The Four Spent the Day Together is populated with protagonists chasing after new beginnings, trying to break free from substance abuse or toxic relationships, only to witness hope devolve into violence. Kraus often employs the phrase "clean slate", making it intentionally weary through recurring use. Phrases such as "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They chose to begin anew" are scattered across the text. At the same time, the author herself appears to be undertaking her personal new beginning, because this presents as a different type of work – fact-based, genuinely novelistic. Yet it turns out to be laden with the recurring issues and aesthetics as earlier books.
From Chance Novelist to Cult Classic
The writer started out as an artist who transitioned to writing almost accidentally with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, made up of letters to an unreceptive lover, elevating intimate women's literature from abjection into rebellion. She persisted as a writer, but the following three compelling and abrasive novels lacked the shock and immediacy that the epistolary style brought to the narrative voice of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her identity as a nonconformist creator who had evolved into a major property owner, so there was much discussion on real estate deals. It follows that she now wants to explore new kinds of material, looking outwards to other people's stories, at a moment when she asserts that Trumpian politics turns intimate literature unnecessary.
Several Eras, One Unescapable Past
The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, covering three generations – each trapped by their backgrounds. The book includes the story of a couple named Emma and Jasper, representations of the author's parents, transitioning from the Bronx to a pastoral setting. Additionally the account of Kraus, in the character of a figure named Catt Greene, reckoning with the delayed acclaim of I Love Dick, the rise of Trump, and her addict husband a man named Paul. The third thread involves the narrative of a homicide of one troubled youth by another in a locality mostly forsaken by liberal ideals only a brief drive from Catt's cottage in the Minnesota countryside.
From my perspective as a reader attracted to refined literature of the kind Kraus often avoids, I was enchanted by the narrative style of the first section.
As someone who reads who favors crafted language of the style that Kraus usually avoids, I was captivated by the literary tone of the first section. It possesses a novel degree of detail that allows space for minutiae, like the container that the youthful Catt dislodges from ice at the beginning of the narrative, helped by her adored dad. "I found an ice toy!" she declares; "a great plaything", he responds, "the elliptical meanings of words rolling around in their mouths like piece candy". Kraus writes Emma's narrative with curiosity and intimacy. "It seemed to Emma she had entered a dream – not precisely her dream."
Frustration and Disruption
I was bound to become frustrated when I expected this fresh tone could continue through the novel. The author states here that she dislikes the pleasure those who appreciate polished prose have taken from I Love Dick; she's committed to disjunction, to the messy artistic approach she shares with her hero Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her earlier works comes back in the central part. The protagonist is trying to renovate 36 run-down apartments in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while moving between the Midwest and the West Coast, unable to aid Paul curb his addiction. She experiences powerlessness as Paul moves between low-resource employment as an recovery specialist in a society fueled by the rage and anxiety that drives an electoral success. A significant portion discusses about Catt being cancelled on a platform, her professional designation altered from "author" to "landlord" on a reference site. Kraus still seems to be overly concerned about this. In a moment she says that she's investigating the murder so that before exiting the region, "she may grasp something about an the nation that her online critics would be unable to grasp, would not even perceive".
The Murder Narrative
Thus we arrive to the murder itself – and the eponymous day passed by the murdered individual with the murderer and his associates. Kraus utilizes great source material, and reconstructs step by step what occurred as a man named Brandon came to meet Brittney after encountering her on a platform where she offered adult photos. He sought a sexual encounter but seems affably to have spent the day with her companions, wandering about having his vehicle repaired and funding treats and narcotics, before being shot by Brittney's boyfriend a man named Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has repeatedly received inpatient care for aggressive outbursts.
Preoccupation and Open Ends
Catt develops an obsession by the story, and I was intrigued by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards ethical reporting and audacious rule-breaking tussle in this section. However, I would have preferred her to go further into her own obsessions here. The most interesting character is Brittney, who comes alive partly through Catt's identification with her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman derailing in a difficult, overlooked locality. The author informs us that Catt speaks to Brittney in detention, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. The whole section feels curiously unresolved, to the point that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par
