The new book centers on characters seeking fresh starts, trying to break free from drugs or toxic relationships, only to find hope curdling into conflict. Kraus often employs the phrase "new beginning", making it intentionally weary through recurring use. Phrases such as "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They chose to begin anew" are scattered across the narrative. Meanwhile, the author herself is embarking on her individual reinvention, since this seems a different type of work – fact-based, genuinely novelistic. But then it reveals itself to be packed with the same dilemmas and approaches as her previous works.
From Accidental Writer to Iconic Work
Kraus was originally an artist who transitioned to writing somewhat by chance with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, which was composed of missives to a distant beloved, elevating personal female narrative from humiliation into defiance. She kept producing books, but the next trio of fascinating and rebarbative novels missed the shock and immediacy that the correspondence format infused into the voice of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her identity as a renegade artist who had become a major property owner, so there was much discussion on property transactions. It is logical that she presently aims to explore new kinds of material, looking outwards to external narratives, at a time when she claims that Trumpian politics turns intimate literature obsolete.
Several Eras, One Unescapable Past
The Four Spent the Day Together is structured in three parts, encompassing multiple eras – none able to break free from their histories. We encounter the tale of a couple named Emma and Jasper, based on Kraus's parents, transitioning from the urban environment to a pastoral setting. Then there is the story of Kraus herself, in the character of protagonist Catt Greene, confronting the belated success of I Love Dick, the rise of Trump, and her substance-dependent spouse Paul. Finally the account of a killing of one lost young man by another in a town largely deserted by liberal ideals only a short distance from Catt's rural residence in a remote part of Minnesota.
As a reader fond of refined literature of the kind Kraus tends to eschew, I was seduced by the novelistic voice of the opening part.
As someone who reads who favors precise prose of the style that Kraus herself usually avoids, I was won over by the novelistic voice of the first section. There is a new quality of attentiveness that makes room for minutiae, like the pail that the young Catt frees from the ice at the opening of the book, aided by her beloved father. "Look, an ice toy!" she says; "a lovely toy", he replies, "the nuanced interpretations of terms tumbling in their mouths like piece candy". She tells Emma's story with inquiry and familiarity. "It seemed to Emma she had entered a dream – not entirely her own."
Disappointment and Disjunction
I was fated to feel let down when I wished this new voice could continue through the novel. The author states here that she is annoyed by the satisfaction audiences such as myself have gotten from I Love Dick; she's devoted to disjunction, to the unpolished style she has in common with her hero Kathy Acker, and the emptiness and redundancy of her previous novels comes back in the second segment. Catt Greene is working on refurbishing 36 run-down apartments in the city's most challenging districts while traveling between Minnesota and LA, unsuccessful in assisting Paul manage his alcohol use. She feels helpless as Paul transitions between underfunded jobs as an substance abuse counselor in a environment fueled by the rage and anxiety that drives an electoral success. There are several pages about Catt's social media ostracism on Twitter, her professional designation altered from "novelist" to "real estate holder" on a reference site. Kraus still seems 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 nation that her online critics would fail to comprehend, would overlook entirely".
The Killing Story
So then we come to the homicide in question – and the eponymous day spent by the victim with the killer and his companions. Kraus utilizes great source material, and details moment by moment what transpired when Brandon came to meet Brittney after encountering her on a platform where she sold sex pictures. He anticipated intimacy but appears congenially to have passed the day alongside her friends, mooching around having his vehicle repaired and covering the cost of food and substances, before being murdered by her romantic interest Micah – a individual with mental health challenges who has frequently been hospitalised for fits of anger.
Preoccupation and Open Ends
The protagonist becomes fixated by the story, and I was intrigued by the way that her twin drives towards accurate chronicling and audacious rule-breaking clash in this segment. But I'd have liked her to delve deeper into her personal fixations here. The most interesting character is Brittney, who becomes vivid partially because of the protagonist's connection to her – another bright, bullied girl spiraling out of control in a struggling, neglected community. The author informs us that Catt converses with Brittney in detention, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. This entire part feels curiously unresolved, to the degree that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par
