The new book features protagonists pursuing new beginnings, struggling to escape addictions or harmful partnerships, only to find hope curdling into conflict. Kraus often employs the phrase "fresh start", making it deliberately jaded through constant reiteration. Phrases such as "He aimed to start over" and "They chose to begin anew" are scattered across the story. At the same time, she is embarking on her personal new beginning, as this appears a new kind of book – observational, authentically narrative. But then it proves to be filled with the same dilemmas and aesthetics as earlier books.
From Chance Novelist to Renowned Book
Kraus began as an creative who transitioned to writing somewhat by chance with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, made up of epistles to an unresponsive love interest, transforming intimate women's literature from humiliation into rebellion. She kept producing books, but the following three compelling and abrasive novels lacked the power and directness that the correspondence format infused into the tone of I Love Dick. It didn't help was her identity as a maverick maker who had become a major property owner, so there was much discussion on real estate deals. It follows that she now wants to experiment with fresh narrative sources, looking outwards to external narratives, at a time when she asserts that Trumpian politics renders personal narrative obsolete.
Multiple Generations, Collective Unavoidable Background
The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, encompassing multiple eras – none able to break free from their histories. We encounter the narrative about a couple named Emma and Jasper, versions of Kraus's parents, transitioning from the urban environment to the Connecticut countryside. There is the story of Kraus herself, in the persona of protagonist Catt Greene, confronting the belated success of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her substance-dependent spouse her husband Paul. The third thread involves the account of a killing of one troubled youth by another in a locality long abandoned by forward-thinking policies only a brief drive from the protagonist's home in the Minnesota countryside.
For this reader fond of honed writing of the kind the author herself typically rejects, I was captivated by the novelistic voice of the first section.
As a reader who appreciates crafted language of the kind that Kraus tends to eschew, I was won over by the storytelling approach of the first section. There is a novel degree of detail that makes room for small details, like the bucket that the youthful Catt pries out of frozen water at the opening of the book, helped by her adored dad. "I discovered a frozen plaything!" she declares; "a great plaything", he replies, "the elliptical meanings of words tumbling in their mouths like sweet treats". Kraus writes Emma's story with interest and closeness. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not entirely her own."
Frustration and Disruption
I was bound to become frustrated when I expected this new voice could persist to the end. The author states here that she resents the pleasure audiences such as myself have gotten from I Love Dick; she's committed to disruption, to the messy artistic approach she has in common with her hero author Kathy Acker, and the emptiness and redundancy of her past books returns in the second segment. Catt Greene is attempting to do up three dozen dilapidated units in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while moving between two different states, unsuccessful in assisting Paul manage his alcohol use. She experiences powerlessness as her spouse transitions between poorly supported positions as an substance abuse counselor in a world fueled by the hostility and dread that drives a political win. A significant portion discusses about the protagonist facing cancellation on social media, her occupation changed from "novelist" to "property owner" on the online encyclopedia. She still gives the impression to care a little too much about this. On one occasion she says that she's researching the homicide so that before departing the state, "she might be able to learn something about an America that her online critics would not understand, would overlook entirely".
The Homicide Account
Then we reach to the actual killing – and the titular day experienced by the deceased with the perpetrator and his associates. The author possesses excellent raw material, and knows hour by hour what occurred as a man named Brandon came to visit Brittney after meeting her on an app where she marketed explicit images. He was hoping for sex but seems amiably to have occupied the day alongside her friends, mooching around getting his car mended and covering the cost of food and substances, before being killed by gunfire by her romantic interest Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has repeatedly received inpatient care for violent rage.
Obsession and Unfinished Business
Catt develops an obsession by the narrative, and I found myself captivated by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards accurate chronicling and reckless transgression wrestle in this part. Yet I wished her to explore more thoroughly her own obsessions here. The most interesting character is Brittney, who becomes vivid partly through Catt's identification with her – another bright, bullied girl going off the rails in a difficult, overlooked locality. Kraus tells us that the protagonist communicates with Brittney in prison, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. The whole section feels curiously unresolved, to the extent that her narrative ends almost mid-par
