This latest work is populated with characters pursuing fresh starts, trying to break free from addictions or toxic relationships, only to witness hope devolve into violence. The author repeatedly invokes the phrase "clean slate", rendering it intentionally weary through its repetitions. Examples include "He aimed to start over" and "They chose to begin anew" are scattered across the text. And yet, the author herself is embarking on her personal new beginning, since this appears a novel form of writing – observational, authentically narrative. But then it reveals itself to be filled with the same dilemmas and styles as her previous works.
From Chance Novelist to Cult Classic
Kraus started out as an creative who entered the literary world almost accidentally with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, structured as epistles to an unresponsive love interest, converting intimate women's literature from self-debasement into rebellion. She continued writing, but the three subsequent engaging and challenging novels missed the power and directness that the epistolary style brought to the tone of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her identity as a nonconformist creator who had turned into a major property owner, so there was much discussion on property transactions. It follows that she currently desires to try out fresh narrative sources, turning outward to the experiences of others, at a period in which she claims that current political era renders personal narrative redundant.
Three Generations, One Unescapable Past
The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, covering multiple eras – each trapped by their pasts. There is the narrative about a couple named Emma and Jasper, representations of the author's parents, relocating from the Bronx to the Connecticut countryside. Then there is the narrative of the author, in the character of a figure named Catt Greene, reckoning with the late recognition of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her addict husband Paul. The third thread involves the story of the murder of one troubled youth by another in a town long abandoned by liberal ideals only 80 miles from Catt's cottage in rural Minnesota.
From my perspective as a reader attracted to refined literature of the kind Kraus often avoids, I was captivated by the novelistic voice of the opening part.
As a reader who appreciates crafted language of the style that the author usually avoids, I was seduced by the literary tone of the first section. It exhibits a fresh level of observation that allows space for minutiae, like the container that the young Catt frees from the ice at the start of the story, helped by her beloved father. "I discovered a frozen plaything!" she exclaims; "a great plaything", he responds, "the nuanced interpretations of terms tumbling in their mouths like piece candy". She tells Emma's story with interest and closeness. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not hers, exactly."
Disappointment and Disjunction
I was fated to feel let down when I hoped this fresh tone could persist to the end. Kraus says here that she dislikes the pleasure those who appreciate polished prose have taken from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to disjunction, to the untidy aesthetics she has in common with her hero Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her past books reasserts itself in the middle section. Catt is trying to renovate three dozen dilapidated units in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while moving between the Midwest and the West Coast, unsuccessful in assisting Paul control his drinking. She is overwhelmed as Paul transitions between low-resource employment as an addiction therapist in a environment propelled by the hostility and dread that powers a political win. Multiple pages are devoted about Catt being cancelled on Twitter, her listed profession modified from "writer" to "real estate holder" on Wikipedia. She still gives the impression to be overly concerned about this. In a moment she remarks that she's researching the homicide so that before departing the state, "she may grasp something about an the United States that her Twitter detractors would be unable to grasp, would overlook entirely".
The Murder Narrative
Then we reach to the homicide in question – and the referenced day experienced by the deceased with the killer and his friends. Kraus utilizes compelling foundational content, and reconstructs step by step what transpired when the victim Brandon came to meet Brittney after connecting via an application where she offered adult photos. He was hoping for sex but appears congenially to have passed the day in the company of her associates, loitering fixing his automobile and funding treats and narcotics, before being killed by gunfire by her romantic interest Micah – a individual with mental health challenges who has often been institutionalized for aggressive outbursts.
Fascination and Incompletion
The protagonist becomes fixated by the narrative, and I was fascinated by the way that her twin drives towards responsible documentation and daring boundary-pushing clash in this segment. Yet I wished her to explore more thoroughly her own obsessions here. The compelling persona is Brittney, who comes alive partially because of the protagonist's connection to her – another bright, bullied girl going off the rails in a troubled, forgotten town. Kraus tells us that the protagonist communicates with Brittney in jail, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. This entire part feels oddly unfinished, to the point that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par
