The Four Spent the Day Together is populated with protagonists chasing after new beginnings, attempting to leave behind addictions or harmful partnerships, only to witness hope devolve into aggression. The author often employs the phrase "clean slate", rendering it intentionally weary through constant reiteration. Phrases such as "He could make a fresh start" and "They opted for a clean break" are scattered across the story. Meanwhile, she appears to be undertaking her individual reinvention, as this presents as a novel form of writing – documentarian, genuinely novelistic. Yet it turns out to be filled with the recurring issues and styles as past novels.
From Chance Novelist to Renowned Book
Kraus began as an artist who entered the literary world almost accidentally with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, structured as epistles to an unresponsive love interest, elevating personal female narrative from self-debasement into assassination. She persisted as a writer, but the next trio of fascinating and rebarbative novels missed the shock and immediacy that the letter form brought to the voice of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her identity as a maverick maker who had evolved into a extensive real estate holder, so there was considerable focus on property transactions. It follows that she now wants to try out new kinds of material, turning outward to the experiences of others, at a time when she asserts that contemporary political climate renders personal narrative unnecessary.
Three Generations, One Unescapable Past
The Four Spent the Day Together is structured in three parts, encompassing several time periods – each trapped by their histories. We encounter the tale of Emma and Jasper, representations of her own mother and father, transitioning from the New York borough to the Connecticut countryside. There is the narrative of the author, in the persona of Catt Greene, grappling with the belated success of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her substance-dependent spouse Paul. The third thread involves the account of a killing of one lost young man by another in a town largely deserted by forward-thinking policies only 80 miles from Catt's rural residence in a remote part of Minnesota.
For this reader fond of honed writing of the sort Kraus herself tends to eschew, I was captivated by the literary tone of the opening part.
Being a reader who favors precise prose of the variety that Kraus herself often disregards, I was captivated by the novelistic voice of the opening segment. It possesses a new quality of attentiveness that makes room for minutiae, like the bucket that the protagonist as a child frees from the ice at the beginning of the narrative, aided by her beloved father. "Look, an ice toy!" she says; "a nice toy", he responds, "the elliptical meanings of words rolling around in their mouths like hard candy". Kraus writes the tale of Emma with interest and closeness. "It seemed to Emma she had entered a dream – not entirely her own."
Letdown and Fragmentation
I was destined to be disappointed when I hoped this new voice could continue through the novel. The author states here that she dislikes the enjoyment audiences such as myself have gotten from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to disjunction, to the messy artistic approach she has in common with her hero writer Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her earlier works returns in the central part. The protagonist is working on refurbishing multiple decrepit residences in the city's most challenging districts while shuttling between Minnesota and LA, unsuccessful in assisting Paul control his drinking. She feels helpless as her spouse transitions between low-resource employment as an recovery specialist in a society fueled by the anger and fear that underpins a political win. There are several pages about Catt's social media ostracism on a platform, her listed profession modified from "author" to "landlord" on Wikipedia. The author still appears to be overly concerned about this. At one point she remarks that she's researching the homicide so that before departing the state, "she might be able to learn something about an the United States that her Twitter detractors would not understand, would not even see".
The Killing Story
Thus we arrive to the homicide in question – and the eponymous day passed by the murdered individual with the murderer and his associates. The author possesses excellent raw material, and reconstructs step by step what occurred as a man named Brandon came to see Brittney after connecting via an application where she offered adult photos. He sought a sexual encounter but seems amiably to have occupied the day with her companions, wandering about getting his car mended and covering the cost of food and substances, before being murdered by her romantic interest Micah – a individual with mental health challenges who has repeatedly received inpatient care for fits of anger.
Obsession and Unfinished Business
The protagonist becomes fixated by the account, and I was fascinated by the way that the author's conflicting impulses towards ethical reporting and reckless transgression tussle in this section. However, I would have preferred her to go further into her own obsessions here. The most interesting character is Brittney, who becomes vivid in part due to Catt seeing herself in her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman spiraling out of control in a difficult, overlooked locality. The author informs us that Catt converses with Brittney in jail, but she fails to enact these dialogues. The complete segment feels curiously unresolved, to the extent that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par
