The new book features protagonists pursuing clean slates, trying to break free from substance abuse or toxic relationships, only to witness hope devolve into conflict. Kraus frequently uses the phrase "new beginning", rendering it willfully cynical through constant reiteration. Phrases such as "He aimed to start over" and "They decided to make a fresh start" appear throughout the text. And yet, the author herself appears to be undertaking her individual reinvention, as this presents as a different type of work – observational, genuinely novelistic. Yet it reveals itself to be filled with the same dilemmas and approaches as earlier books.
From Unplanned Author to Iconic Work
The writer began as an artist who entered the literary world unintentionally with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, which was composed of missives to a distant beloved, transforming confessional female writing from self-debasement into assassination. She kept producing books, but the following three compelling and abrasive novels did not possess the power and directness that the letter form brought to the tone of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her identity as a nonconformist creator who had evolved into a large-scale low-rent landlord, so there was considerable focus on real estate deals. It is logical that she now wants to experiment with different types of content, turning outward to external narratives, at a time when she claims that contemporary political climate renders personal narrative obsolete.
Multiple Generations, Shared Inescapable History
The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, covering multiple eras – none able to break free from their backgrounds. There is the tale of Emma and Jasper, based on Kraus's parents, relocating from the Bronx to a pastoral setting. Then there is the narrative of the author, in the persona of Catt Greene, confronting the belated success of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her partner struggling with addiction Paul. Finally the story of the murder of one lost young man by another in a community largely deserted by liberal ideals only a short distance from Catt's rural residence in rural Minnesota.
As a reader attracted to polished prose of the sort Kraus tends to eschew, I was captivated by the literary tone of the initial segment.
Being a reader drawn to honed writing of the style that Kraus herself often disregards, I was captivated by the literary tone of the first section. It exhibits a fresh level of observation that allows space for trivial aspects, like the pail that the protagonist as a child frees from the ice at the opening of the book, assisted by her beloved father. "I found an ice toy!" she declares; "a great plaything", he answers, "the elliptical meanings of words tumbling in their mouths like hard candy". She tells Emma's narrative with curiosity and intimacy. "It seemed to Emma she had entered a dream – not precisely her dream."
Disappointment and Disjunction
I was bound to become frustrated when I hoped this new voice could last out the book. The author states here that she is annoyed by the satisfaction audiences such as myself have gotten from I Love Dick; she's committed to fragmentation, to the unpolished style she shares with her hero author Kathy Acker, and the emptiness and redundancy of her previous novels comes back in the middle section. Catt Greene is trying to renovate 36 run-down apartments in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while moving between two different states, unable to aid Paul curb his addiction. She experiences powerlessness as Paul cycles through underfunded jobs as an addiction therapist in a society driven by the anger and fear that powers Trump's victory. There are several pages about Catt being cancelled on social media, her occupation changed from "novelist" to "real estate holder" on the online encyclopedia. Kraus still seems to care a little too much about this. In a moment she remarks that she's researching the homicide so that before leaving Minnesota, "she might be able to learn something about an the United States that her online critics would fail to comprehend, would not even perceive".
The Murder Narrative
So then we come to the homicide in question – and the eponymous day experienced by the murdered individual with the killer and his companions. Kraus has excellent raw material, and reconstructs step by step what happened when the victim Brandon came to visit Brittney after connecting via an application 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 getting his car mended and covering the cost of food and substances, before being murdered by Brittney's boyfriend Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has frequently been hospitalised for fits of anger.
Preoccupation and Open Ends
The protagonist becomes fixated by the story, and I found myself captivated by the way that the author's conflicting impulses towards accurate chronicling and audacious rule-breaking tussle in this section. Yet I wished her to go further into her individual preoccupations here. The standout figure is Brittney herself, who comes alive in part due to Catt's identification with her – another bright, bullied girl spiraling out of control in a difficult, overlooked locality. Kraus notes that Catt converses with Brittney in detention, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. The complete segment feels curiously unresolved, to the degree that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par
