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All Fours

By: Miranda July
Narrated by: Miranda July
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Summary

A 2024 BOOK OF THE YEAR PICK FOR BBC R4 OPEN BOOK, THE OBSERVER, GQ, GRAZIA, HERO, I-D, NYLON

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, beds down in a nondescript motel and immerses herself in a temporary reinvention that turns out to be the start of an entirely different journey.

Miranda July’s second novel confirms the brilliance of her unique approach to fiction. With July’s wry voice, perfect comic timing, unabashed curiosity about human intimacy and palpable delight in pushing boundaries, All Fours tells the story of one woman’s quest for a new kind of freedom. Part absurd entertainment, part tender reinvention of the sexual, romantic and domestic life of a 45-year-old female artist, All Fours transcends expectations while excavating our beliefs about life lived as a woman. Once again, July hijacks the familiar and turns it into something new and thrillingly, profoundly alive.

©2024 Miranda July (P)2024 Canongate Books
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Critic reviews

"A giddy, bold, mind-blowing tour de force by one of our most important literary writers. Funny, honest, rich with the energy of the mind, All Fours will jump-start your relation to language and cause you to think anew about the nature of desire." (GEORGE SAUNDERS)

"All Fours is profound and bawdy and deeply human, a brilliant work of art from a completely blown open and fearless mind." (EMMA CLINE)

What listeners say about All Fours

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

The way Miranda July read it. Her voice is moving. Best.

Beautiful voice and way of reading rhis exquisite story. I Love it. The way ske porteayed Sam and hos words was So tender and moving.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Wild Ride

A road trip to the centre of a self. This book is like a modern Mrs Dalloway or My Year of Rest and Relaxation but with more interior design. Beauty, authenticity and everyday life.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Hmmm...

I'm not sure about this book. It's had raving reviews and lots of people resonating with it, but I didn't like it. I struggled to feel any empathy for the main character and mostly found her frustrating, whiny, self-victimising and defeatist. The writing is great with lots of memorable phrases and visual ideas but the story left me feeling annoyed. And - this is a very personal point, but - Miranda July's reading style isn't for me and I had to listen at 1.2 speed.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

A howl of rage and ecstasy from a restless and angry spirit.

A delicious Part 1 section which worked for me. It could have ended there. I didn’t understand the development beyond that.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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An en expected coming of age story

Beautiful, truthful, sad & hopeful.
Don’t get stuck keep on going, loved the journey & the message

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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What a ride

Such a unique story and literary voice. Truly weird and wonderful, intricately plotted, a new favourite. Loved it!

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    3 out of 5 stars
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More sex than I wanted 😉

Thank you for writing a book about Middle aged women.
Aware that some of this is autobiographical I understand why the story took the turns it took but I felt overwhelmed that the main character was only existing in her sexual relationships and this made her a very one dimensional person that I was getting bored of. I liked how open-minded she was but then again in 2024 who isn’t?

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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Utterly gripping

Intimate, funny, sexy, gripping. Listened to this audio book over a few days and loved it. The fact that the author is the narrator makes it all the more intimate and authentic.

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What a wild ride!

Unlike anything I’ve ever read before; bold, brave, and utterly engrossing . I’m not always a fan of author narration but I feel like she’s the only one who could have delivered her story as it needed to be heard (plus she has a voice like gorgeous scratchy honey).

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Sex mad

A facetious headline perhaps but 'sex mad' is not a bad summation of the central character who is, self confessed, deranged by infatuation and lust.
If I had been reading this novel in print I'm not sure I would have stuck with it to the end - rather like sex, every climax in the narrative turns out not to be THE climax. However Miranda July's performance of her work is irresistible and somewhat addictive so I did hear it through.
Part one has much of the crazy unpredictability of The First Bad Man, which I listened to just before this and really loved wholeheartedly. It is tremendously entertaining. Part 2 is sad and painful and feels very truthful. Parts 3 and 4 I felt like she was overstretching, looking for a stellar ending which when it comes is intoxicating but hard to have much faith in after the endless let downs and reversals in the character's life so far.
My first encounter with MJ was in a New Yorker fiction podcast where David Sedaris reads Roy Spivey. I've listened to this several times. It's fantastic. If I'm allowed to post this link you can find it here. https://www.newyorker.com/podcast/the-writers-voice/david-sedaris-reads-roy-spivey-by-miranda-july

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2 people found this helpful