All Fours Summary, Characters and Themes
Miranda July’s 2024 novel All Fours is a reflective and intimate exploration of desire, identity, and the complexities of human relationships. Set against the backdrop of Los Angeles and the small town of Monrovia, California, the story follows a 45-year-old artist and writer as she navigates the boundaries of her structured life and the unexpected emotions that arise when she embarks on a solo journey.
July’s unique voice brings humor, vulnerability, and insight into the protagonist’s inner world, making All Fours a compelling read about self-discovery and the yearning for connection in unexpected places.
Summary
The novel follows a 45-year-old artist and writer who lives with her husband, Harris, and their child, Sam, in Los Angeles. Despite her love for her family, the narrator feels a growing sense of detachment and spends most of her days in her garage studio, struggling to connect with her creative work.
Her marriage, though stable, has become predictable and formal, with the couple maintaining separate bedrooms and only occasionally coming together for intimacy. This structured life leaves her feeling restless and yearning for something more.
When a whiskey company offers her $20,000 to license a sentence she wrote years earlier, the narrator seizes the opportunity to break free from her routine.
She tells Harris that she plans to use the money for a two-and-a-half-week road trip to New York, where she hopes to reignite her creative spark by starting a new book and reconnecting with old friends.
However, just thirty minutes into her journey, she stops in Monrovia for gas and finds herself inexplicably drawn to a young man named Davey Boutrous, who works at the station.
Instead of continuing her drive to New York, the narrator impulsively turns back and checks into the Excelsior Motel in Monrovia, canceling her original plans. She hires Davey’s wife, Claire, to redecorate her motel room in the style of a French hotel she once loved, while she spends secret, intimate moments with Davey.
Although their connection deepens, Davey remains committed to his marriage and refuses to consummate their relationship, much to the narrator’s frustration and intrigue.
As the days pass, the narrator becomes more entangled in her emotions, realizing that she has fallen in love with Davey.
When her time at the motel comes to an end, she is devastated by the prospect of losing contact with him. Back in Los Angeles, she struggles to reintegrate into her life with Harris and Sam, feeling disconnected and increasingly aware of her perimenopausal symptoms.
This newfound awareness fuels her determination not to let go of her desire for Davey. She begins to work on her physical appearance and even choreographs a dance for him, which she records outside the motel and posts online, hoping he will see it.
However, she soon learns from Davey’s former lover, Audra, that Davey and Claire have moved to Sacramento. In a twist of events, Audra and the narrator share an intimate night together.
The narrator’s marriage shifts after she confesses her affair with Audra to Harris, leading them to open their relationship.
Harris starts dating a woman named Paige, while the narrator embarks on a relationship with Kris, which eventually ends in heartbreak.
The novel concludes with the narrator’s journey to New York years later for her book tour. She reconnects with Davey, now a successful dancer, and attends one of his performances.
Watching him dance, the narrator experiences a profound sense of renewal, finding solace and gratitude in the beauty of the moment, even as her past desires fade into the background.
Characters
The Unnamed Narrator
The narrator is a 45-year-old artist and writer living in Los Angeles with her husband, Harris, and their child, Sam. Her character is marked by a deep internal conflict, caught between her domestic responsibilities and her yearning for creative and emotional freedom.
Although she loves her family, the narrator feels trapped in a rigid, controlled household, where her relationship with Harris has become formal and emotionally distant. Her decision to embark on a cross-country road trip, only to halt her journey in Monrovia, reflects her need to escape her stifling routine and reconnect with her suppressed desires.
The narrator’s complex emotional journey is further complicated by her experience of perimenopause, which heightens her awareness of time and the fleeting nature of desire. Her interactions with Davey and later with Kris reveal a woman struggling to balance her longing for passion with her commitments, leading her to a deeper understanding of herself by the novel’s end.
Harris
Harris, the narrator’s husband, is portrayed as a reserved and structured individual who maintains a formal relationship with his wife. Their relationship is emblematic of the narrator’s feelings of entrapment, as they live in separate bedrooms and adhere to a strict schedule for intimacy.
Harris seems to be a figure of stability, yet this stability is devoid of the passion and spontaneity that the narrator craves. When the narrator reveals that she slept with a woman in Monrovia, Harris’s reaction is measured; rather than reacting with anger or hurt, he adapts to the situation by suggesting that they open their marriage.
His response to the changes in their relationship highlights his willingness to accommodate the narrator’s needs, even as it underscores the emotional distance between them.
Davey Boutrous
Davey Boutrous is a young man the narrator meets in Monrovia, who becomes the object of her deep and complex desire. Davey represents the vitality and passion that the narrator feels is missing from her life.
Despite their growing emotional connection, Davey refuses to engage in a sexual relationship with the narrator, prioritizing his marriage to Claire. His restraint contrasts with the narrator’s intense longing, making him a figure of both attraction and frustration.
Davey’s character is integral to the narrator’s exploration of her desires and limitations, serving as a catalyst for her emotional and creative awakening. His decision to move away with his wife ultimately forces the narrator to confront the reality of her unfulfilled desires and the consequences of her actions.
Claire Boutrous
Claire is Davey’s wife and a somewhat peripheral but significant character in the narrator’s journey. The narrator hires Claire to redecorate her motel room, a task that Claire performs with professional detachment, unaware of the growing tension between her husband and the narrator.
Claire represents the life that the narrator envies and desires—a life of passion and connection, yet also one that the narrator can only observe from the outside. Claire’s eventual move to Sacramento with Davey signifies the end of the narrator’s fantasy and the need to return to her own reality, further isolating her in her emotional turmoil.
Audra
Audra is a former lover of Davey and a surprising ally to the narrator. When the narrator learns of Davey and Claire’s departure from Monrovia, it is Audra who provides the narrator with a different perspective on Davey, revealing their past affair.
Audra’s openness about her relationship with Davey and her eventual sexual encounter with the narrator underscores the complexity of human connections and the fluidity of desire. Audra’s role in the story highlights the narrator’s evolving understanding of her sexuality and her need for connection, even as it complicates her emotions further.
Kris
Kris is the woman the narrator dates after opening her marriage with Harris. Initially, Kris brings a sense of freedom and happiness to the narrator, who feels liberated by the new dynamic in her life.
However, Kris’s eventual decision to break up with the narrator leaves her devastated, underscoring the fragility of the narrator’s newfound sense of freedom. Kris’s character serves as a mirror to the narrator’s internal struggles, reflecting the highs and lows of pursuing passion outside the boundaries of her traditional life.
Arkanda
Arkanda is a pop star who shares a deep connection with the narrator, particularly around their shared traumatic experiences with childbirth. The meeting between Arkanda and the narrator at the Excelsior is pivotal, as it allows the narrator to find solace in shared pain and to see her own struggles reflected in another successful, creative woman.
Arkanda’s presence in the novel emphasizes the theme of shared female experience and the ways in which women support and understand each other through their traumas.
Sam
Sam, the narrator’s child, plays a more symbolic role in the novel, representing the domestic life and responsibilities that anchor the narrator to her reality. While not deeply explored as an individual character, Sam’s existence underscores the narrator’s internal conflict between her role as a mother and her desire for freedom and artistic fulfillment.
Sam embodies the part of the narrator’s life that is stable and comforting, yet also a reminder of the constraints that come with her role as a parent.
Themes
The Disintegration of Conventional Domesticity and the Quest for Personal Identity
Miranda July’s All Fours delves deeply into the fracturing of traditional domestic roles and the protagonist’s search for self-identity outside the confines of her established life.
The unnamed narrator’s life, marked by her structured marriage and controlled household, represents a conventional form of domesticity that seems increasingly incompatible with her inner desires and creative instincts.
Her relationship with Harris, characterized by formality and routine, reflects a broader societal expectation of marriage as a stable and unchanging institution. However, this stability is revealed to be stifling, as the narrator finds herself unable to engage with her art and increasingly disconnected from her sense of self.
The novel explores the tension between the narrator’s roles as a wife and mother and her yearning for personal autonomy and creative fulfillment. Her decision to embark on a spontaneous trip and her subsequent emotional entanglement with Davey Boutrous signify a rebellion against the limitations of her domestic life.
This rebellion is not just about escaping her marital and maternal responsibilities but also about redefining her identity beyond the prescribed roles she has inhabited for so long. The narrator’s journey reflects a broader commentary on the struggle many face in reconciling their individual needs with societal expectations of domesticity and gender roles.
The Intersection of Sexual Desire, Aging, and the Female Body
A central theme in All Fours is the complex relationship between sexual desire, aging, and the female body. As the narrator enters perimenopause, she is confronted with the reality of her body’s aging process and the societal expectations that often accompany it.
The novel challenges the notion that sexual desire wanes with age, portraying the narrator’s intense longing for Davey as a final, defiant assertion of her sexuality. This desire is not merely physical but deeply intertwined with her need for emotional and creative vitality.
The narrator’s pursuit of Davey, and later her relationships with other women, becomes a means of asserting control over her own body and its desires, even as it changes in ways that are often socially stigmatized. The novel thus offers a nuanced exploration of how women experience and navigate sexual desire as they age, pushing back against the cultural narrative that often marginalizes or pathologizes female sexuality in midlife.
The narrator’s dance for Davey and her affair with Audra symbolize her reclamation of her sexual agency, even as they also underscore the transient and often painful nature of desire. The novel ultimately suggests that the body, with all its complexities and imperfections, remains a powerful site of both identity and resistance.
The Fragmentation of Relationships and the Search for Authentic Connection
In All Fours, relationships are portrayed as inherently unstable and subject to continual renegotiation. The narrator’s marriage to Harris, initially depicted as orderly and controlled, gradually reveals itself to be emotionally distant and unfulfilling.
The narrator’s affair with Davey and her subsequent relationships with women reflect her deep-seated need for connection that transcends the superficial harmony of her marriage. However, the novel complicates the idea of connection by highlighting the fragmentation and impermanence that often accompany it.
Davey’s refusal to consummate their relationship, the narrator’s affair with Audra, and her later relationships with Kris and Harris’s openness to dating Paige all point to the fluid and often tenuous nature of human connections. Rather than offering simple resolutions, the novel explores the complexities of love and desire, where connections are fraught with ambivalence, longing, and loss.
The narrator’s ultimate realization that she cannot cling to any one person or relationship for her sense of self underscores the theme of fragmentation, suggesting that true connection may be more about accepting impermanence and embracing change than about achieving lasting unity.
The Role of Art and Creativity as a Means of Emotional Expression and Healing
Art and creativity serve as vital outlets for the narrator’s emotional expression and a means of navigating the complexities of her inner life in All Fours. Throughout the novel, the narrator’s artistic pursuits are closely linked to her emotional state, reflecting her struggles and desires.
Her initial inability to engage with her work in Los Angeles parallels her dissatisfaction with her domestic life, while her time in Monrovia, marked by her interactions with Davey and her decision to choreograph a dance for him, signifies a reawakening of her creative energies. The narrator’s art becomes a way of processing her emotions, particularly her sense of loss, desire, and the inevitable changes brought about by aging.
The dance she performs for Davey, later posted on social media, is a symbolic act of reclaiming her artistic voice and asserting her identity outside the confines of her personal relationships. Additionally, her eventual success with a new book suggests that her creative output is not only a form of emotional catharsis but also a path to self-realization and public recognition.
The novel posits that art, in its various forms, is an essential part of the human experience, offering a way to make sense of one’s emotions, connect with others, and find meaning in a world that often feels fragmented and uncertain.
The Fluidity of Identity and the Rejection of Fixed Narratives
Throughout All Fours, Miranda July challenges the notion of fixed identities, instead portraying the self as a fluid and evolving construct. The unnamed narrator undergoes significant transformations in her understanding of herself, her desires, and her relationships.
These changes are not linear or straightforward; rather, they reflect the complex, often contradictory nature of human identity. The narrator’s shifting roles—artist, wife, mother, lover—highlight the ways in which identity is constantly being renegotiated in response to internal desires and external circumstances.
Her journey from a controlled domestic life to an open relationship and her exploration of same-sex relationships represent a rejection of the fixed narratives that society often imposes on individuals, particularly women. The novel suggests that identity is not something that can be neatly categorized or fully understood at any single point in time.
Instead, it is an ongoing process of discovery, shaped by experiences, emotions, and the inevitable passage of time.
The fluidity of the narrator’s identity is further underscored by the novel’s ending, where she finds a sense of renewal not through a return to any previous state of being, but through an acceptance of the ongoing, dynamic nature of life.