Book Reviews: All Fours by Miranda July

I really appreciate how the book periodically looks inward to say, maybe my life is similar to my parents will not be as revolutionary or as honest as that of my children. That was one of things July posited within this novel that really resonated with me.

In terms of gender and sexuality, the novel "doesn’t operate in binaries" but does so in a sort of pedantic and unnatural way because the main characters are still rooted in binaries and semi traditional roles in the start of the story. I think explorations of queerness and identity in modern life are always fun to read because it can be a sort of progressive history as its happening, but thus can feel a little forced.

The aspect of being mind or body rooted rly interested me and forced me to look inward to see that I was quite mind rooted and wondered if I’d find myself in a similar situation if I suddenly became body rooted. Menstruation and conception is a common motif within the novel, and is used to tell time and express different forms of aging within femininity and sexuality. There are certain elements of the novel that operate in taboos in regards to excretions of the body and I think that's something I've seen July ruminate on in other works.

I really appreciated the somewhat morally neutral angle on cheating and falling out of love with somebody. The ways that July described the coldness and formality that had developed within the relationship is so unfortunate but also something most people can relate to. The other moments that shined for me are the dialogue which felt so perfectly tailored to each individual character and the connections to artistic process.

It’s rly hard not to empathize with feeling used up or at the end of a road as a women in society and even when our main character acts insufferably or selfishly I feel a great sadness for her journey. I think given some knowledge about July as a public figure the reader can infer the work might be semi-biographical and its hard not to extrapolate from the character into a stand in for the author. There is a kind of eye-roll feeling I have in regards to a lot of poly dynamics and the conscious uncoupling tactics in the book are insightful but also certainly problems for people of a certain class (and income bracket.)