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A review by bethreadsandnaps
All Fours by Miranda July
3.75
3.75 stars
ALL FOURS by Miranda July is honestly not my cup of tea personally, but I admire what the author is trying to do. The author seems to be making bold statements on aging, menopause, sexuality, gender, nonconforming families, among other themes.
The unnamed narrator is about to embark on a cross-country road trip from Southern California to NYC when she becomes obsessed with Davey, who she meets at a gas station while she's gassing up for her journey. She aborts her road trip to remodel a motel room for $20,000 and pursue Davey the Hertz employee for three weeks instead of going to NYC. It's a weird premise, so weird that it reminds me of ONE'S COMPANY, a novel in which the main character wins the lotto and builds the TV sitcom set for Three's Company and chooses to live as a character in the sitcom. Anyway, back to this one.
There is a lot of graphic detail in this book. Of everything. Masturbation, sex (M/F, F/F), roleplaying, fetishes, bodily functions, fetishes WITH bodily functions, need I go on?? Probably not what I'm most comfortable to read, but I think making the reader uncomfortable is what the author is going for.
I'm not knocking this book for its content although I do think the graphic nature is worth giving others a heads up about. What knocked it down for me is that I had a furrowed forehead almost the entire time I read it because I only grasped very small parts of this main character. So much of the book is her sexual obsessions that I didn't feel I had a sense of her beyond her sexual side. Being that I'm actually a year OLDER than the main character, I expected to empathize with her more than I did. I wanted her to seek therapy and possibly seek out medication (more than her doctor-recommended hormone cream) because most of the time I thought she was out of control and more self-insight could be helpful. I also didn't get much about her husband Harris and child Sam. It's difficult to be invested in a book when I can't create much (or any) connection with the characters.
All that said, this book is VERY memorable (chapter 11!!) and has themes that are often unexplored or danced around in other novels that this novel meets head-on with unabashed frankness.
ALL FOURS by Miranda July is honestly not my cup of tea personally, but I admire what the author is trying to do. The author seems to be making bold statements on aging, menopause, sexuality, gender, nonconforming families, among other themes.
The unnamed narrator is about to embark on a cross-country road trip from Southern California to NYC when she becomes obsessed with Davey, who she meets at a gas station while she's gassing up for her journey. She aborts her road trip to remodel a motel room for $20,000 and pursue Davey the Hertz employee for three weeks instead of going to NYC. It's a weird premise, so weird that it reminds me of ONE'S COMPANY, a novel in which the main character wins the lotto and builds the TV sitcom set for Three's Company and chooses to live as a character in the sitcom. Anyway, back to this one.
There is a lot of graphic detail in this book. Of everything. Masturbation, sex (M/F, F/F), roleplaying, fetishes, bodily functions, fetishes WITH bodily functions, need I go on?? Probably not what I'm most comfortable to read, but I think making the reader uncomfortable is what the author is going for.
I'm not knocking this book for its content although I do think the graphic nature is worth giving others a heads up about. What knocked it down for me is that I had a furrowed forehead almost the entire time I read it because I only grasped very small parts of this main character. So much of the book is her sexual obsessions that I didn't feel I had a sense of her beyond her sexual side. Being that I'm actually a year OLDER than the main character, I expected to empathize with her more than I did. I wanted her to seek therapy and possibly seek out medication (more than her doctor-recommended hormone cream) because most of the time I thought she was out of control and more self-insight could be helpful. I also didn't get much about her husband Harris and child Sam. It's difficult to be invested in a book when I can't create much (or any) connection with the characters.
All that said, this book is VERY memorable (chapter 11!!) and has themes that are often unexplored or danced around in other novels that this novel meets head-on with unabashed frankness.