This latest work centers on characters chasing after new beginnings, attempting to leave behind addictions or toxic relationships, only to find hope curdling into violence. The author repeatedly invokes the phrase "clean slate", making it intentionally weary through recurring use. Examples include "He could make a fresh start" and "They opted for a clean break" are scattered across the story. Meanwhile, the author herself seems to be making her personal new beginning, as this appears a different type of work – documentarian, authentically narrative. However it proves to be laden with the recurring issues and approaches as her previous works.
From Accidental Writer to Cult Classic
Kraus started out as an visual artist who transitioned to writing almost accidentally with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, which was composed of epistles to an unresponsive love interest, converting personal female narrative from abjection into defiance. She continued writing, but the next trio of compelling and abrasive novels missed the impact and rawness that the letter form imparted to the narrative voice of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her role as a maverick maker who had turned into a extensive real estate holder, so there was considerable focus on property transactions. It makes sense that she presently aims to explore new kinds of material, looking outwards to other people's stories, at a moment when she states that contemporary political climate turns intimate literature unnecessary.
Three Generations, Shared Inescapable History
The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, covering three generations – all unable to escape their backgrounds. There is the tale of characters Emma and Jasper, based on Kraus's parents, moving from the Bronx to the Connecticut countryside. Then there is the narrative of the author, in the character of protagonist Catt Greene, grappling with the belated success of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her addict husband a man named Paul. Finally the story of the murder of one directionless individual by another in a locality mostly forsaken by liberal ideals only a brief drive from the protagonist's home in a remote part of Minnesota.
For this reader drawn to refined literature of the sort Kraus tends to eschew, I was enchanted by the literary tone of the first section.
As someone who reads drawn to crafted language of the variety that Kraus herself tends to eschew, I was captivated by the literary tone of the initial part. There is a new quality of attentiveness that accommodates trivial aspects, like the container that the youthful Catt pries out of frozen water at the opening of the book, assisted by her adored dad. "I discovered a frozen plaything!" she declares; "a great plaything", he answers, "the nuanced interpretations of terms tumbling in their mouths like piece candy". The author narrates Emma's story with inquiry and familiarity. "It seemed to Emma she had entered a dream – not hers, exactly."
Frustration and Disruption
I was fated to feel let down when I expected this fresh tone could last out the book. Kraus notes here that she dislikes the pleasure those who appreciate polished prose have derived from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to disjunction, to the untidy aesthetics she echoes from her inspiration writer Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her previous novels returns in the second segment. Catt Greene is working on refurbishing three dozen dilapidated units in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while traveling between the Midwest and the West Coast, unsuccessful in assisting Paul manage his alcohol use. She feels helpless as Paul moves between low-resource employment as an substance abuse counselor in a environment propelled by the rage and anxiety that drives an electoral success. Multiple pages are devoted about Catt's social media ostracism on a platform, her professional designation altered from "author" to "real estate holder" on the online encyclopedia. Kraus still seems to invest excessive emotion about this. At one point she states that she's looking into the killing so that before exiting the region, "she might be able to learn something about an the nation that her social media opponents would be unable to grasp, would overlook entirely".
The Murder Narrative
Then we reach to the murder itself – and the titular day spent by the deceased with the murderer and his associates. Kraus has great source material, and knows hour by hour what occurred as Brandon came to see Brittney after connecting via an application where she sold sex pictures. He anticipated intimacy but seems amiably to have occupied the day in the company of her associates, loitering getting his car mended 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 account, and I was fascinated by the way that the author's conflicting impulses towards ethical reporting and reckless transgression tussle in this section. Yet I wished her to go further into her personal fixations here. The most interesting character is Brittney, who becomes vivid partially because of Catt seeing herself in her – another bright, bullied girl derailing in a difficult, overlooked locality. The author informs us that the protagonist communicates with Brittney in prison, but she fails to enact these dialogues. This entire part feels curiously unresolved, to the degree that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par
