This latest work is populated with characters pursuing fresh starts, trying to break free from substance abuse or harmful partnerships, only to see hope turn into conflict. Kraus frequently uses the phrase "clean slate", rendering it willfully cynical through its repetitions. Sentences like "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They chose to begin anew" are scattered across the narrative. Meanwhile, she appears to be undertaking her personal new beginning, since this appears a novel form of writing – observational, genuinely novelistic. Yet it turns out to be laden with the recurring issues and approaches as her previous works.
From Unplanned Author to Iconic Work
Kraus began as an artist who transitioned to writing almost accidentally with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, which was composed of missives to a distant beloved, transforming intimate women's literature from self-debasement into defiance. She persisted as a writer, but the three subsequent compelling and abrasive novels lacked the shock and immediacy that the correspondence format brought to the voice of I Love Dick. It didn't help was her identity as a maverick maker who had become a extensive real estate holder, so there was significant attention on property transactions. It is logical that she currently desires to explore fresh narrative sources, turning outward to the experiences of others, at a period in which she claims that current political era turns intimate literature unnecessary.
Multiple Generations, Shared Inescapable History
The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, spanning multiple eras – each trapped by their pasts. The book includes the narrative about Emma and Jasper, versions of Kraus's parents, moving from the urban environment to the Connecticut countryside. Additionally the story of Kraus herself, in the character of protagonist Catt Greene, confronting the late recognition of I Love Dick, the rise of Trump, and her addict husband Paul. The third thread involves the account of a killing of one directionless individual by another in a community long abandoned by forward-thinking policies only 80 miles from Catt's cottage in a remote part of Minnesota.
For this reader drawn to polished prose of the type Kraus tends to eschew, I was seduced by the literary tone of the first section.
As a reader drawn to crafted language of the variety that Kraus usually avoids, I was seduced by the storytelling approach of the opening segment. It exhibits a fresh level of observation that makes room for minutiae, like the pail that the youthful 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 nice toy", he responds, "the nuanced interpretations of terms circulating in their speech like hard candy". The author narrates Emma's story with interest and closeness. "Emma felt like she'd stepped into a dream – not entirely her own."
Disappointment and Disjunction
I was bound to become frustrated when I wished this fresh tone could persist to the end. Kraus says here that she is annoyed by the satisfaction audiences such as myself have derived from I Love Dick; she's committed to disruption, to the unpolished style she shares with her idol writer Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her earlier works returns in the second segment. The protagonist is attempting to do up three dozen dilapidated units in the city's most challenging districts while shuttling between two different states, unsuccessful in assisting Paul curb his addiction. She feels helpless as her spouse cycles through poorly supported positions as an substance abuse counselor in a society fueled by the anger and fear that powers Trump's victory. There are several pages about Catt being cancelled on Twitter, her professional designation altered from "novelist" to "real estate holder" on Wikipedia. Kraus still seems to invest excessive emotion about this. In a moment she says that she's looking into the killing so that before departing the state, "she may grasp something about an the nation that her social media opponents would fail to comprehend, would not even see".
The Murder Narrative
So then we come to the actual killing – and the titular day passed by the deceased with the murderer and his friends. Kraus has compelling foundational content, and details moment by moment what occurred as Brandon came to meet Brittney after encountering her on a platform where she marketed explicit images. He anticipated intimacy but seems affably to have spent the day with her companions, mooching around getting his car mended and covering the cost of food and substances, before being killed by gunfire by Brittney's boyfriend Micah – a individual with mental health challenges who has frequently been hospitalised for violent rage.
Obsession and Unfinished Business
Catt gets obsessed by the narrative, and I found myself captivated by the way that her twin drives towards responsible documentation and audacious rule-breaking wrestle in this part. Yet I wished her to explore more thoroughly her own obsessions here. The most interesting character is Brittney herself, who comes alive partly through Catt seeing herself in her – another bright, bullied girl derailing in a difficult, overlooked locality. The author informs us that Catt speaks to Brittney in prison, but she fails to enact these dialogues. The whole section feels curiously unresolved, to the extent that her narrative ends almost mid-par
