The Four Spent the Day Together is populated with characters seeking new beginnings, trying to break free from drugs or harmful partnerships, only to witness hope devolve into conflict. The author often employs the phrase "fresh start", making it willfully cynical through recurring use. Examples include "He could make a fresh start" and "They opted for a clean break" appear throughout the story. At the same time, Kraus herself appears to be undertaking her own fresh start, since this appears a novel form of writing – observational, genuinely novelistic. Yet it reveals itself to be laden with the same dilemmas and aesthetics as past novels.
From Chance Novelist to Iconic Work
Kraus was originally an creative who became a writer somewhat by chance with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, made up of letters to an unreceptive lover, transforming confessional female writing from humiliation into rebellion. She kept producing books, but the three subsequent engaging and challenging novels lacked the impact and rawness that the letter form imparted to the tone of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her identity as a maverick maker who had become a major property owner, so there was considerable focus on housing investments. It is logical that she presently aims to explore fresh narrative sources, directing her gaze to other people's stories, at a period in which she asserts that Trumpian politics renders personal narrative unnecessary.
Three Generations, Collective Unavoidable Background
The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, encompassing three generations – each trapped by their pasts. We encounter the tale of Emma and Jasper, representations of the author's parents, relocating 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 delayed acclaim of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her substance-dependent spouse her husband Paul. Finally the story of the murder of one directionless individual by another in a locality largely deserted by progressive politics only 80 miles from Catt's cottage in rural Minnesota.
For this reader fond of honed writing of the kind Kraus herself tends to eschew, I was enchanted by the narrative style of the initial segment.
As a reader drawn to precise prose of the style that Kraus herself often disregards, I was captivated by the storytelling approach of the first section. It possesses a novel degree of detail that accommodates small details, like the container that the young Catt pries out of frozen water at the beginning of the narrative, helped by her cherished parent. "I found an ice toy!" she says; "a nice toy", he answers, "the elliptical meanings of words rolling around in their mouths like piece candy". Kraus writes the tale of Emma with inquiry and familiarity. "Emma felt like she'd stepped into a dream – not entirely her own."
Letdown and Fragmentation
I was bound to become frustrated when I hoped this fresh tone could continue through the novel. The author states here that she dislikes the satisfaction those who appreciate polished prose have taken from I Love Dick; she's committed to disruption, to the unpolished style she shares with her hero writer Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her past books returns in the middle section. Catt is attempting to do up 36 run-down apartments in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while traveling between two different states, unsuccessful in assisting Paul control his drinking. She feels helpless as Paul transitions between underfunded jobs as an substance abuse counselor in a environment fueled by the anger and fear that underpins Trump's victory. Multiple pages are devoted about Catt's social media ostracism on Twitter, her professional designation altered from "author" to "landlord" on the online encyclopedia. Kraus still seems to be overly concerned about this. On one occasion she remarks that she's researching the homicide so that before departing the state, "she could potentially understand something about an America that her Twitter detractors would not understand, would not even see".
The Killing Story
Then we reach to the murder itself – and the eponymous day experienced by the murdered individual with the murderer and his friends. Kraus utilizes compelling foundational content, and knows hour by hour what transpired when a man named Brandon came to visit Brittney after meeting her on an app where she sold sex pictures. He sought a sexual encounter but appears congenially to have passed the day in the company of her associates, loitering having his vehicle repaired and funding treats and narcotics, before being shot by Brittney's partner a man named Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has frequently been hospitalised for fits of anger.
Fascination and Incompletion
Catt gets obsessed by the story, and I was fascinated by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards ethical reporting and reckless transgression wrestle in this part. However, I would have preferred her to delve deeper into her individual preoccupations here. The standout figure is the character Brittney, who becomes vivid partly through Catt's identification with her – another bright, bullied girl spiraling out of control in a struggling, neglected community. The author informs us that the protagonist communicates with Brittney in detention, but she fails to enact these dialogues. The complete segment feels curiously unresolved, to the extent that her narrative ends almost mid-par
