The new book is populated with individuals seeking new beginnings, trying to break free from addictions or abusive marriages, only to find hope curdling into violence. The author repeatedly invokes the phrase "fresh start", transforming it into willfully cynical through constant reiteration. Examples include "He aimed to start over" and "They opted for a clean break" recur in the story. At the same time, Kraus herself seems to be making her own fresh start, since this appears a novel form of writing – fact-based, genuinely novelistic. Yet it proves to be filled with the familiar conflicts and approaches as earlier books.
From Accidental Writer to Renowned Book
Kraus was originally an visual artist who became a writer almost accidentally with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, made up of missives to a distant beloved, elevating confessional female writing from self-debasement into defiance. She persisted as a writer, but the following three engaging and challenging novels did not possess the impact and rawness that the letter form imparted to the voice of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her identity as a nonconformist creator who had become a large-scale low-rent landlord, so there was considerable focus on housing investments. It follows that she presently aims to experiment with fresh narrative sources, looking outwards to the experiences of others, at a moment when she asserts that Trumpian politics makes confessional writing unnecessary.
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 pasts. We encounter the narrative about characters Emma and Jasper, representations of Kraus's parents, transitioning from the Bronx to the Connecticut countryside. There is the story of Kraus herself, in the guise of protagonist Catt Greene, reckoning with the belated success of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her addict husband Paul. The third thread involves the narrative of a homicide of one troubled youth by another in a locality long abandoned by forward-thinking policies only 80 miles from the protagonist's home in a remote part of Minnesota.
As a reader attracted to polished prose of the type Kraus often avoids, I was captivated by the novelistic voice of the first section.
As someone who reads who appreciates precise prose of the kind that Kraus usually avoids, I was won over by the storytelling approach of the first section. It exhibits a novel degree of detail that accommodates minutiae, like the container that the protagonist as a child frees from the ice at the opening of the book, assisted by her beloved father. "Look, an ice toy!" she declares; "a great plaything", he answers, "the ambiguous meanings of language circulating in their speech like sweet treats". The author narrates the tale of Emma with inquiry and familiarity. "Emma felt like she'd stepped into a dream – not hers, exactly."
Letdown and Fragmentation
I was bound to become frustrated when I wished this new voice could last out the book. Kraus says here that she is annoyed by the satisfaction audiences such as myself have derived from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to disruption, to the messy artistic approach she shares with her inspiration author Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her past books comes back in the central part. Catt Greene is trying to renovate 36 run-down apartments in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while traveling between Minnesota and LA, unsuccessful in assisting her husband control his drinking. She experiences powerlessness as Paul moves between underfunded jobs as an substance abuse counselor in a environment driven by the anger and fear that underpins a political win. Multiple pages are devoted about Catt's social media ostracism on social media, her listed profession modified from "novelist" to "landlord" on a reference site. Kraus still seems to care a little too much about this. In a moment she says that she's looking into the killing so that before exiting the region, "she might be able to learn something about an the United States that her social media opponents would be unable to grasp, would not even see".
The Killing Story
Then we reach to the actual killing – and the titular day experienced by the murdered individual with the murderer and his friends. Kraus has compelling foundational content, and knows hour by hour what occurred as a man named Brandon came to visit Brittney after encountering her on a platform where she sold sex pictures. He sought a sexual encounter but appears congenially to have passed the day with her companions, mooching around getting his car mended and funding treats and narcotics, before being shot by Brittney's boyfriend a man named Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has frequently been hospitalised for fits of anger.
Preoccupation and Open Ends
Catt gets obsessed by the narrative, and I was fascinated by the way that the author's conflicting impulses towards accurate chronicling and audacious rule-breaking wrestle in this part. But I'd have liked her to delve deeper into her personal fixations here. The standout figure is Brittney, who comes alive in part due to the protagonist's connection to her – a similarly gifted, tormented individual derailing in a difficult, overlooked locality. Kraus notes that the protagonist communicates with Brittney in jail, but she fails to enact these dialogues. The complete segment feels strangely incomplete, to the extent that her narrative ends almost mid-par
