This instalment of Piglet Picks is selected by Amy from @inkwells_bookshelf
Are you OK, hun? No. Obviously not. Which feels like the most accurate way to begin talking about All Fours — a novel that left me questioning everything from my comfort levels to my character judgement, and yet somehow, I couldn’t stop reading.
This is my first Miranda July book, and I went in mostly blind — no plot summary, no reviews, just recommendations (and the fact it was all over my feed). Within pages, I found myself wondering: Do I like this book? Am I enjoying this? Do I need to be older to fully connect with it? I’m still not sure I have answers to those questions. But I know one thing: it got under my skin.
All Fours follows an unnamed narrator — a successful, married, forty-something artist — who leaves LA for NYC on a solo road trip and promptly… doesn’t get very far. Instead, she checks into a suburban motel and begins a strange, spiralling exploration of identity, intimacy, and long-repressed desires over the course of a few weeks. What unfolds is part perimenopausal fever dream, part deadpan comedy of errors, and part existential midlife scream into the void. It’s deeply internal, wildly awkward, often graphic, and not for the faint of heart.
“My entire inner life – my soul – was disgusting, vain, profoundly selfish.”
At times, I loathed the narrator — so self-absorbed she seems to suck the life out of those around her — but then I’d find myself oddly moved by her raw vulnerability. Miranda July's prose is precise and disarmingly smart; there’s beauty in the chaos, and lines that hit so hard I had to stop and reread them.
It’s a novel that made me laugh (sometimes out of second-hand embarrassment), made me squirm, and left me wanting to ask someone — anyone — what did you make of THAT?!
Will All Fours be for everyone? Absolutely not. But if you’re up for a provocative, polarising read that pushes boundaries and dares to get weird in its depiction of womanhood, desire, aging and identity — you might find something fascinating here. I wouldn’t call it a cosy read, but it’s certainly a conversation starter.
“Everyone thinks doggy style is so vulnerable but it's actually the most stable position. Like a table. It's hard to be knocked down when you're on all fours.”
One thing’s for sure: Miranda July knew exactly what she was doing.
P.S. I listened to parts of this on the road, and having Miranda July narrate it herself adds a whole other immersive layer. If you enjoy audiobooks, I’d recommend giving it a try that way too.
And if you do pick it up — please drop me a message. Especially when you get to the tampon. I’ll just leave that there…
