The new book features individuals pursuing new beginnings, trying to break free from drugs or abusive marriages, only to witness hope devolve into violence. The author frequently uses the phrase "fresh start", making it deliberately jaded through constant reiteration. Examples include "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They chose to begin anew" recur in the story. At the same time, Kraus herself is embarking on her individual reinvention, because this presents as a different type of work – observational, truly literary. But then it proves to be laden with the recurring issues and approaches as earlier books.
From Unplanned Author to Iconic Work
Kraus began as an artist who transitioned to writing almost accidentally with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, structured as letters to an unreceptive lover, elevating personal female narrative from humiliation into defiance. She kept producing books, but the following three fascinating and rebarbative novels missed the impact and rawness that the correspondence format brought to the tone of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her role as a maverick maker who had become a large-scale low-rent landlord, so there was significant attention on property transactions. It is logical that she currently desires to experiment with new kinds of material, turning outward to other people's stories, at a moment when she states that contemporary political climate turns intimate literature obsolete.
Several Eras, One Unescapable Past
The Four Spent the Day Together is structured in three parts, encompassing three generations – all unable to escape their pasts. There is the narrative about a couple named Emma and Jasper, versions of the author's parents, moving from the urban environment to the Connecticut countryside. There is the account of Kraus, in the guise of a figure named Catt Greene, reckoning with the delayed acclaim of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her substance-dependent spouse Paul. The third thread involves the story of the murder of one directionless individual by another in a community long abandoned by liberal ideals only 80 miles from Catt's cottage in a remote part of Minnesota.
For this reader attracted to honed writing of the sort the author herself typically rejects, I was seduced by the narrative style of the initial segment.
Being a reader who favors crafted language of the kind that Kraus herself tends to eschew, I was seduced by the literary tone of the initial part. It possesses a novel degree of detail that accommodates minutiae, like the pail that the protagonist as a child pries out of frozen water at the beginning of the narrative, aided by her beloved father. "I discovered a frozen plaything!" she says; "a nice toy", he responds, "the nuanced interpretations of terms tumbling in their mouths like sweet treats". The author narrates Emma's story with interest and closeness. "It seemed to Emma she had entered a dream – not precisely her dream."
Disappointment and Disjunction
I was bound to become frustrated when I expected this different style could last out the book. Kraus notes here that she is annoyed by the enjoyment audiences such as myself have gotten from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to disruption, to the unpolished style she echoes from her inspiration author Kathy Acker, and the emptiness and redundancy of her earlier works returns in the second segment. Catt is working on refurbishing three dozen dilapidated units in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while shuttling between two different states, failing to help Paul control his drinking. She feels helpless as Paul transitions between poorly supported positions as an addiction therapist in a world fueled by the rage and anxiety that drives Trump's victory. Multiple pages are devoted about Catt being cancelled on Twitter, her professional designation altered from "writer" to "real estate holder" on the online encyclopedia. She still gives the impression to care a little too much about this. In a moment she states that she's researching the homicide so that before leaving Minnesota, "she may grasp something about an America that her online critics would fail to comprehend, would not even see".
The Killing Story
Then we reach to the actual killing – and the referenced day spent by the deceased with the murderer and his companions. Kraus has excellent raw material, and details moment by moment what occurred as the victim Brandon came to see Brittney after connecting via an application where she offered adult photos. He anticipated intimacy but appears congenially to have passed the day with her companions, wandering about having his vehicle repaired and paying for snacks and drugs, before being shot by Brittney's partner Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has often been institutionalized for aggressive outbursts.
Preoccupation and Open Ends
Catt develops an obsession by the narrative, and I was intrigued by the way that her twin drives towards ethical reporting and daring boundary-pushing tussle in this section. Yet I wished her to delve deeper into her own obsessions here. The standout figure is the character Brittney, who comes alive partially because of the protagonist's connection to her – another bright, bullied girl spiraling out of control in a struggling, neglected community. The author informs us that Catt speaks to Brittney in jail, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. This entire part feels oddly unfinished, to the extent that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par
