The Four Spent the Day Together is populated with characters pursuing new beginnings, trying to break free from addictions or toxic relationships, only to witness hope devolve into aggression. Kraus frequently uses the phrase "new beginning", rendering it intentionally weary through its repetitions. Phrases such as "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They opted for a clean break" are scattered across the text. And yet, Kraus herself is embarking on her individual reinvention, since this presents as a new kind of book – fact-based, authentically narrative. Yet it proves to be filled with the recurring issues and styles as her previous works.
From Unplanned Author to Renowned Book
Kraus was originally an visual artist who transitioned to writing almost accidentally with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, made up of letters to an unreceptive lover, transforming confessional female writing from humiliation into defiance. She kept producing books, but the following three fascinating and rebarbative novels did not possess the impact and rawness that the correspondence format infused into the narrative voice of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her role as a renegade artist who had evolved into a major property owner, so there was considerable focus on housing investments. It makes sense that she presently aims to try out fresh narrative sources, looking outwards to external narratives, at a period in which she asserts that current political era makes confessional writing redundant.
Several Eras, One Unescapable Past
The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, spanning multiple eras – all unable to escape their backgrounds. There is the tale of a couple named Emma and Jasper, representations of her own mother and father, transitioning from the urban environment to the Connecticut countryside. Then there is the account of Kraus, in the persona of Catt Greene, reckoning with the late recognition of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her addict husband her husband Paul. Finally the story of the murder of one directionless individual by another in a community long abandoned by liberal ideals only a brief drive from Catt's cottage in rural Minnesota.
As a reader attracted to honed writing of the type the author herself tends to eschew, I was enchanted by the narrative style of the initial segment.
As someone who reads drawn to precise prose of the variety that the author tends to eschew, I was seduced by the literary tone of the first section. It exhibits a fresh level of observation that allows space for trivial aspects, like the bucket that the young Catt frees from the ice at the opening of the book, helped by her beloved father. "I found an ice toy!" she declares; "a nice toy", he answers, "the elliptical meanings of words tumbling in their mouths like sweet treats". The author narrates Emma's story with curiosity and intimacy. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not precisely her dream."
Letdown and Fragmentation
I was destined to be disappointed when I wished this fresh tone could persist to the end. Kraus says here that she is annoyed by the satisfaction audiences such as myself have derived from I Love Dick; she's devoted to disruption, to the untidy aesthetics she has in common with her hero writer Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her past books comes back in the second segment. Catt Greene is trying to renovate three dozen dilapidated units in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while traveling between Minnesota and LA, unable to aid Paul control his drinking. She is overwhelmed as Paul cycles through underfunded jobs as an substance abuse counselor in a world driven by the rage and anxiety that powers a political win. Multiple pages are devoted about the protagonist facing cancellation on Twitter, her occupation changed from "writer" to "landlord" on a reference site. Kraus still seems to care a little too much about this. On one occasion she remarks that she's investigating the murder so that before exiting the region, "she could potentially understand something about an the nation that her online critics would not understand, would not even perceive".
The Killing Story
So then we come to the actual killing – and the referenced day spent by the deceased with the perpetrator and his associates. Kraus utilizes great source material, and reconstructs step by step what occurred as the victim Brandon came to meet Brittney after meeting her on an app where she sold sex pictures. He was hoping for sex but seems amiably to have occupied the day in the company of her associates, mooching around fixing his automobile and paying for snacks and drugs, before being killed by gunfire by her romantic interest a man named Micah – a individual with mental health challenges who has repeatedly received inpatient care for violent rage.
Fascination and Incompletion
The protagonist becomes fixated by the account, and I was fascinated 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 delve deeper into her individual preoccupations here. The most interesting character is Brittney, who becomes vivid partially because of the protagonist's connection to her – a similarly gifted, tormented individual going off the rails in a struggling, neglected community. The author informs us that the protagonist communicates with Brittney in jail, but she doesn't dramatise these conversations. The whole section feels curiously unresolved, to the point that her narrative ends almost mid-par
