Latest news with #AllFours'
Toronto Star
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Toronto Star
Perimenopause, polyamory and ‘tampon sex': Inside the novel that has Toronto women talking about blowing up their lives
'I feel like I've actually been in that room. I can picture it.' It's a Sunday afternoon in Parkdale and Laura Dawe, a painter in her early 40s, is talking to her still life class about a fictional motel room in a cult novel. Dawe, who is in the process of repainting her studio, hasn't been able to get the image of a lavishly decorated rose-hued space out of her mind since reading 'All Fours,' Miranda July's sexually explicit roman à clef, last year. Dawe has her own distinctive aesthetic. But something about July's description — vivid and borderline surrealist — has stuck in her mind. Painting a room is no longer simply painting a room; for Dawe, it's become a minor act of All Fours-ing. I first encountered All Fours-ing — as a verb — in conversation with Laura Shaw, a software researcher and divorced mother of a 7-year-old, who lives in Corso Italia. Shaw read July's novel last summer and has been discussing its central themes — motherhood, perimenopause, open relationships, aging, art, and sex — with friends ever since. Like hundreds of other Toronto readers — and thousands more around the world — Shaw felt 'All Fours' captured something singular about the experience of contemporary womanhood. To 'all fours' is, as Shaw explains it, 'to blow up your life.' Opinion articles are based on the author's interpretations and judgments of facts, data and events. More details
Toronto Star
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Toronto Star
Parenting, perimenopause and ‘tampon sex': Why so many Toronto women are obsessed with a novel about blowing up their lives
'I feel like I've actually been in that room. I can picture it.' It's a Sunday afternoon in Parkdale and Laura Dawe, a painter in her early 40s, is talking to her still life class about a fictional motel room in a cult novel. Dawe, who is in the process of repainting her studio, hasn't been able to get the image of a lavishly decorated rose-hued space out of her mind since reading 'All Fours,' Miranda July's sexually explicit roman à clef, last year. Dawe has her own distinctive aesthetic. But something about July's description — vivid and borderline surrealist — has stuck in her mind. Painting a room is no longer simply painting a room; for Dawe, it's become a minor act of All Fours-ing. I first encountered All Fours-ing — as a verb — in conversation with Laura Shaw, a software researcher and divorced mother of a 7-year-old, who lives in Corso Italia. Shaw read July's novel last summer and has been discussing its central themes — motherhood, perimenopause, open relationships, aging, art, and sex — with friends ever since. Like hundreds of other Toronto readers — and thousands more around the world — Shaw felt 'All Fours' captured something singular about the experience of contemporary womanhood. To 'all fours' is, as Shaw explains it, 'to blow up your life.'
New York Times
30-04-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
‘Modern Love' Podcast: Miranda July Knew Exactly What She Was Doing
'I'm not saying my entire goal was political, but I did have days where I was like, well, one thing I could do is change our conception of older women and their sexuality and just their lived lives and what goes on in their heads. And that actually might be important.' It's been almost a year since Miranda July released her hit novel, 'All Fours.' The novel features a woman in her mid-40s who heads out on a solo road trip across the country, only to stop at a roadside motel 30 minutes from her home. She winds up staying there for three weeks, exploring and questioning what she actually wants and needs out of midlife, things she can't really focus on when she's busy being a wife, a mom and a working artist. In the motel, she redecorates the room, designs her days the way she wants to and gets in touch with her changing desires. In the past year, this book has become a touchstone for how our culture addresses women in perimenopause. It's expanded beyond the page to a kind of movement. Soon after the book's release, women started writing to July with their own stories. She started a Substack to keep those conversations going. People organized discussion groups all over the world called All Fours Group Chats. Hats were made. 'All Fours' was shortlisted for the National Book Award, and it's currently being adapted into a limited TV series. The paperback version of the novel will be released May 13. In this week's episode of Modern Love, July talks about the anger and desire that shaped the writing of 'All Fours.' And she reflects on why this novel is inspiring to some, and threatening to others, in this cultural moment. Listener Callout: How did your dad express his feelings? Tell us your story in a voice memo, and you might hear yourself in a future episode. For Father's Day, the Modern Love team is looking at different ways dads show their feelings, and we want to know about a moment when your dad opened up to you. Where were you? What did he do or say? How did you react? Did it have a lasting impact on you? And if you're a dad, how do you think about showing emotion or vulnerability when you're with your kids? Is it something you do intentionally? Does it feel easy? Hard? The deadline is May 15. Submission instructions are here. Here's how to submit a Modern Love essay to The New York Times. Here's how to submit a Tiny Love Story.
