My Review of "All Fours by Miranda July on Goodreads

All Fours by Miranda July
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Just finished reading this and wow. I'm still processing what I just read. I gotta say, I really, really liked this book, but I don't know if it's everyone's cup of tea.

This novel is a first-person, stream-of -thought narrative of a successful person, she has it all, a successful career (she's "semi-famous") a precious child, a successful husband ("he's a good man") big house in the LA suburbs. She's supposed to go on a 3-week trip to New York by car. Instead of driving to New York, she stops at a motel 30 minutes from her house. Then things start to go from weird to wild. Then full blown insane. I could not stop reading this book, I kept trying to see where this was going but I could not.

I picked up this book almost by accident, it was on a list of favorite books of 2024 or something like that. However, I noticed a lot of themes in the story: women's issues, trauma, sex, infidelity, marriage, mental health, women's health (which deserves more attention) menopause. The book is very funny in some parts but it can get dark. It's witty, insightful and I felt like the author had "SOMETHING IMPORTANT TO SAY" but I could not put my finger on what exactly.

Some passages were disorienting by design, like, sometimes it's hard to say what parts of the story, like really happened versus it being fantasy or dream the character is having. The story is about a person losing her marbles and doing one crazy thing after the next. It's hard for me to say how the reader (or author) is supposed to feel about the main character, are we supposed to sympathize? see their humanity and not judge, are we supposed to see ourselves in her. Are we supposed to be impartial witnesses? or this question just missing the point of the book? Maybe yes to all of the above.

I think it's telling that the author has been in a podcast with Dr. Esther Perel, the famous author on relationships and sexuality. This would explain why the author is very open about women's sexuality, I had no idea there would be so much erotic and sexual content. If you are a prude or easily shocked, yeah, this book ain't for you.

I think that a lot of people will enjoy reading this book, specially women of a certain age. You will see topics that don't usually get covered in popular mass media. What is it like to go through menopause? How does aging differ between men and women? How should we think about parenting in the year 2025. How do you deal with the anger that comes after a trauma?

This book is extremely relevant in the age of Trump. Now that women's rights are literally under attack, we all need to fight back...anyway, I digress. This is a good book. Everyone should read it. Not everyone will enjoy it. I loved it because it helped me see the world through different lenses. I made me widen my perspective. Excellent book by Miranda July

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