The Four Spent the Day Together is populated with individuals chasing after fresh starts, trying to break free from drugs or toxic relationships, only to witness hope devolve into aggression. The author frequently uses the phrase "new beginning", rendering it intentionally weary through constant reiteration. Phrases such as "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They decided to make a fresh start" appear throughout the narrative. At the same time, Kraus herself appears to be undertaking her own fresh start, since this seems a novel form of writing – observational, truly literary. However it reveals itself to be packed with the recurring issues and approaches as her previous works.
From Chance Novelist to Iconic Work
Kraus started out as an visual artist who entered the literary world unintentionally with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, structured as missives to a distant beloved, elevating personal female narrative from self-debasement into defiance. She persisted as a writer, but the three subsequent compelling and abrasive novels missed the power and directness that the letter form infused into the narrative voice of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her role as a nonconformist creator who had become a major property owner, so there was significant attention on property transactions. It follows that she presently aims to try out different types of content, directing her gaze to the experiences of others, at a period in which she asserts that Trumpian politics turns intimate literature obsolete.
Three Generations, Shared Inescapable History
The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, encompassing three generations – each trapped by their histories. There is the story of a couple named Emma and Jasper, representations of Kraus's parents, moving from the urban environment to rural Connecticut. There is the account of Kraus, in the character of a figure named Catt Greene, reckoning with the late recognition of I Love Dick, the rise of Trump, and her substance-dependent spouse Paul. The third thread involves the account of a killing of one directionless individual by another in a town largely deserted by forward-thinking policies only a brief drive from Catt's cottage in a remote part of Minnesota.
As a reader drawn to refined literature of the kind Kraus typically rejects, I was seduced by the literary tone of the initial segment.
As a reader who appreciates crafted language of the style that Kraus often disregards, I was won over by the literary tone of the initial part. It exhibits a fresh level of observation that accommodates small details, like the pail that the youthful Catt pries out of frozen water at the beginning of the narrative, assisted by her beloved father. "I found an ice toy!" she exclaims; "a lovely toy", he replies, "the nuanced interpretations of terms tumbling in their mouths like sweet treats". She tells Emma's narrative with interest and closeness. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not precisely her dream."
Frustration and Disruption
I was fated to feel let down when I wished this new voice could last out the book. Kraus says here that she dislikes the enjoyment readers like me have gotten from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to fragmentation, to the unpolished style she shares with her hero writer Kathy Acker, and the emptiness and redundancy of her previous novels returns in the central part. Catt Greene is trying to renovate three dozen dilapidated units in the city's most challenging districts while shuttling between Minnesota and LA, unable to aid her husband curb his addiction. She experiences powerlessness as Paul transitions between poorly supported positions as an substance abuse counselor in a environment driven by the hostility and dread that underpins Trump's victory. There are several pages about Catt being cancelled on a platform, her professional designation altered from "author" to "real estate holder" on the online encyclopedia. She still gives the impression to care a little too much about this. At one point she states that she's researching the homicide so that before departing the state, "she might be able to learn something about an America that her Twitter detractors would not understand, would overlook entirely".
The Murder Narrative
Thus we arrive to the actual killing – and the eponymous day spent by the victim with the murderer and his associates. Kraus has great source material, and knows hour by hour what transpired when a man named Brandon came to meet Brittney after connecting via an application where she marketed explicit images. He anticipated intimacy but seems affably to have spent the day in the company of her associates, loitering having his vehicle repaired and funding treats and narcotics, before being shot by her romantic interest Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has frequently been hospitalised for aggressive outbursts.
Preoccupation and Open Ends
Catt gets obsessed by the narrative, and I found myself captivated by the way that her twin drives towards accurate chronicling and daring boundary-pushing tussle in this section. However, I would have preferred her to delve deeper into her individual preoccupations here. The most interesting character is the character Brittney, who gains dimension partly through Catt seeing herself in her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman derailing in a struggling, neglected community. Kraus notes that Catt converses with Brittney in detention, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. The whole section feels curiously unresolved, to the point that her narrative ends almost mid-par
