The Four Spent the Day Together features protagonists chasing after new beginnings, trying to break free from drugs or toxic relationships, only to see hope turn into conflict. The author repeatedly invokes the phrase "new beginning", transforming it into intentionally weary through recurring use. Phrases such as "He could make a fresh start" and "They decided to make a fresh start" are scattered across the story. And yet, Kraus herself is embarking on her own fresh start, since this appears a novel form of writing – observational, authentically narrative. But then it proves to be filled with the same dilemmas and approaches as her previous works.
From Accidental Writer to Iconic Work
The writer started out as an visual artist who became a writer somewhat by chance with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, made up of letters to an unreceptive lover, converting confessional female writing from abjection into assassination. She continued writing, but the three subsequent compelling and abrasive novels did not possess the shock and immediacy that the letter form infused into the voice of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her position as a maverick maker who had turned into a large-scale low-rent landlord, so there was significant attention on property transactions. It follows that she now wants to explore new kinds of material, directing her gaze to the experiences of others, at a time when she states that current political era makes confessional writing obsolete.
Three Generations, One Unescapable Past
The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, encompassing several time periods – none able to break free from their histories. The book includes the narrative about a couple named Emma and Jasper, based on Kraus's parents, transitioning from the Bronx to a pastoral setting. There is the story of Kraus herself, in the guise of protagonist Catt Greene, reckoning with the belated success of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her substance-dependent spouse Paul. Finally the account of a killing of one directionless individual by another in a community mostly forsaken by forward-thinking policies only 80 miles from the protagonist's home in a remote part of Minnesota.
For this reader attracted to honed writing of the kind the author herself tends to eschew, I was enchanted by the narrative style of the first section.
Being a reader drawn to honed writing of the kind that Kraus herself often disregards, I was captivated by the literary tone of the first section. It possesses a novel degree of detail that allows space for small details, like the bucket that the youthful Catt pries out of frozen water at the opening of the book, assisted by her adored dad. "Look, an ice toy!" she exclaims; "a lovely toy", he responds, "the ambiguous meanings of language rolling around in their mouths like hard candy". The author narrates the tale of Emma with curiosity and intimacy. "It seemed to Emma she had entered a dream – not entirely her own."
Disappointment and Disjunction
I was fated to feel let down when I wished this fresh tone could last out the book. Kraus notes here that she is annoyed by the pleasure audiences such as myself have derived from I Love Dick; she's committed to disjunction, to the untidy aesthetics she shares with her inspiration writer Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her past books comes back in the middle section. Catt Greene is attempting to do up three dozen dilapidated units in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while moving between the Midwest and the West Coast, failing to help Paul control his drinking. She is overwhelmed as her spouse cycles through low-resource employment as an substance abuse counselor in a environment driven by the hostility and dread that underpins Trump's victory. A significant portion discusses about Catt's social media ostracism on social media, her occupation changed from "writer" to "landlord" on Wikipedia. She still gives the impression to invest excessive emotion about this. On one occasion she states that she's looking into the killing so that before departing the state, "she could potentially understand something about an America that her social media opponents would be unable to grasp, would overlook entirely".
The Killing Story
Then we reach to the actual killing – and the referenced day passed by the victim with the murderer and his associates. Kraus has great source material, and reconstructs step by step what transpired when a man named Brandon came to meet Brittney after encountering her on a platform where she marketed explicit images. He sought a sexual encounter but appears congenially to have passed the day with her companions, loitering having his vehicle repaired and covering the cost of food and substances, before being shot by her romantic interest Micah – a individual with mental health challenges who has repeatedly received inpatient care for violent rage.
Obsession and Unfinished Business
Catt gets obsessed by the account, and I found myself captivated by the way that the author's conflicting impulses towards responsible documentation and audacious rule-breaking wrestle in this part. But I'd have liked her to explore more thoroughly her own obsessions here. The compelling persona is Brittney herself, who gains dimension partly through Catt's identification with her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman spiraling out of control in a difficult, overlooked locality. Kraus tells us that the protagonist communicates with Brittney in prison, but she doesn't dramatise these conversations. The whole section feels oddly unfinished, to the point that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par
