The new book centers on characters chasing after fresh starts, struggling to escape addictions or harmful partnerships, only to witness hope devolve into violence. The author repeatedly invokes the phrase "fresh start", rendering it willfully cynical through constant reiteration. Examples include "He aimed to start over" and "They decided to make a fresh start" are scattered across the story. At the same time, she seems to be making her personal new beginning, since this appears a novel form of writing – fact-based, authentically narrative. However it reveals itself to be filled with the recurring issues and aesthetics as her previous works.
From Unplanned Author to Cult Classic
The writer was originally an artist who entered the literary world almost accidentally with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, structured as epistles to an unresponsive love interest, elevating intimate women's literature from abjection into assassination. She continued writing, but the next trio of compelling and abrasive novels missed the impact and rawness that the letter form brought to the tone of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her role as a nonconformist creator who had evolved into a large-scale low-rent landlord, so there was considerable focus on real estate deals. It makes sense that she currently desires to try out new kinds of material, turning outward to the experiences of others, at a moment when she claims that current political era makes confessional writing obsolete.
Three Generations, One Unescapable Past
The Four Spent the Day Together is structured in three parts, covering three generations – each trapped by their histories. The book includes the narrative about a couple named Emma and Jasper, representations of Kraus's parents, transitioning from the urban environment to a pastoral setting. Then there is the account of Kraus, in the guise of a figure named Catt Greene, grappling with the late recognition of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her substance-dependent spouse a man named Paul. The third thread involves the narrative of a homicide of one lost young man by another in a community long abandoned by liberal ideals only a short distance from Catt's cottage in rural Minnesota.
For this reader drawn to honed writing of the kind Kraus herself often avoids, I was enchanted by the narrative style of the initial segment.
As someone who reads drawn to crafted language of the style that Kraus herself often disregards, I was captivated by the storytelling approach of the first section. It exhibits a novel degree of detail that makes room for trivial aspects, like the bucket that the youthful Catt frees from the ice at the opening of the book, aided by her cherished parent. "Look, an ice toy!" she declares; "a nice toy", he answers, "the ambiguous meanings of language circulating in their speech like hard candy". Kraus writes Emma's narrative with inquiry and familiarity. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not entirely her own."
Disappointment and Disjunction
I was bound to become frustrated when I wished this new voice could continue through the novel. The author states here that she is annoyed by the pleasure those who appreciate polished prose have gotten from I Love Dick; she's committed to fragmentation, to the unpolished style she echoes from her idol Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her earlier works comes back in the second segment. The protagonist is working on refurbishing multiple decrepit residences in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while shuttling between Minnesota and LA, failing to help Paul control his drinking. She feels helpless as her spouse transitions between poorly supported positions as an recovery specialist in a society propelled by the hostility and dread that underpins Trump's victory. There are several pages about Catt being cancelled on Twitter, her occupation changed from "novelist" to "property owner" on Wikipedia. She still gives the impression to be overly concerned about this. In a moment she states that she's looking into the killing so that before leaving Minnesota, "she may grasp something about an America that her Twitter detractors would be unable to grasp, would not even see".
The Homicide Account
Then we reach to the homicide in question – and the titular day experienced by the deceased with the killer and his companions. The author possesses great source material, and reconstructs step by step what occurred as the victim Brandon came to see Brittney after meeting her on an app where she marketed explicit images. He was hoping for sex but seems affably to have spent the day with her companions, wandering about fixing his automobile and covering the cost of food and substances, before being killed by gunfire by Brittney's partner a man named Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has repeatedly received inpatient care for fits of anger.
Fascination and Incompletion
Catt develops an obsession by the story, and I found myself captivated by the way that the author's conflicting impulses towards ethical reporting and daring boundary-pushing wrestle in this part. But I'd have liked her to explore more thoroughly her individual preoccupations here. The standout figure is Brittney, who comes alive partially because of the protagonist's connection to her – a similarly gifted, tormented individual going off the rails in a struggling, neglected community. Kraus tells us that the protagonist communicates with Brittney in detention, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. The complete segment feels oddly unfinished, to the degree that her narrative ends almost mid-par
