This latest work centers on protagonists pursuing new beginnings, trying to break free from drugs or harmful partnerships, only to witness hope devolve into violence. Kraus often employs the phrase "clean slate", rendering it willfully cynical through recurring use. Examples include "He could make a fresh start" and "They chose to begin anew" appear throughout the text. And yet, the author herself seems to be making her own fresh start, as this appears a different type of work – documentarian, authentically narrative. But then it turns out to be filled with the same dilemmas and aesthetics as earlier books.
From Accidental Writer to Iconic Work
The writer began as an creative who transitioned to writing almost accidentally with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, which was composed of missives to a distant beloved, elevating personal female narrative from humiliation into rebellion. She persisted as a writer, but the three subsequent compelling and abrasive novels lacked the impact and rawness that the letter form imparted to the voice of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her role as a nonconformist creator who had turned into a large-scale low-rent landlord, so there was considerable focus on property transactions. It is logical that she now wants to explore new kinds of material, directing her gaze to external narratives, at a period in which she asserts that contemporary political climate makes confessional writing unnecessary.
Several Eras, 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 histories. There is the narrative about characters Emma and Jasper, versions of her own mother and father, transitioning from the Bronx to the Connecticut countryside. There is the story of Kraus herself, in the guise of a figure named Catt Greene, reckoning with the late recognition of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her addict husband her husband Paul. Finally the story of the murder of one lost young man by another in a locality largely deserted by progressive politics only 80 miles from the protagonist's home in rural Minnesota.
For this reader drawn to polished prose of the type the author herself typically rejects, I was captivated by the novelistic voice of the first section.
As a reader drawn to crafted language of the kind that the author usually avoids, I was captivated by the storytelling approach of the initial part. There is a novel degree of detail that accommodates minutiae, like the bucket that the young Catt pries out of frozen water at the opening of the book, assisted by her beloved father. "I found an ice toy!" she declares; "a lovely toy", he replies, "the ambiguous meanings of language tumbling in their mouths like sweet treats". Kraus writes Emma's narrative with curiosity and intimacy. "It seemed to Emma she had entered a dream – not entirely her own."
Frustration and Disruption
I was fated to feel let down when I expected this different style could last out the book. Kraus notes here that she resents the enjoyment readers like me have derived from I Love Dick; she's devoted to fragmentation, to the messy artistic approach she echoes from her inspiration author Kathy Acker, and the emptiness and redundancy of her past books returns in the second segment. Catt Greene is working on refurbishing three dozen dilapidated units in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while moving between the Midwest and the West Coast, unsuccessful in assisting Paul curb his addiction. She experiences powerlessness as Paul moves between low-resource employment as an recovery specialist in a environment driven by the anger and fear that underpins a political win. There are several pages about Catt being cancelled on Twitter, her occupation changed from "novelist" to "landlord" on the online encyclopedia. She still gives the impression to care a little too much about this. On one occasion she remarks that she's investigating the murder so that before leaving Minnesota, "she could potentially understand something about an the United States that her social media opponents would not understand, would not even perceive".
The Killing Story
Thus we arrive to the actual killing – and the titular day passed by the murdered individual with the killer and his associates. Kraus has excellent raw material, and knows hour by hour what happened when a man named Brandon came to see Brittney after encountering her on a platform where she offered adult photos. He was hoping for sex but appears congenially to have passed the day with her companions, wandering about having his vehicle repaired and funding treats and narcotics, before being shot by Brittney's partner Micah – a individual with mental health challenges who has repeatedly received inpatient care for aggressive outbursts.
Fascination and Incompletion
The protagonist becomes fixated by the narrative, and I was intrigued by the way that her twin drives towards responsible documentation and daring boundary-pushing clash in this segment. Yet I wished her to go further into her individual preoccupations here. The most interesting character is Brittney, who becomes vivid in part due to the protagonist's connection to her – another bright, bullied girl derailing in a struggling, neglected community. The author informs us that Catt speaks to Brittney in prison, but she fails to enact these dialogues. This entire part feels strangely incomplete, to the point that her narrative ends almost mid-par
