This latest work centers on protagonists seeking new beginnings, attempting to leave behind substance abuse or harmful partnerships, only to find hope curdling into aggression. Kraus frequently uses the phrase "fresh start", rendering it deliberately jaded through its repetitions. Phrases such as "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They chose to begin anew" recur in the text. And yet, Kraus herself is embarking on her own fresh start, because this seems a new kind of book – fact-based, genuinely novelistic. However it reveals itself to be laden with the familiar conflicts and approaches as earlier books.
From Unplanned Author to Renowned Book
Kraus started out as an visual artist who entered the literary world unintentionally with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, which was composed of letters to an unreceptive lover, transforming personal female narrative from self-debasement into rebellion. She continued writing, but the three subsequent fascinating and rebarbative novels missed the shock and immediacy that the epistolary style imparted to the narrative voice of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her identity as a maverick maker who had evolved into a large-scale low-rent landlord, so there was considerable focus on property transactions. It follows that she now wants to try out fresh narrative sources, directing her gaze to the experiences of others, at a moment when she states that current political era renders personal narrative unnecessary.
Several Eras, Shared Inescapable History
The Four Spent the Day Together is structured in three parts, encompassing three generations – all unable to escape their pasts. The book includes the tale of Emma and Jasper, versions of Kraus's parents, relocating from the New York borough to rural Connecticut. Additionally the story of Kraus herself, in the character of protagonist Catt Greene, grappling with the belated success of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her addict husband a man named Paul. And there is the account of a killing of one directionless individual by another in a locality largely deserted by liberal ideals only a short distance from Catt's cottage in the Minnesota countryside.
From my perspective as a reader fond of honed writing of the kind Kraus herself tends to eschew, I was seduced by the novelistic voice of the opening part.
As someone who reads who appreciates crafted language of the style that Kraus herself often disregards, I was won over by the literary tone of the opening segment. It possesses a new quality of attentiveness that accommodates trivial aspects, like the bucket that the young Catt dislodges from ice at the opening of the book, aided by her beloved father. "I found an ice toy!" she exclaims; "a great plaything", he answers, "the nuanced interpretations of terms circulating in their speech like hard candy". The author narrates Emma's narrative with inquiry and familiarity. "Emma felt like she'd stepped into a dream – not entirely her own."
Letdown and Fragmentation
I was fated to feel let down when I wished this new voice could persist to the end. Kraus says here that she is annoyed by the enjoyment audiences such as myself have derived from I Love Dick; she's committed to fragmentation, to the messy artistic approach she has in common with her idol author Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her earlier works returns in the second segment. Catt is working on refurbishing multiple decrepit residences in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while traveling between two different states, failing to help Paul curb his addiction. She feels helpless as her spouse cycles through poorly supported positions as an addiction therapist in a world fueled by the anger and fear that drives a political win. There are several pages about the protagonist facing cancellation on a platform, her occupation changed from "novelist" to "landlord" on Wikipedia. Kraus still seems to be overly concerned about this. At one point she states that she's investigating the murder so that before leaving Minnesota, "she may grasp something about an the United States that her Twitter detractors would not understand, would not even perceive".
The Killing Story
So then we come to the homicide in question – and the eponymous day spent by the victim with the perpetrator and his friends. The author possesses compelling foundational content, and reconstructs step by step what happened when the victim Brandon came to meet Brittney after meeting her on an app where she offered adult photos. He anticipated intimacy but seems affably to have spent the day alongside her friends, wandering about fixing his automobile and funding treats and narcotics, before being shot by Brittney's partner Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has frequently been hospitalised for aggressive outbursts.
Obsession and Unfinished Business
The protagonist becomes fixated by the story, and I was fascinated by the way that the author's conflicting impulses towards accurate chronicling and reckless transgression tussle in this section. However, I would have preferred her to explore more thoroughly her personal fixations here. The most interesting character is Brittney herself, who comes alive partially because of the protagonist's connection to her – a similarly gifted, tormented individual derailing in a struggling, neglected community. Kraus notes that the protagonist communicates with Brittney in prison, but she doesn't dramatise these conversations. The whole section feels strangely incomplete, to the extent that her narrative ends almost mid-par
