The Four Spent the Day Together is populated with characters chasing after fresh starts, struggling to escape addictions or toxic relationships, only to find hope curdling into conflict. The author often employs the phrase "clean slate", making it willfully cynical through its repetitions. Examples include "He could make a fresh start" and "They chose to begin anew" are scattered across the story. And yet, Kraus herself is embarking on her personal new beginning, because this appears a novel form of writing – fact-based, authentically narrative. However it reveals itself to be laden with the same dilemmas and aesthetics as past novels.
From Unplanned Author to Cult Classic
Kraus started out as an creative who became a writer somewhat by chance with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, structured as epistles to an unresponsive love interest, transforming personal female narrative from self-debasement into defiance. She kept producing books, but the next trio of fascinating and rebarbative novels missed the impact and rawness that the correspondence format infused into the voice of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her identity as a nonconformist creator who had turned into a extensive real estate holder, so there was significant attention on real estate deals. It follows that she now wants to try out fresh narrative sources, directing her gaze to external narratives, at a time when she states that contemporary political climate makes confessional writing unnecessary.
Three Generations, Shared Inescapable History
The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, encompassing multiple eras – each trapped by their pasts. We encounter the story of a couple named Emma and Jasper, representations of the author's parents, transitioning from the urban environment to rural Connecticut. Then there is the narrative of the author, in the guise of protagonist Catt Greene, confronting the belated success of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her addict husband her husband Paul. The third thread involves the narrative of a homicide of one troubled youth by another in a locality long abandoned by forward-thinking policies only a short distance from Catt's rural residence in the Minnesota countryside.
As a reader attracted to refined literature of the type Kraus typically rejects, I was enchanted by the novelistic voice of the first section.
As a reader who appreciates precise prose of the kind that Kraus tends to eschew, I was seduced by the literary tone of the opening segment. It possesses a new quality of attentiveness that accommodates small details, like the bucket that the young Catt frees from the ice at the start of the story, helped by her adored dad. "I discovered a frozen plaything!" she declares; "a nice toy", he replies, "the ambiguous meanings of language rolling around in their mouths like piece candy". The author narrates Emma's narrative with interest and closeness. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not hers, exactly."
Letdown and Fragmentation
I was bound to become frustrated when I wished this new voice could last out the book. Kraus notes here that she dislikes the satisfaction readers like me have taken from I Love Dick; she's devoted to disjunction, to the messy artistic approach she echoes from her inspiration Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her past books returns in the middle section. Catt Greene is working on refurbishing multiple decrepit residences in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while moving between Minnesota and LA, unable to aid her husband curb his addiction. She feels helpless as Paul transitions between low-resource employment as an addiction therapist in a world fueled by the anger and fear that drives an electoral success. A significant portion discusses about Catt's social media ostracism on Twitter, her occupation changed from "writer" to "real estate holder" on a reference site. She still gives the impression to invest excessive emotion about this. On one occasion she remarks that she's investigating the murder so that before leaving Minnesota, "she may grasp something about an America that her social media opponents would be unable to grasp, would overlook entirely".
The Murder Narrative
Thus we arrive to the homicide in question – and the titular day experienced by the victim with the killer and his associates. The author possesses compelling foundational content, and reconstructs step by step what happened when a man named Brandon came to visit Brittney after encountering her on a platform where she marketed explicit images. He was hoping for sex but seems affably to have spent the day with her companions, loitering having his vehicle repaired and funding treats and narcotics, before being murdered by Brittney's partner Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has frequently been hospitalised for aggressive outbursts.
Obsession and Unfinished Business
Catt develops an obsession by the story, and I was intrigued by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards responsible documentation and daring boundary-pushing wrestle in this part. Yet I wished her to delve deeper into her personal fixations here. The compelling persona is Brittney herself, who becomes vivid in part due to the protagonist's connection to her – another bright, bullied girl spiraling out of control in a struggling, neglected community. Kraus notes that the protagonist communicates with Brittney in detention, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. This entire part feels oddly unfinished, to the point that her narrative ends almost mid-par
