Review by memeraryfiction - All Fours

memeraryfiction 's review for:

All Fours by Miranda July

2.5

funny reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

There are aspects of All Fours that I like, and I ultimately respect its project, but on the whole it was a huge miss for me. I like July's focus on women in their forties, and her way of spotlighting that women in middle age aren't reduced to a certain identity such as motherhood. I also appreciate her project in making her unnamed narrator messy - mess isn't just for twenty-somethings, after all! But the mess is ... a lot, and it's ultimately what turned me off.

The protagonist is difficult to like or empathize with - this is presumably an intentional choice on July's part, but it made it quite hard to connect with the novel. In particular, the character's obsession with a younger man is perplexing: Davey has nothing going for him and doesn't at all feel worth everything that happens in the book. Again, I suspect this is intentional, but it was a huge turnoff. I've honestly never felt so much secondhand embarrassment for a fictional character in my life.

There were specific moments I enjoyed, but mostly All Fours just felt quite cringey; this was a huge miss for me.

Content Warnings