Recent Reading All Fours

Miranda July's All Fours tells the story of a 48 year old mother and wife who goes on a car trip from Los Angeles to New York but stops just 30 miles from home and decides that since she is entering periomenopause it is time to explore her sexuality while her hormones are still fully functioning. There is a lot of and a great variety of sex in the book -- straight, lesbian, and a variety of practices -- some of which are virtually guaranteed to offend some readers. The book is not without its flaws; white privilege being the biggest -- how many 48 year old women would have the time and money to stop caring for their children and quit their jobs?

However, the book excels at exploring menopause -- a topic underexplored in literary fiction. These passages were memorable:

“What’s the best thing about being postmenopausal?” 

"Best? well, a woman’s mental health postmenopause is usually better than it’s been at any other time in the life of that particular woman, other than maybe childhood.”

I sat in my car and did a quick round of open-sourcing, sending a group text... What’s the best thing about life after bleeding?

My chronic migraines stopped completely after menopause. 

I feel like my true self. Like I’m 9 years old and I can do whatever I want.

I, a lifelong Catholic, lost the ability to believe in God post menopause. God just no longer made sense to me. It was like a switch that had turned off. This has allowed me to explore parts of life that my faith didn’t permit. 

I never had or wanted kids so I feel excited that there is no possible way I could make one now 

What other people do, think or say has become kind of irrelevant since I stopped bleeding. Worldly concerns feel like a hectic fever dream of youth.

No more endometriosis pain.