The Four Spent the Day Together features protagonists seeking fresh starts, struggling to escape drugs or toxic relationships, only to witness hope devolve into conflict. The author frequently uses the phrase "new beginning", transforming it into intentionally weary through recurring use. Examples include "He aimed to start over" and "They chose to begin anew" recur in the narrative. And yet, she seems to be making her personal new beginning, since this appears a new kind of book – observational, authentically narrative. But then it turns out to be packed with the familiar conflicts and approaches as earlier books.
From Unplanned Author to Renowned Book
The writer was originally an visual artist who became a writer almost accidentally with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, structured as missives to a distant beloved, converting personal female narrative from abjection into rebellion. She persisted as a writer, but the next trio of fascinating and rebarbative novels did not possess the shock and immediacy that the correspondence format brought to the narrative voice of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her identity as a nonconformist creator who had turned into a large-scale low-rent landlord, so there was much discussion on property transactions. It follows that she presently aims to try out new kinds of material, directing her gaze to external narratives, at a moment when she states that contemporary political climate turns intimate literature unnecessary.
Three Generations, One Unescapable Past
The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, spanning three generations – none able to break free from their pasts. There is the narrative about a couple named Emma and Jasper, based on Kraus's parents, transitioning from the New York borough to a pastoral setting. There is the account of Kraus, in the guise of a figure named Catt Greene, grappling with the late recognition of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her addict husband a man named Paul. And there is the account of a killing of one troubled youth by another in a town largely deserted by progressive politics only 80 miles from Catt's cottage in a remote part of Minnesota.
As a reader drawn to polished prose of the sort Kraus tends to eschew, I was seduced by the literary tone of the initial segment.
As a reader who favors precise prose of the variety that Kraus herself often disregards, I was seduced by the storytelling approach of the initial part. It possesses a new quality of attentiveness that accommodates small details, like the bucket that the young Catt frees from the ice at the beginning of the narrative, helped by her adored dad. "I discovered a frozen plaything!" she declares; "a lovely toy", he replies, "the nuanced interpretations of terms tumbling in their mouths like sweet treats". The author narrates Emma's narrative with interest and closeness. "Emma felt like she'd stepped into a dream – not entirely her own."
Letdown and Fragmentation
I was destined to be disappointed when I expected this different style could persist to the end. The author states here that she resents the satisfaction readers like me have taken from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to disruption, to the unpolished style she has in common with her idol author Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her previous novels returns in the middle section. Catt Greene is trying to renovate 36 run-down apartments in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while shuttling between two different states, unsuccessful in assisting Paul curb his addiction. She is overwhelmed as Paul cycles through underfunded jobs as an recovery specialist in a world fueled by the rage and anxiety that drives Trump's victory. Multiple pages are devoted about the protagonist facing cancellation on social media, her occupation changed from "writer" to "property owner" on Wikipedia. Kraus still seems to be overly concerned about this. In a moment she says that she's looking into the killing so that before exiting the region, "she may grasp something about an the nation that her social media opponents would fail to comprehend, would not even see".
The Homicide Account
So then we come to the homicide in question – and the eponymous day spent by the victim with the perpetrator and his friends. The author possesses compelling foundational content, and knows hour by hour what happened when a man named Brandon came to visit Brittney after encountering her on a platform where she offered adult photos. He was hoping for sex but seems affably to have spent the day alongside her friends, wandering about fixing his automobile and paying for snacks and drugs, before being killed by gunfire by Brittney's boyfriend a man named Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has frequently been hospitalised for fits of anger.
Fascination and Incompletion
Catt develops an obsession by the account, and I found myself captivated by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards ethical reporting and daring boundary-pushing clash in this segment. However, I would have preferred her to explore more thoroughly her personal fixations here. The most interesting character is Brittney, who comes alive partially because of the protagonist's connection to her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman going off the rails in a troubled, forgotten town. Kraus tells us that Catt speaks to Brittney in prison, but she fails to enact these dialogues. This entire part feels strangely incomplete, to the degree that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par
