All Fours
She sets out to cross America, stops at the next town, and the whole book happens there.
A semi-famous artist sets out to drive across America, gets as far as the next town, and stops. Everything happens there. July writes perimenopause, marriage and desire with a comic literalism that makes people either evangelical about the book or unable to finish it, and the sex is written as awkwardly as it usually is. It was a National Book Award finalist and probably the most argued-about novel of its year.
Recommended by 1 Person
Kit de Waal
There’s no way to get around this, it’s weird. I love its weirdness. It’s about a woman who is a semi-famous artist who embarks on a road trip from one side of America to the other. She’s been given some money and she’s always wanted to do this. She says goodbye to her husband and child, gets to the next town and stops. The whole book is about what happens in that next town. She never makes it across the country.
Interview · April 2025
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