The new book is populated with individuals chasing after new beginnings, struggling to escape drugs or toxic relationships, only to find hope curdling into violence. The author repeatedly invokes the phrase "clean slate", rendering it deliberately jaded through constant reiteration. Phrases such as "He aimed to start over" and "They decided to make a fresh start" recur in the text. And yet, she appears to be undertaking her personal new beginning, as this seems a different type of work – documentarian, genuinely novelistic. However it turns out to be laden with the recurring issues and approaches as earlier books.
From Accidental Writer to Iconic Work
Kraus started out as an artist who became a writer somewhat by chance with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, made up of missives to a distant beloved, transforming intimate women's literature from humiliation into assassination. She persisted as a writer, but the next trio of fascinating and rebarbative novels did not possess the shock and immediacy that the correspondence format brought to the voice of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her identity as a renegade artist who had become a large-scale low-rent landlord, so there was significant attention on real estate deals. It follows that she currently desires to explore fresh narrative sources, turning outward to other people's stories, at a time when she states that Trumpian politics makes confessional writing unnecessary.
Multiple Generations, Shared Inescapable History
The Four Spent the Day Together is structured in three parts, covering multiple eras – each trapped by their pasts. The book includes the narrative about a couple named Emma and Jasper, representations of the author's parents, moving from the New York borough to a pastoral setting. Then there is the story of Kraus herself, in the character of protagonist Catt Greene, grappling with the late recognition of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her addict husband Paul. And there is the story of the murder of one directionless individual by another in a community mostly forsaken by forward-thinking policies only 80 miles from Catt's cottage in the Minnesota countryside.
As a reader attracted to refined literature of the type Kraus herself often avoids, I was seduced by the narrative style of the opening part.
Being a reader who appreciates honed writing of the variety that the author often disregards, I was seduced by the literary tone of the first section. There is a new quality of attentiveness that accommodates trivial aspects, like the container that the protagonist as a child pries out of frozen water at the beginning of the narrative, aided by her cherished parent. "I discovered a frozen plaything!" she says; "a nice toy", he answers, "the elliptical meanings of words tumbling in their mouths like sweet treats". Kraus writes the tale of Emma with interest and closeness. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not hers, exactly."
Disappointment and Disjunction
I was destined to be disappointed when I hoped this different style could continue through the novel. Kraus notes here that she resents the satisfaction audiences such as myself have derived from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to disruption, to the untidy aesthetics she echoes from her inspiration writer Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her past books comes back in the central part. Catt is working on refurbishing 36 run-down apartments in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while shuttling between Minnesota and LA, unsuccessful in assisting her husband control his drinking. She experiences powerlessness as Paul cycles through poorly supported positions as an recovery specialist in a world fueled by the anger and fear that drives a political win. There are several pages about Catt being cancelled on a platform, her occupation changed from "novelist" to "property owner" on a reference site. Kraus still seems to be overly concerned about this. At one point she says that she's looking into the killing so that before leaving Minnesota, "she may grasp something about an America that her Twitter detractors would fail to comprehend, would not even see".
The Murder Narrative
Then we reach to the homicide in question – and the eponymous day experienced by the murdered individual with the killer and his associates. The author possesses great source material, and reconstructs step by step what happened when the victim Brandon came to see Brittney after meeting her on an app where she sold sex pictures. He sought a sexual encounter but appears congenially to have passed the day in the company of her associates, loitering having his vehicle repaired and paying for snacks and drugs, before being shot by her romantic interest Micah – a individual with mental health challenges who has often been institutionalized for violent rage.
Obsession and Unfinished Business
Catt develops an obsession by the story, and I was fascinated by the way that the author's conflicting impulses towards responsible documentation and reckless transgression wrestle in this part. Yet I wished her to go further into her own obsessions here. The most interesting character is Brittney herself, who gains dimension partially because of Catt's identification with her – another bright, bullied girl derailing in a difficult, overlooked locality. The author informs us that the protagonist communicates with Brittney in detention, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. The whole section feels strangely incomplete, to the extent that her narrative ends almost mid-par
