Davey. His wife, an interior designer, decorates her motel room and then the narrator spends three weeks with Davey, going on walks, dancing, and blurring physical lines without fully crossing them. After three weeks in Monrovia, July returns to her family and takes steps to live more authentically by opening her marriage.

This is one of those novels that you really have to read for yourself! While it is possible to give a plot synopsis (see above), July's writing really shines through her ability to describe all the wild inner thoughts that humans possess. I would expect women in the 40+ bracket to find this book especially fascinating. While the plot elements are unusual and wacky and at times gross, July's ability to narrate the thoughts of a woman nearing menopause is astounding. This is not a typical novel with a straightforward plot, but I would recommend it to readers who enjoy books with unexpected female characters, such as those by Ottessa Moshfegh. Weird, funny, vulnerable, and surprising!

"It's hard to be knocked down when you're on all fours."

In what seems to be a semi-autobiographical novel, July relates the story of an artist who plans to travel cross country by car, but ends her journey in a town half an hour away from her husband and child, where she becomes obsessed with a local man. At times hilarious, and occasionally heartbreaking, I suspect this will be a love-it-or-hate-it title, depending on whether or not you like the narrator, or approve of her choices. This was definitely the best WTF novel I've read in a while, and I was definitely never bored.

AND she had me online shopping for anything Tonka bean.

A woman in her mid 40s heads off on a 3 week cross country trip, but ends up staying less than an hour from home for the entire time. During that stay, she spends all her trip money redecorating a motel room and having an affair of sorts which makes her long for more in her life. When she returns home, she must deal with these feelings in the context of her marriage, her friendships, and the onset of peri-menopause. Delving deep into her feelings and exploring her sexuality as she creates a new type of family, this book really feels like it could be based on the author's life, or at least with issues she is experiencing. It feels raw and honest and full of exuberance and fear. This honest exploration of a woman in middle age may not appeal to younger readers, but I'm recommending it to many of my friends already. Note to readers: the book does include discussion of suicide and many of the sexual encounters are somewhat graphic.

Miranda July is not everyone's cup of tea, but she is mine. I adored All Fours. It's just as weird as you would think if you've read any of July's previous works, but this is her second novel and I LOVED it!

This is one of the weirdest, most memorable novels I've read in a while. Somehow this is my first experience with Miranda July and I'll definitely be coming back for more. Did I enjoy it? Yes-ish, though I'm not sure "enjoy" is the word I'd choose - it's too placid. So here are some better questions: Did it make me squirm? Absolutely - I haven't reacted so viscerally to literature since the scene with the brains in Ocean Vuong's On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous. Did it make me laugh? Yes, out loud, multiple times. Did the storyline strike me as utterly absurd or completely believable? The answer is 100% both. Has it stuck with me in the weeks since I've finished it? Undeniably.

What a remarkable, skillfully crafted book. Looking forward to stocking it at the bookstore - it won't be for everyone, but it will adamantly be for some. Thanks to NetGalley and Riverhead Books for an ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

I received an ARC of this novel from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I couldn't relate to the characters. The writing is great and wryly funny, but the storyline is far removed from my reality.

In All Fours we follow a middle aged woman as she embarks on a cross country road trip to rediscover herself….except she only makes it 27 minutes down the road, spends $20,000 renovating a hotel room and gets entangled in an affair with a younger man- a situation which spirals.

Miranda July has fast become one of my favourite authors and her ability to mix the absurd with reality and make situations so incredibly weird while also making her characters vulnerable and relatable is like none other.

I really enjoyed reading from the perspective of a middle aged, menopausal woman- something I feel like we don’t explore enough in fiction- and the themes of sexual liberation, rediscovery of the self, experimentation, aging, motherhood, expectations and not always having your shit together.

Like I mentioned above, I feel like there’s a whole wave of books exploring coming of age or navigating life in your 20’s but anything past that is kind of forgotten about or overlooked and life doesn’t stop in your 20s so this was super refreshing!

July truly is the patron saint of weird women characters and this one did not disappoint!!

Thank you NetGalley and Riverhead Books for the early access to All Fours, in exchange for a truthful review.

All Fours is a fast and funny read, albeit one that’ll occasionally stop you in your tracks with something bruising, brave, or beautiful (sometimes all three at once). Reading it felt like spending time with a friend, and I was moved by the final sentence.

July’s said her work is fiction, not biography – and she probably has to make that especially clear for All Fours, which has the brutal honesty of truth.

Wonderfully written, combining a serious message with a laugh on every other page (so many great one-liners!), this is a special book I’m sure I’ll return to.

Unhinged, unreliable, unsettling, and unputdownable. I'm not sure if I liked it, but I also can't stop thinking about it.

All Fours
by Miranda July
Pub Date: May 14, 2024
Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the ARC 0f this book in exchange for my honest opinion.
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.
I loved this book! All Fours is bawdy, funny, and deliciously weird. It’s a tender look at the terror of growing older and feeling that you’re no longer as desirable as you once were. And then the surprise and beauty that comes with realizing that you are constantly changing, beginning again, and writing your own story.
4 stars

I just could not get into this book. It is something I don't normally read and that could play into it. I probably would not purchase this book for the library

I requested and received an early digital galley of this novel through NetGalley, because the plot description intrigued me. Early on, I mused, “What have I gotten myself into!” I did ease into the road trip motif and by suspending belief I could enjoy some of the quirky romance bits. However, this is a book for those comfortable with a lot of sexuality in the storytelling. This portrait of a unique woman’s emotional and physical exploits at midlife might please those readers.