The new book is populated with protagonists chasing after new beginnings, struggling to escape addictions or abusive marriages, only to see hope turn into conflict. The author repeatedly invokes the phrase "clean slate", making it willfully cynical through recurring use. Phrases such as "He aimed to start over" and "They opted for a clean break" appear throughout the text. Meanwhile, Kraus herself appears to be undertaking her personal new beginning, since this presents as a novel form of writing – observational, truly literary. However it proves to be packed with the same dilemmas and aesthetics as past novels.
From Chance Novelist to Iconic Work
Kraus started out as an visual artist who entered the literary world unintentionally with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, structured as missives to a distant beloved, elevating confessional female writing from humiliation into defiance. She continued writing, but the three subsequent engaging and challenging novels did not possess the shock and immediacy that the epistolary style imparted to the tone of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her position as a maverick maker who had become a major property owner, so there was considerable focus on property transactions. It is logical that she currently desires to explore new kinds of material, looking outwards to the experiences of others, at a period in which she asserts that contemporary political climate renders personal narrative unnecessary.
Three Generations, One Unescapable Past
The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, encompassing multiple eras – each trapped by their pasts. The book includes the story of Emma and Jasper, versions of Kraus's parents, moving from the urban environment to the Connecticut countryside. Then there is the narrative of the author, in the persona of protagonist Catt Greene, reckoning with the belated success of I Love Dick, the rise of Trump, and her substance-dependent spouse Paul. Finally the narrative of a homicide of one lost young man by another in a town largely deserted by liberal ideals only 80 miles from Catt's cottage in the Minnesota countryside.
From my perspective as a reader fond of polished prose of the type Kraus typically rejects, I was captivated by the narrative style of the first section.
As someone who reads drawn to honed writing of the style that Kraus herself often disregards, I was captivated by the storytelling approach of the first section. It possesses a fresh level of observation that accommodates small details, like the bucket that the youthful Catt dislodges from ice at the beginning of the narrative, aided by her beloved father. "Look, an ice toy!" she says; "a great plaything", he replies, "the nuanced interpretations of terms rolling around in their mouths like hard candy". Kraus writes Emma's story with curiosity and intimacy. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not entirely her own."
Disappointment and Disjunction
I was destined to be disappointed when I wished this different style could last out the book. Kraus says here that she resents the satisfaction readers like me have gotten from I Love Dick; she's devoted to disjunction, to the untidy aesthetics she echoes from her hero writer Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her earlier works returns in the middle section. Catt Greene is working on refurbishing multiple decrepit residences in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while shuttling between Minnesota and LA, unable to aid Paul manage his alcohol use. She feels helpless as her spouse transitions between poorly supported positions as an recovery specialist in a environment fueled by the hostility and dread that drives Trump's victory. Multiple pages are devoted about Catt being cancelled on Twitter, her professional designation altered from "novelist" to "property owner" on Wikipedia. She still gives the impression to be overly concerned about this. At one point she says that she's investigating the murder so that before exiting the region, "she might be able to learn something about an the United States that her social media opponents would not understand, would not even perceive".
The Homicide Account
So then we come to the homicide in question – and the titular day spent by the murdered individual with the murderer and his associates. Kraus utilizes great source material, and reconstructs step by step what happened when a man named Brandon came to see Brittney after connecting via an application where she marketed explicit images. He sought a sexual encounter but seems affably to have spent the day in the company of her associates, mooching around getting his car mended and covering the cost of food and substances, before being shot by her romantic interest Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has often been institutionalized for fits of anger.
Obsession and Unfinished Business
The protagonist becomes fixated by the account, and I found myself captivated by the way that the author's conflicting impulses towards accurate chronicling and reckless transgression tussle in this section. But I'd have liked her to go further into her own obsessions here. The most interesting character is the character Brittney, who comes alive in part due to the protagonist's connection to her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman derailing in a struggling, neglected community. The author informs us that Catt speaks to Brittney in detention, but she fails to enact these dialogues. This entire part feels oddly unfinished, to the point that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par
