This latest work is populated with characters chasing after fresh starts, trying to break free from drugs or toxic relationships, only to see hope turn into aggression. Kraus frequently uses the phrase "new beginning", rendering it deliberately jaded through recurring use. Phrases such as "He could make a fresh start" and "They opted for a clean break" appear throughout the narrative. Meanwhile, the author herself seems to be making her own fresh start, as this appears a different type of work – documentarian, truly literary. But then it proves to be filled with the familiar conflicts and aesthetics as past novels.
From Unplanned Author to Cult Classic
Kraus was originally an visual artist who became a writer somewhat by chance with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, made up of epistles to an unresponsive love interest, transforming personal female narrative from abjection into rebellion. She persisted as a writer, but the three subsequent compelling and abrasive novels lacked the power and directness that the letter form imparted to the tone of I Love Dick. It didn't help was her position as a renegade artist who had turned into a major property owner, so there was much discussion on real estate deals. It makes sense that she presently aims to experiment with fresh narrative sources, looking outwards to other people's stories, at a time when she states that current political era makes confessional writing redundant.
Multiple Generations, Collective Unavoidable Background
The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, spanning three generations – none able to break free from their pasts. The book includes the story of Emma and Jasper, representations of Kraus's parents, moving from the Bronx to a pastoral setting. Then there is the story of Kraus herself, in the character of Catt Greene, confronting the belated success of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her partner struggling with addiction her husband Paul. Finally the account of a killing of one lost young man by another in a community largely deserted by progressive politics only a brief drive from the protagonist's home in a remote part of Minnesota.
For this reader drawn to polished prose of the sort Kraus herself often avoids, I was enchanted by the narrative style of the opening part.
As a reader drawn to crafted language of the style that Kraus tends to eschew, I was captivated by the novelistic voice of the opening segment. There is a new quality of attentiveness that allows space for minutiae, like the container that the young Catt pries out of frozen water at the beginning of the narrative, aided by her beloved father. "I discovered a frozen plaything!" she says; "a nice toy", he answers, "the nuanced interpretations of terms tumbling in their mouths like hard candy". She tells Emma's story with interest and closeness. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not hers, exactly."
Frustration and Disruption
I was bound to become frustrated when I hoped this new voice could persist to the end. Kraus notes here that she dislikes the pleasure those who appreciate polished prose have gotten from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to disruption, to the untidy aesthetics she shares with her hero Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her previous novels comes back in the central part. Catt Greene is working on refurbishing multiple decrepit residences in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while shuttling between Minnesota and LA, unable to aid Paul manage his alcohol use. She experiences powerlessness as her spouse moves between poorly supported positions as an recovery specialist in a environment fueled by the hostility and dread that underpins a political win. Multiple pages are devoted about Catt's social media ostracism on Twitter, her professional designation altered from "writer" to "property owner" on the online encyclopedia. The author still appears to care a little too much about this. In a moment she states that she's researching the homicide 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 see".
The Homicide Account
So then we come to the murder itself – and the titular day spent by the deceased with the perpetrator and his associates. Kraus has great source material, and details moment by moment what transpired when a man named Brandon came to see Brittney after encountering her on a platform where she marketed explicit images. He sought a sexual encounter but appears congenially to have passed the day with her companions, mooching around having his vehicle repaired and funding treats and narcotics, before being killed by gunfire by her romantic interest Micah – a individual with mental health challenges who has repeatedly received inpatient care for fits of anger.
Fascination and Incompletion
Catt develops an obsession by the story, and I was intrigued by the way that the author's conflicting impulses towards responsible documentation and audacious rule-breaking clash in this segment. However, I would have preferred her to explore more thoroughly her individual preoccupations here. The compelling persona is Brittney, who gains dimension partially because of the protagonist's connection to her – a similarly gifted, tormented individual spiraling out of control in a difficult, overlooked locality. Kraus notes that Catt speaks to Brittney in prison, but she doesn't dramatise these conversations. The complete segment feels strangely incomplete, to the extent that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par
