All Fours
August 26, 2024 1:24 PM - Subscribe
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.
"A frank novel about a midlife awakening, which is funnier and more boldly human than you ever quite expect....nothing short of riveting." --Vogue
"All Fours has spurred a whisper network of women fantasizing about desire and freedom...It's the talk of every group text."--The New York Times
"All Fours possessed me. I picked it up and neglected my life until the last page, and then I started begging every woman I know to read it as soon as possible." --The Cut
"A novel that presses into that tender bruise about the anxiety of aging, of what it means to have a female body that is aging, and wanting the freedom to live a fuller life...Deeply funny and achingly true." --LA Times
"A frank novel about a midlife awakening, which is funnier and more boldly human than you ever quite expect....nothing short of riveting." --Vogue
"All Fours has spurred a whisper network of women fantasizing about desire and freedom...It's the talk of every group text."--The New York Times
"All Fours possessed me. I picked it up and neglected my life until the last page, and then I started begging every woman I know to read it as soon as possible." --The Cut
"A novel that presses into that tender bruise about the anxiety of aging, of what it means to have a female body that is aging, and wanting the freedom to live a fuller life...Deeply funny and achingly true." --LA Times
I listened to the audio book. I really like her work. Almost gave up on it when it turned into weird hetero pining that I wasn't there for, but it saved itself I think and went in a surprising direction in the end.
posted by kokaku at 4:32 PM on August 26 [1 favorite]
posted by kokaku at 4:32 PM on August 26 [1 favorite]
I felt like this book was written for me specifically and I’m grateful that this novel about perimenopause, menopause, sexual cliff panic/action, and openness exists.
posted by sugarbomb at 5:26 PM on August 26 [3 favorites]
posted by sugarbomb at 5:26 PM on August 26 [3 favorites]
I read this and really connected with the mise-en-scène, that is, setting off on a madcap cross-country adventure but really only driving a few miles from home and setting up a whole new life in a matter of days and then trying to unwind the whole thing amenably. This may sound weird but there's a whole Ferris Bueller vibe I enjoyed here and I got the distinct feeling that a lot of the people in the main character's life are quietly playing along with her schtick. I guess that is (part) of the point: is this real or not? Is it a dream or not?
posted by chavenet at 5:48 AM on August 27
posted by chavenet at 5:48 AM on August 27
I guess that is (part) of the point: is this real or not? Is it a dream or not?
I think we are meant to understand that it is all very real and occurring in the world the narrator inhabits. Actions have the normal sorts of consequences, etc.
SPOILERS BELOW?
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
The biggest tip-off to me that this is the case is when her fantasy life in Monrovia ends and she returns home. Davey, Claire, et al all have Facebook profiles!! The "call me" chair is noticed by her child in the park. Her husband learns about (a fraction of) her adventures and reacts in a realistic and proportionate way. And at the end, five years later, the narrator's life circumstances seem to be reasonably progressing where she left off.
imho the only thing about any of this that didn't seem "real" was the fact that a kid like Davey could become a famous hip-hop dancer (as part of a duo? no vocals? not as part of a touring group doing background or video work?) and perform to huge crowds across the country. But maybe that's on me and my unfamiliarity with that cultural niche
posted by knotty knots at 12:32 PM on August 27 [1 favorite]
I think we are meant to understand that it is all very real and occurring in the world the narrator inhabits. Actions have the normal sorts of consequences, etc.
SPOILERS BELOW?
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
The biggest tip-off to me that this is the case is when her fantasy life in Monrovia ends and she returns home. Davey, Claire, et al all have Facebook profiles!! The "call me" chair is noticed by her child in the park. Her husband learns about (a fraction of) her adventures and reacts in a realistic and proportionate way. And at the end, five years later, the narrator's life circumstances seem to be reasonably progressing where she left off.
imho the only thing about any of this that didn't seem "real" was the fact that a kid like Davey could become a famous hip-hop dancer (as part of a duo? no vocals? not as part of a touring group doing background or video work?) and perform to huge crowds across the country. But maybe that's on me and my unfamiliarity with that cultural niche
posted by knotty knots at 12:32 PM on August 27 [1 favorite]
I picked this up and belted in for the peri-menopausal ride in a Thelma and Louise way, and was really happy with the messy directions it took – the messiness she allowed herself. It’s something women don’t allow themselves, for a lot of good reasons. That messiness in our 20s, 30s can result in a genuinely ragged and hard life, in a way that doesn’t happen to men with messy lives. But come 50+ the unraveling doesn’t put as much at risk and becomes instead something, I don’t know, sculptural? Your life becomes more malleable while still being the same medium - shapeshifting, not life-altering.
And I loved that through creating this maximalist snail-shell of a motel room around her, she’s the omniscient fairy-sexual-career-godmother to Davey and Claire. It’s a weirdly greedy-benevolent role that seems utterly – not even forgivable, but – necessary, transitive to their dyad.
Once this book sat in me for a little while, it stood out as an absolute cultural bookend to Kramer vs. Kramer. If there were a wormhole between that book (1977)/movie (1979) and All Fours, maybe All Fours would be Joanna Kramer’s side of the story, where a woman has her own creative and economic choices, where she can leave her family behind for a little while but pull off the highway one exit later – Yeah, no. – and just kick back there. Can reintroduce herself to herself as an individual, and then eventually return home, curious to renegotiate the definition of marriage, of partnership, of family, of support, with someone who is not playing catchup with the very concept of autonomy and selfhood, and certainly without being vilified and stigmatized .
posted by cocoagirl at 3:38 AM on September 13 [1 favorite]
And I loved that through creating this maximalist snail-shell of a motel room around her, she’s the omniscient fairy-sexual-career-godmother to Davey and Claire. It’s a weirdly greedy-benevolent role that seems utterly – not even forgivable, but – necessary, transitive to their dyad.
Once this book sat in me for a little while, it stood out as an absolute cultural bookend to Kramer vs. Kramer. If there were a wormhole between that book (1977)/movie (1979) and All Fours, maybe All Fours would be Joanna Kramer’s side of the story, where a woman has her own creative and economic choices, where she can leave her family behind for a little while but pull off the highway one exit later – Yeah, no. – and just kick back there. Can reintroduce herself to herself as an individual, and then eventually return home, curious to renegotiate the definition of marriage, of partnership, of family, of support, with someone who is not playing catchup with the very concept of autonomy and selfhood, and certainly without being vilified and stigmatized .
posted by cocoagirl at 3:38 AM on September 13 [1 favorite]
You are not logged in, either login or create an account to post comments
I liked it? I am skeptical of new fiction, romans-a-clef, and Miranda July's whole deal in general. This is the first thing of hers that I have read, actually, despite being roughly in the same age-cohort and probably no more than 4 degrees of separation from each other. I'd like to finish it, which I definitely don't say about everything I read anymore.
I don't feel the need to start a whisper network or group text about it, and I'm not sure who I know who would enjoy it, so I'm posting it here to see if anyone has done any of these things or wants to say anything about it.
posted by Lawn Beaver at 1:28 PM on August 26