All Fours is one of the very rare books I immediately re-read as soon as I finished (on my Kindle), then raced to my local indie bookshop to buy the hardcover for my library. The novel explores critical themes like mid-life crises, work, hormonal changes, and the significance of female friendships within a fast-paced plot, and many explicit (as in LOTS of sex and masturbation) and bizarre scenes.

It has been a few weeks since I read it, and I cannot stop thinking about it. This is why.

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Discovering Miranda July

I had never heard of Miranda July before reading this book, perhaps due to living under my BigLaw shell for 20 years. One chapter in, I was googling her hardcore. This nonstop concurrent googling and reading persisted as I devoured the book, cringing as the “remaining pages” grew smaller and smaller. When I went to buy the hardcover at my local indie bookshop, a very young woman staring at the same shelves remarked how wonderful July’s movies are, her incredible aptitude as a multi-media artist.

Where have I been? Well, now I am here. And I am. . . in?

After two reads, back to back, I believe I have googled nearly everything in this novel, and a huge swath of press coverage of July - something I very rarely ever do after reading a novel, preferring it usually to live in my head without a ton of information about the author. But with this one, I had to visualize, INSTANTLY, her references to Le Bristol in Paris. Read scientific papers on estrogen and perimenopause. Sadly learn what fetal-maternal hemorrhage is. Watch July’s extremely bizarre dance routines on Instagram. Read her IRL interview with Rihanna. Then watch and r-watch her Instagram dance videos, all growing weirder and weirder. I loved it.

The novel contains multitudes, but the specific themes I want to talk about with every woman I see include:

Women's Mid-Life Crisis

To me, the novel is about a woman’s quest through a mid-life crisis. The novel does not mention Covid but it was written during the pandemic, and wow, you can feel the isolation and the sense of everything changing and closing in and then letting go.

It’s not a “go chase your passion and change your career!” type of book, nor is it a “leave your family and live off the land like a fairy-cottage-core nymph.”

It is so much weirder.

And it is definitely a pro-blow-up-your-life tale. One I loved reading, and am currently in the process of writing (my female protagonist blows up her life at the midpoint, too). I love how the book depicts the narrator’s insights as she stands amongst the debris and realizes though all of her friends seemed to want to make the same changes in their lives, she was the only one brave/delusional enough to do it.

Hormonal Changes and Perimenopause

Until I read this book and saw the graph depicting the steep cliff of estrogen depletion around 47-50, I did not quite understand what hormonal changes are ahead for me. Now I do.

July leverages the countdown clock of women’s hormonal shifts to up the stakes. After the protagonist learns about perimenopause, she takes action to change her life (romantically, mostly). The narrator reaches out to older friends to learn what’s ahead and it’s largely a positive future.

I was 75% finished with my first read at the time of my annual physical. Curious, I asked the doctor if she sees a lot of patients who want to learn about perimenopause. She scowled and said she blames TikTok menopause influencers for blaming hormones for every ailment and spends too much time talking about perimenopause now. In her view, it is what it is, and women can’t purchase their way out of a natural life change.

We didn’t quite get to the bottom of this during my short appointment, and I dare not go on TikTok to research this further, but I thank Miranda July for the science lesson. And might start looking into some supplements or something.

Power of Female Friendships

Even though I am single and childfree, I related to the narrator’s feeling of being stuck in her traditional marriage with a high-needs child, wondering how she ended up role-playing something that is not authentically her. But most viscerally, I related to the novel’s focus on the importance of women's friendships.

The narrator’s relationship with her best friend, Jordi, was beautiful and the real, true relationship of the book, in part because the narrator could be her true self, unmasked. And because they could eat sugar in secret.

It is really magic, the instant connection one woman has with another even if only a few minutes passing by at a party, to get right into the deep, meaty stuff of how it is to live in this world with a female body. July’s dialogue captures this perfectly.

French Provincial Decor

The settings! July’s description of the motel room of her own, decorated like Le Bristol, instilled in me a newfound need for tiny-rose budded bedding and golden pink salmon curtains. And geometric tiles, tonka bean soap, rose-colored light, a cryptic painting of a woman in front of a cave.

The visual details mesmerized me, and July’s use of rose-colored light at pivotal points in the book really captured the soft, hopeful vibe of her room and the ending.

I tried to find similar French Provincial bedding at my local Home Goods but definitely not as luxe as the bedspread the narrator purchased in the book. But one day, I hope to decorate a room just like hers. And stay at the Le Bristol if I return to Paris!

Conclusion

All Fours made me want more of Miranda July. Not the explicit sex scenes, I did not really need those to enjoy the novel, but her BRAIN.

The book made me feel alive, along with the first-person narrator.

It made me feel hopeful, showing that art can change you, you can change yourself, and do it all in a pretty French Provincial luxury hotel room, with your best friends on speed dial.

All Fours. Whoa. A book review.