Likely Stories - All Fours

Have you heard of this book All Fours? I first saw the title in an article about women rethinking marriage and family life. Then a friend texted me, asking if I had read this “scandalous,” book called All Fours by Miranda July. I knew the name Miranda July, I had seen her film, “Me, You, and Everyone we Know,” when I was in college in the early aughts. At the time, I felt very sophisticated for knowing about this fresh indie film. Jump forward to December of 2024, and suddenly everyone was talking about Miranda July and her new book “All Fours.” You may have see the title listed on more than one Best of 2024 Book Lists. All Fours was A New York Times Top Ten Book of the Year, A Time Magazine Top Book of 2024, One of NPR’s Books We Love and on and on.

There is a Fresh Air episode from December, where Terri Gross chats with Miranda July. I’d highly recommend that too, if you’re interested. But I am not Terri Gross, and I’m not Miranda July, and I’m not Time Magazine, so here’s what I thought of All Fours, as a wife and mother of small kids living in little ole Waco, Texas. I thought it
was brilliant. It was raw, and honest, and wise, and funny. I laughed out loud
many many times while reading. It is a fairly raunchy book, so it might not be
for everyone. A friend of mine described it as a very “horny” story, and there is
an infamous scene with a tampon. But this tale is so much more than a sexy
walkabout. It’s about a woman, rethinking marriage, her role as a parent, and
her life as a sexual and creative creature.

Miranda July examines what it means to be an “aging” woman in society, she considers mortality, and furthermore, the mortality of our youth. All Fours has been lauded as the first “great perimenopausal novel.” I am a 38 year old woman, and to be honest, I had not given menopause much thought, except when reading an article a few years ago about how humans, whales, and some chimps, are the only mammals who experience menopause – fascinating, right? But in All Fours, I was reminded that menopause is the greatest hormonal change a woman experience in her lifetime outside of puberty – these two majors shifts marking the beginning and
end of our reproductive lives.

For many of us drowning in the management of our young families, and our careers, it’s a monumental change waiting just around the corner that we never think about. In this semi-autobiographical narrative, Miranda July guides us through her own messy and powerful perimenopausal transformation as she re-examines her relationships, her career, her sexuality, and her creative potential. You might love, you might hate it, but I guarantee, All Fours will give you plenty to talk about. It might just be one of your top reads of 2025.

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