All Fours

Bookseller recommendation

“Bold, uncompromising, and audacious, Miranda July confronts what it means to be a person with a uterus coming into middle age and struggling to understand not only the hormone changes that arrive in that nebulous time of aging, but also the spiral of self-doubt and emergence of depressions. An Eat, Pray, Love for the Gen Y crowd. July's narrator is at times infuriating, insightful, magical, and awash in an orgasmic glow. Both passionately exacting and frustratingly obtuse, she mimics life in the Anthropocene and as such I don’t know whether to hail or hate her. There are levels of insight that ring clear and true as well as layers of self-delusion that show our own worst tendencies to careen towards destruction. Regardless of one's feeling towards the central character, at the very least July has been able to take her readers on a tour through the landscapes of our own illusions in an attempt to try and find freedom. That, in and of itself, is a feat worth praising.”

— Roxanne • Odyssey Bookshop

Bookseller recommendation

“A semi-famous wife and mother embarks on a cross-country trip, but only makes it about 30 minutes from home. There she sets up camp in a motel and goes on a different type of journey. NY Times called it "the first great peri-menopausal novel" and that's dead on. Deals with issues of marriage, motherhood, sexuality, and desire. AND the audiobook is read by the author! Absolutely the best book I've read this year.”

— Ellen • Blacksburg Books

Bookseller recommendation

“One thing I love about being a bookseller and getting sent so many books to review is that I often read things I might not otherwise pick up. While I'm likely not the target reader for this as a 45 year old hetero cis white man, it has really stuck with me and made me think about topics I don't often spend much time considering, such as the identity crises that can accompany menopause, the complexity of middle aged desire and sexuality, and autonomy in romantic intimacy. Overall I found All Fours to be a funny, weird, wild, boundary-pushing romp of a novel and I'm so glad I read it! ”

— Josh • Underground Books

Bookseller recommendation

“At times shocking, but always riveting. I devoured this book and enjoyed every moment.”

— Emily • Capricorn Books

Bookseller recommendation

“So good! An unnamed woman, who is a somewhat famous artist, struggles with middle-age. Facing a career crisis, depression, and peri-menopause, she decides to drive to an event in New York from LA to prove she is not the person she or others expect. Instead of reaching NY, she winds up staying in a motel room 20 minutes from her house for 3 weeks. Seeking direction and greater understanding of herself, her exploration of her sexuality becomes the basis for changing her life to live more as herself. I appreciated that the sexual adventures were a means to self discovery rather than the culmination of a particular romance. July captures the complexity of life in middle age - friendships, love, parenting and the desire to continue to growing in your knowledge of oneself and one’s relationships to others.”

— Amy • A Great Good Place for Books

Bookseller recommendation

“It took me so long to finally start this. I've seen more than 100 people purchase it at my bookstore, but I waited for it to call to me. Once I started, I fell in love with it. Audacious and bold, I love a novel about sexuality & fantasies. ”

— Veronica A • Powell's Books

Bookseller recommendation

“Bold, uncompromising, and audacious, Miranda July confronts what it means to be a person with a uterus coming into middle age and struggling to understand not only the hormone changes that arrive in that nebulous time of aging, but also the spiral of self-doubt and emergence of depressions. An Eat, Pray, Love for the Gen Y crowd. July's narrator is at times infuriating, insightful, magical, and awash in an orgasmic glow. Both passionately exacting and frustratingly obtuse, she mimics life in the Anthropocene and as such I don’t know whether to hail or hate her. There are levels of insight that ring clear and true as well as layers of self-delusion that show our own worst tendencies to careen towards destruction. Regardless of one's feeling towards the central character, at the very least July has been able to take her readers on a tour through the landscapes of our own illusions in an attempt to try and find freedom. That, in and of itself, is a feat worth praising.”

— Jesse • Odyssey Bookshop

Bookseller recommendation

“A wild ride. Emotional, chaotic, modern and boldly human, "All Fours," is blowing minds (mine included) everywhere. After a psycho-sexual revelation derails her cross-country road trip, our narrator embarks on a new journey: to salvage what is left of her prime by honoring the desires of her wandering soul. This whole book delighted and shocked me in equal parts. Highly recommend!”

— Helen • Frenchtown Bookshop

Bookseller recommendation

“There are many people out there who don’t need a review to tell them that their next essential book to read is anything Miranda July writes, whenever that happens to be released. To you fellow devotees, I say that All Fours is here, and it is everything you want and a whole lot you didn’t know you needed but will soon find you can’t do without. That’s all you require from me today, so read no further: you’ll love this. In All Fours, her second novel, July looks to the life stage usually referred to as ‘midlife’, that is to say the phase where one might realise that there is more time receding in the rear-view mirror and less of it stretching out on the road ahead. ”

— Alison • Readings

Bookseller recommendation

“All Fours isn't always an easy read - the intensity and specificity of the narrator's obsessiveness is frequently overwhelming - but I tore through it in a couple of days. An urgent, visceral, and thorough exploration of midlife, menopause, sex, and marriage that manages to surprise with every new plot development. It may not be for everyone, but if it's for you then it is for you. It might change your life - and that isn't hyperbole.”

— David • Books Inc.

Bookseller recommendation

“All Fours is a delightful examination of what it means to be human, written in a truly unique voice that Miranda July has fine-tuned across multiple media. This odyssey of a married middle-aged woman whose cross-country trek is cut short by her sudden whim to camp out in a very local motel is written with a style constantly suspended between unpretentious and profound (a rare talent). The filmmaker-cum-performance artist is not generally known as a novelist, despite the now-four texts and some collections to bear her name. But this novel's frank exploration of our artistic impulses, and the fears of our own sexuality that plague us regardless of age and status, should make July a household name.”

— Lewis • Interabang Books

Bookseller recommendation

“I read this book the week I turn 44 (all fours) and for a while there it held me completely. I was obsessed. July reads the audio herself firstly!!! There were so many lines and moments (I’ll just take my spoons and leave, every day is Tuesday, the sandwich scene, the tampon scene, the hormonal cliff) that will inhabit my being. I could do little else beside reading this book and thinking about this book and thinking about this book and thinking about this book. But the final third did not quite maintain the energy and propulsion of the first two thirds and the book ground to a bit of a halt. Endings are hard and this one didn’t land. But July hit for the rafters and I always love that risk even if it ultimately falls a little short. Seeing a perimenopausal 45 year old woman on the page felt positively revolutionary when it really shouldn’t. Thanks to everyone who listened while I obsessed over this novel. It was all consuming for a while there.”

— Jaclyn • Hill of Content Bookshop