All Fours
By Miranda July

A Beautifully Strange and Poignant Collection of Short Stories

All Fours is a thought-provoking and unique collection of short stories by Miranda July, a writer, director, and artist known for her surreal, often quirky explorations of human connection. This book continues her exploration of the intricacies of relationships, loneliness, and the complexities of everyday life, while blending elements of humor, vulnerability, and eccentricity.

📚 About the Book

In All Fours, July presents readers with a series of stories that focus on characters grappling with personal isolation, odd desires, and the struggle for meaningful connection. True to her style, the stories feel dreamlike and often absurd, yet deeply human in their reflections on modern life. Each story brings to the forefront the weirdness of daily existence, pushing the boundaries of the familiar to uncover deeper, often uncomfortable truths about how people navigate their own lives and relationships.

🌟 Key Themes

1. Isolation and Connection: A recurring theme in July's work is the complexity of human relationships—how people seek connection, even in the most unusual ways.
2. Absurdity of Life: The stories are imbued with a sense of the surreal, taking everyday experiences and adding an unexpected twist that makes the ordinary feel strange and profound.
3. Desire and Longing: Characters in the stories often wrestle with unspoken desires and the discomfort that arises from their needs, exploring what it means to be fulfilled or rejected.
4. Identity and Transformation: Many of the characters in All Fours are in the process of change, whether emotionally, physically, or socially, leading them to confront the parts of themselves they have hidden or ignored.

✨ Why You’ll Love It

• Unique Voice: Miranda July’s distinctive voice—partly whimsical, partly darkly introspective—shines throughout the collection. Her writing is rich with peculiar humor and tenderness.
• Exploration of the Unseen: She often takes readers to unexpected, vulnerable spaces, reflecting on the inner lives of people in ways that feel refreshingly authentic.
• Artistic and Poetic: Like much of her other work, All Fours contains a lyrical quality that makes even the strangest scenes feel oddly beautiful.
• Short Stories for Modern Life: If you're interested in short stories that tackle contemporary issues in unconventional ways, July’s approach will resonate deeply.

📝 Examples of Stories

• A woman contemplates the meaning of her connection to an animal, wondering about the boundaries between human and creature.
• A story where a seemingly innocent encounter becomes an unexpected journey of self-discovery, both hilarious and heartbreaking in equal measure.
• Another character explores her relationship with an object, finding solace and companionship in the most unexpected place.

🧠 For Fans Of

• The Office of Historical Corrections by Danielle Evans
• The Lonely City by Olivia Laing
• Dept. of Speculation by Jenny Offill
• The Complete Maus by Art Spiegelman

🌍 Final Thoughts

Miranda July's All Fours is a collection that defies conventional expectations, full of oddities, beauty, and truth. Her stories are evocative, often leaving readers with lingering thoughts about the peculiarities of human nature, and they continue her exploration of relationships, identity, and the surreal complexities of modern life.

#MirandaJuly #ShortStories #HumanConnection #LiteraryFiction