The new book centers on characters seeking new beginnings, attempting to leave behind substance abuse or harmful partnerships, only to see hope turn into aggression. Kraus repeatedly invokes the phrase "clean slate", making it intentionally weary through constant reiteration. Phrases such as "He aimed to start over" and "They opted for a clean break" are scattered across the narrative. And yet, she seems to be making her own fresh start, since this presents as a different type of work – fact-based, authentically narrative. But then it reveals itself to be laden with the same dilemmas and aesthetics as earlier books.
From Accidental Writer to Iconic Work
The writer started out as an creative who became a writer somewhat by chance with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, which was composed of missives to a distant beloved, elevating intimate women's literature from abjection into assassination. She continued writing, but the three subsequent compelling and abrasive novels missed the impact and rawness that the correspondence format brought to the tone of I Love Dick. It didn't help was her role as a nonconformist creator who had become a large-scale low-rent landlord, so there was significant attention on property transactions. It is logical that she presently aims to experiment with different types of content, directing her gaze to the experiences of others, at a moment when she claims that Trumpian politics makes confessional writing redundant.
Several Eras, Collective Unavoidable Background
The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, covering multiple eras – all unable to escape their histories. There is the story of a couple named Emma and Jasper, versions of Kraus's parents, relocating from the Bronx to the Connecticut countryside. Then there is the account of Kraus, in the persona of protagonist Catt Greene, confronting the belated success of I Love Dick, the rise of Trump, and her partner struggling with addiction Paul. The third thread involves the story of the murder of one lost young man by another in a town long abandoned by liberal ideals only 80 miles from Catt's rural residence in a remote part of Minnesota.
For this reader drawn to honed writing of the sort the author herself often avoids, I was captivated by the narrative style of the first section.
As a reader drawn to precise prose of the kind that the author tends to eschew, I was won over by the novelistic voice of the opening segment. There is a new quality of attentiveness that accommodates trivial aspects, like the container that the young Catt dislodges from ice at the opening of the book, helped by her adored dad. "I discovered a frozen plaything!" she says; "a nice toy", he responds, "the elliptical meanings of words circulating in their speech like hard candy". The author narrates Emma's narrative with curiosity and intimacy. "It seemed to Emma she had entered a dream – not hers, exactly."
Letdown and Fragmentation
I was destined to be disappointed when I hoped this fresh tone could persist to the end. Kraus says here that she dislikes the pleasure readers like me have derived from I Love Dick; she's committed to disruption, to the messy artistic approach she has in common with her inspiration writer Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her earlier works comes back in the central part. Catt is trying to renovate 36 run-down apartments in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while traveling between Minnesota and LA, unsuccessful in assisting Paul manage his alcohol use. She experiences powerlessness as Paul moves between underfunded jobs as an addiction therapist in a environment propelled by the anger and fear that drives a political win. There are several pages about the protagonist facing cancellation on Twitter, her listed profession modified from "writer" 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 exiting the region, "she could potentially understand something about an the United States that her Twitter detractors would be unable to grasp, would not even perceive".
The Murder Narrative
So then we come to the murder itself – and the referenced day experienced by the murdered individual with the killer and his associates. The author possesses excellent raw material, and knows hour by hour what happened when the victim Brandon came to see Brittney after encountering her on a platform where she marketed explicit images. He anticipated intimacy but appears congenially to have passed the day alongside her friends, wandering about having his vehicle repaired and covering the cost of food and substances, before being killed by gunfire by Brittney's partner Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has frequently been hospitalised for fits of anger.
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 tussle in this section. Yet I wished her to go further into her individual preoccupations here. The standout figure is Brittney herself, who becomes vivid in part due to Catt's identification with her – a similarly gifted, tormented individual spiraling out of control in a troubled, forgotten town. Kraus notes that the protagonist communicates with Brittney in detention, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. The complete segment feels curiously unresolved, to the extent that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par
