I really liked this book. The unnamed narrator is a 45 year old perimenopausal woman with a plan to drive from California to New York, but her trip takes an.unexpected turn. The writing style is fresh, and there's a lot to learn through the conversations with old and new friends and the new experiences that she seizes. I'm in this demographic and I identified with some of the feelings and enjoyed the idea of opening yourself with all the possibilities that are out there. Recommended.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

“…like Humpty Dumpty or a lesser egg.”
 
In the excellent All Fours (@canongatebooks - UK release 16th May, by Miranda July (@mirandajuly) the unnamed narrator, an artist in her mid-forties, has a transactional, if supportive, marriage that she feels is constantly on the brink of becoming more intimate. It‘s been years since she was a fresh new name and we get the sense that she hasn’t created a stir for a while, in fact her latest big payout was for a fragment of her work being used in an advertisement. 
 
Stung by the suggestion that she’s become too passive she decides to prove a point by driving from LA to New York for a meeting with a big name. When she pulls over for a stop she finds herself reluctant to continue her journey. She doesn’t feel much like going home, either. So far, so Doc Hollywood/Cars - big city protagonist gets diverted and realises the true meaning of life, end credits.  But this is Miranda July, who likes to subvert our expectations (and pretty much everything else) and will always turn away from the obvious options. The stop-over is barely fifteen minutes from her home, she can see landmarks she passes taking her child to school.

This impasse in her life, is it artistic, is it spiritual, is it emotional, is it sexual? Or is it, as a friend suggests, the menopause? 
 
Fertility issues and frank sexual matters, while seriously impactful on the characters, are handled with empathy and humour. July does a wonderful job of bringing all kinds of intimacy alive on the page, and that includes sex: All Fours is effortlessly sexy - that is, it doesn’t have three pages of fully-mapped groping in each chapter, instead the sex is vividly conjured in short sentences, often only a few words, which capture superbly the powerful intimacy of a mutual connection, be the characters exchanging a caress, a kiss, or something more earthy.

I’m a *massive* fan of July’s work and with this hugely enjoyable novel she reaches deep and brings some rich perspectives on sexuality, aging, and making the best life for yourself. It is funny, compassionate, hopeful, and has a wonderfully mutinous tone.

A sort-of-famous 40-something artist is meant to be taking a road trip to New York, but turns off the road after twenty minutes and instead spends weeks in a nearby motel, renovating her room and diving into an emotional crisis that she will emerge from slowly, then all at once. I didn't know what to expect from this book, but it absolutely floored me - the deeply funny, eccentric narrator's voice at first made me think this would be lighthearted, but like 'Sorrow and Bliss', another book that made me laugh and cry, it goes somewhere much deeper, exploring maternal trauma and slow healing that happens so thoughtfully that I didn't spot it until it felt absolutely true. It's a meditation on middle age, motherhood, artistic ambitions, marriage and monogamy that will offer something to everyone, if you're able to lose yourself in the voice. Thank you NetGalley for providing me with a review copy!

Explores the conflict and absurdity of being a woman when society thinks you should have everything figured out. Of balancing the roles of mother and wife with work and self identity, all through the instability of menopause. It celebrates a return to playfulness and the freedom of making unconventional decisions and following the experience. Honest and uncompromising, this is a brilliantly absurd and often hilarious portrayal of a woman taking herself apart to rediscover herself anew. One to read with your best friend and scream together about the fuckwittery of life.

This was a difficult one for me to get into and was very nearly a DNF. The narrator, a multi-creative in her mid-40s with a husband and child and a successful career, was very difficult for me to relate to or even to want to relate to from the start. It could be funny at times, but mostly I felt I was getting a glimpse into a narcissitic and highly sexed mind that was just not interesting to me. As a woman nearing this time of life myself I appreciate the themes of independence and self-actualization that underly the narrator's actions but the way it was delivered was alienating and unappealing for me.

I haven't read the first novel by Miranda July, but now I absolutely have to. This, their second novel, is a real triumph: thought-provoking, brilliantly written and intelligently constructed, it provides a real burst of inspiration, and more than that, a close affinity with the protagonist. It's a meditation on sex, monogamy, art, hope, ageing (and I was going to say 'womanhood', but really, I think, humanity). The brilliantly clever use of humour reveals this writer to be more than adept. Please write more, Miranda July. Excellent. Highly, highly recommended. My grateful thanks to NetGalley and to the publisher for the ARC.

A woman in her 40s going through a crisis period, upending her life and questioning it's direction is a good starting point. But, in the finishing, this surprising novel is exciting, funny, and explicitly sexualising.

I did wonder at one point should it be so explicit, did the book need to be so shamelessly sexually exploitative, but then if not, the whole essence of the novel is lost. It is after all about female desire.

Not only it is bold but, so wonderfully well written.

My thanks go to NetGalley and the publishers Canongate for an advanced copy of this book for my honest review.

Miranda July has always been one of my favorite writers, but this book seemed particularly different from the others, or maybe that's just because years have passed since the last one. The story alternates between funny moments and others where it also annoyed me, so I wouldn't recommend it to everyone, but I find it extremely liberating that someone decided to describe perimenopause and sexual desires without innuendo, rather I would say with brutal honesty.

Miranda July é sempre stata una delle mie scrittrici preferite, ma questo libro mi é sembrato particolarmente diverso dagli altri, ma magari solo perché sono passati anni. La storia alterna momenti divertenti ad altri in cui mi ha dato anche fastidio, quindi non la consiglierei a tutti, ma trovo estremamente liberatorio che qualcuno abbia deciso di descrivere la perimenopausa ed i desideri sessuali senza allusioni, anzi direi piuttosto con brutale onestá.

I received from the Publisher a complimentary digital advanced review copy of the book in exchange for a honest review.

All Fours is a book I didn’t know that I needed to read. It’s an ode to women and their midlife. Among so many good books about the rights and wrongs of women, most of them focus on younger protagonists, which is great but once crossing a certain age, we might find ourselves lacking the representation of this dreaded midlife. Miranda July brought it to the forefront with so much humor and many unexpected events. From the beginning we’re in for a ride of surprises, weird choices of the main character leading to bizarre, hilarious but deeply human situations and relationships full of desire. By the 1/3 of the book I felt like the crescendo has happened and I couldn’t imagine where the story can possibly go, which lead to some middle parts that I wasn’t invested in, but the last 1/3 really saved it and brought it together. I absolutely loved the focus on perimenopause and menopause and many female perspectives the book brought forward. It is ultimately a story of female experiences in the part of life that is made to be invisible and forgotten but is so pivotal.
It’s a hilarious and satisfying read that kept going places I didn’t expect with just a few hiccups that were forgivable by the end.

Thank you to Canongate and NetGalley for the eARC!

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.

This is the road trip that never happened. It’s not what I expected but is a strangely compulsive read. Once I got going I couldn’t put it down. I found it a fascinating tale which, although not funny, has humour in it. I can’t categorise this book. I enjoyed the read but found it totally baffling at times.

My thanks to #NetGalley and #Canongate for this free ARC in exchange for my honest review.
#AllFours

Bold, brave and brilliant.

A semi famous artist embarks on a journey driving from LA to NY, leaving her husband and child. Where she ends up isn’t where she (or I!) expected.

July considers a lot through her protagonist: what does it mean to be middle aged?
What does peri-menopause look like? What happens if we talk about? What about sex and desire? Marriage? Inter-generational trauma? Being an artist? When can you reinvent yourself? The impacts of a traumatic birth? Being a mother?

All Fours is a no holds barred tale, thoroughly enjoyable and deeply moving. I’ve already preordered a copy for a friend - grateful to see FMH represented in fiction.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Based mainly on romance and women's themes, I found the adult fiction book quite refreshing. Miranda writting style it’s really good and kind. was funny was raw was relatable so I think it’s a book to many people will enjoy.

I was both horrified and entertained by this book.
Yes, it's a brilliant look at a perimenopausal woman coming into her power.
It's also a story of someone who abandons a marriage she is barely invested in without a second glance.
She throws away her family for a bizarre fantasy based around a pretty boy who works for Hertz.
It reminded me of the bit in Eyes Wide Shut, where Nicole Kidman talks about being willing to burn down her marriage for an affair with a young naval officer.
You can tell it's a fantasy, because there are no negative consequences for our protagonist.
Her young son isn't damaged.
Her husband moves on with grace.
I wouldn't recommend this as a manual to follow, that's for sure!
Real Life is messy, and there is fallout.

I have never read Miranda July before, so this came across as an astonishingly different, a surprise examination of the life of an middle aged artist, who leaves her home, intending to drive cross country from LA to New Yorm, leaving behind her child and husband. However, shortly after starting she instead settles for a ordinary motel, her trip becoming more of an interior shift and changes to come. This is strangely weird, humourous, a delight in being found, uncomfortable, balanced with the comic touches in the musings and thoughts, on theimpact of limitations, on art, what constitutes being free, marriage, motherhood, domesticity, romance, intimacy, obsessions, and big on being unashamedly truthful and on a ageing woman's desire and sex, which may not appeal to some readers.

This is a thought provoking and emotional read, touchingly profound, of heartbreak, sorrow, and loss, and a eye opening glimpse of sex and the middle aged woman, her changing physical body, vulnerabilities, and the fully lived life. This is not going to be to everyone's taste, but many readers looking for the odd, original, and different are likely to appreciate it. Recommended. Many thanks to the publisher for an ARC.

All Fours is raw, frank, and at times, uncomfortable reading. As a queer woman in my early 40s, the writing and storyline hit harder than maybe for other readers - I found myself caught in a spiral of anxiety at times, analysing my thoughts and behaviours - am I perimenopausal? Am I heading for sexual dysfunction? Do I need to ditch my partner for a doomed relationship with hip-hop dancer? But in a weird way, I appreciated the questions that arose. It made me realise how little we talk about perimenopause and it's genuinely prompted me to look into it more and to discuss it with my partner and friends.

I oscillated between enjoying the novel & July's often darkly humorous writing, infused with a liberating exploration of 40-something female sexuality, and cringing and feeling repulsed at some of the content. The narrator blowing £20k to remodel a hotel room like it's nothing, the hook-up with a much older woman (not the age difference, rather the way this event is described), the obsession the narrator develops with this average guy, and the way he's elevated to some kind of god-like status.

There is a lot of sexual content, which won't be for everyone. It's a sharp contrast to the way women's sexual desires are often portrayed in novels - chaste, sanitised, or merely alluded to.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for the digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Did not finish - This was very different to what I'd usually read & it just wasn't for me. Nothing wrong with it, just personal taste & I wasn't as interested as I'd like to be.

Sorry to say this was not for me. Just a few pages in the thought of 45 year olds regularly sending each other naked selfies gave me the first hint it was not going to be my kind of book. I struggled on to around 25% but still couldn't really find a story to get my teeth into so DNF.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read an advance copy. All opinions are my own.

This was just not my cup of tea and I sadly ended up DNFing. It was funny at times, but I just struggled to get into it.

Thank you NetGalley, the publisher and the author for a copy of this ARC!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC.

I was so excited to get this ARC and it did not disappoint. All fours is raw, funny, sexy and honest. From the very start I was excited and comforted by Miranda July's writing.

All Fours by Miranda July is a typically honest and quirky novel about being a woman and a wife and a mother. I think fans of Melissa Broder would enjoy this one.