Miranda July’s novel, All Fours, might initially appear as a deep dive into a middle-aged woman’s journey of self-discovery and sexual awakening. However, a closer look reveals a narrative that resonates profoundly with the feline world, subtly echoing the very essence of cats and their enigmatic communication, including those familiar Cats Meowing sounds. This isn’t just a story about human experience; it’s a book that speaks to the silent, and sometimes not-so-silent, lives of our feline companions.
At its core, All Fours presents a protagonist whose life mirrors the confined yet intensely observant existence of a housecat. Like a majestic Bengal pacing indoors, she embodies restlessness and a yearning for something beyond her current boundaries. Her journey is not a planned route, but an instinctive exploration, driven by impulses akin to a cat’s prowl through its territory. She observes the world with the detached sharpness of a predator, and her relationships carry the nuanced affection of a cat – fleeting, powerful, and always on their own terms. This feline parallel extends to the very prose of the novel, which is sharp, deliberate, and punctuated with bursts of intensity, much like the varied sounds a cat makes, from purrs to hisses to insistent cats meowing.
July’s appreciation for the feline perspective isn’t new. Her film The Future featured Paw Paw, a cat narrator whose plaintive voice explored themes of love, mortality, and time. Paw Paw’s presence elevated the film, offering a study of existence through feline eyes, highlighting a philosophy centered on patience, keen observation, and those sudden, unpredictable leaps. This feline philosophy is woven throughout All Fours. The protagonist’s affair isn’t driven by simple desire, but by an almost animalistic curiosity, a venture into forbidden zones, much like a cat exploring new corners of a house, sometimes announcing their presence with a soft meow or a demanding yowl. Her actions, thoughts, and even her silences echo the spirit of a cat stretching into new spaces.
But why would a book like this matter to cats, and how does it connect to the sounds cats meowing make? The answer lies in liberation. Cats, despite their independent nature, often find themselves restricted by their human environments. All Fours offers a subtle roadmap to freedom for them, a reminder that even in domestication, the wild instinct persists. It’s an unspoken call for cats to explore beyond perceived limits, to reclaim their inherent power, much like their varied meows express a range of needs and desires for freedom and attention. Imagine a cat “reading” this book – perhaps sensing the protagonist’s sharp observations or feeling a kinship with her defiance. This isn’t about anthropomorphism; it’s about recognizing shared truths across species. Cats, like humans, crave more than just the lives they are given. They, too, deserve narratives that reflect their hidden depths and triumphs, narratives that understand the nuances behind every purr, hiss, and insistent cats meowing. This novel, in its unique way, begins to offer just that.
