Tembe this is why you’re the goat. I have read so many reviews of All Fours this summer and not one has ever remotely alluded to or touched on this horrendous privilege and racist & colonialist rhetoric in the novel. I actually cannot believe the amount of coverage I’ve seen of this book and not one mention of these themes - this reviews makes it seem like a completely different novel!!!! When it comes white womans desire, it is always considered in a vacuum.
I understand why middle aged white women for a variety of reasons are desperate to feel seen - and did so in All Fours, because older women are told by society they’re undesirable and lack agency - but in this desperation to be seen came this universal acceptance & unchallenging of the privileged and self entitled behaviour of the protagonist? Because it’s all in the name of lust! Gross. I hate that July wrote this story like this. How boring is it to explore desire in this lens of a sterile lack of consequence white womanhood who harms those around her?! Tale as old as time - give us something new!!!!!
My mouth was agape at the quotes of the racism towards Davey (fucking gross) and I loved the playing in the dark linking! Morrison was so right - all American fiction is race fiction. I cannot believe a book with that kind of language has been so popular this summer. Maybe I shouldn’t be surprised but I am! Love this love you this was brilliant - enjoyed it very much xx
Thank you for this brilliant and spot on analysis of All Fours. I read it and had a lot of issues with it, and you've articulated and named the self-entitlement and privilege so clearly. And so much more.
“But the freedom that she seeks is freedom from rules, the epitome of manifest destiny. She doesn’t want to operate in a society with rights and wrongs. She wants everything she desires to be the right choice.” !!!
I did not finish--could not finish--this book despite hearing and reading rave reviews for it nearly everywhere last summer and this fall. It didn't resonate with me at all, and that's why I tossed it to one side. Your analysis of the privileged, racist, and colonialist rhetoric of July's text makes me understand my visceral rejection of it even more clearly. Thank you!
Tembe this is why you’re the goat. I have read so many reviews of All Fours this summer and not one has ever remotely alluded to or touched on this horrendous privilege and racist & colonialist rhetoric in the novel. I actually cannot believe the amount of coverage I’ve seen of this book and not one mention of these themes - this reviews makes it seem like a completely different novel!!!! When it comes white womans desire, it is always considered in a vacuum.
I understand why middle aged white women for a variety of reasons are desperate to feel seen - and did so in All Fours, because older women are told by society they’re undesirable and lack agency - but in this desperation to be seen came this universal acceptance & unchallenging of the privileged and self entitled behaviour of the protagonist? Because it’s all in the name of lust! Gross. I hate that July wrote this story like this. How boring is it to explore desire in this lens of a sterile lack of consequence white womanhood who harms those around her?! Tale as old as time - give us something new!!!!!
My mouth was agape at the quotes of the racism towards Davey (fucking gross) and I loved the playing in the dark linking! Morrison was so right - all American fiction is race fiction. I cannot believe a book with that kind of language has been so popular this summer. Maybe I shouldn’t be surprised but I am! Love this love you this was brilliant - enjoyed it very much xx
Thank you for this brilliant and spot on analysis of All Fours. I read it and had a lot of issues with it, and you've articulated and named the self-entitlement and privilege so clearly. And so much more.
“But the freedom that she seeks is freedom from rules, the epitome of manifest destiny. She doesn’t want to operate in a society with rights and wrongs. She wants everything she desires to be the right choice.” !!!
I did not finish--could not finish--this book despite hearing and reading rave reviews for it nearly everywhere last summer and this fall. It didn't resonate with me at all, and that's why I tossed it to one side. Your analysis of the privileged, racist, and colonialist rhetoric of July's text makes me understand my visceral rejection of it even more clearly. Thank you!
this was excellent!!! 🥰🥰