The new book centers on characters seeking fresh starts, trying to break free from addictions or toxic relationships, only to see hope turn into violence. Kraus often employs the phrase "new beginning", rendering it intentionally weary through recurring use. Phrases such as "He could make a fresh start" and "They opted for a clean break" appear throughout the text. Meanwhile, the author herself appears to be undertaking her own fresh start, as this presents as a different type of work – documentarian, authentically narrative. But then it proves to be filled with the familiar conflicts and approaches as earlier books.
From Accidental Writer to Renowned Book
The writer began as an artist who entered the literary world almost accidentally with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, made up of missives to a distant beloved, elevating confessional female writing from abjection into defiance. She continued writing, but the three subsequent compelling and abrasive novels lacked the shock and immediacy that the epistolary style infused into the narrative voice of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her identity as a maverick maker who had become a major property owner, so there was much discussion on property transactions. It is logical that she now wants to try out new kinds of material, turning outward to external narratives, at a time when she asserts that Trumpian politics renders personal narrative unnecessary.
Three Generations, One Unescapable Past
The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, covering several time periods – each trapped by their histories. There is the story of characters Emma and Jasper, versions of the author's parents, relocating from the New York borough to rural Connecticut. Additionally the story of Kraus herself, in the persona of a figure named Catt Greene, grappling with the belated success of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her partner struggling with addiction her husband Paul. Finally the story of the murder of one directionless individual by another in a locality long abandoned by progressive politics only 80 miles from Catt's rural residence in a remote part of Minnesota.
For this reader drawn to honed writing of the sort Kraus herself typically rejects, I was captivated by the literary tone of the first section.
Being a reader who favors precise prose of the variety that Kraus herself usually avoids, I was captivated by the storytelling approach of the opening segment. It exhibits a novel degree of detail that allows space for small details, like the bucket that the protagonist as a child 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 responds, "the ambiguous meanings of language circulating in their speech like sweet treats". The author narrates Emma's narrative 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 expected this new voice could persist to the end. Kraus says here that she resents the satisfaction those who appreciate polished prose have taken from I Love Dick; she's devoted to fragmentation, to the messy artistic approach she has in common with her inspiration Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her past books reasserts itself in the central part. Catt Greene is attempting to do up multiple decrepit residences in the city's most challenging districts while moving between two different states, failing to help her husband curb his addiction. She feels helpless as her spouse cycles through underfunded jobs as an substance abuse counselor in a society propelled by the hostility and dread that drives a political win. There are several pages about Catt being cancelled on social media, her professional designation altered from "novelist" to "landlord" on Wikipedia. Kraus still seems to be overly concerned about this. On one occasion she states that she's investigating the murder so that before exiting the region, "she might be able to learn something about an America that her social media opponents would fail to comprehend, would not even see".
The Killing Story
Thus we arrive to the homicide in question – and the eponymous day experienced by the deceased with the killer and his friends. Kraus utilizes compelling foundational content, and knows hour by hour what occurred as the victim Brandon came to visit Brittney after meeting her on an app where she offered adult photos. He anticipated intimacy but appears congenially to have passed the day with her companions, mooching around getting his car mended and paying for snacks and drugs, before being shot by Brittney's partner a man named Micah – a individual with mental health challenges who has frequently been hospitalised for aggressive outbursts.
Preoccupation and Open Ends
The protagonist becomes fixated by the story, and I was fascinated by the way that the author's conflicting impulses towards accurate chronicling and reckless transgression tussle in this section. But I'd have liked her to go further into her own obsessions here. The standout figure is Brittney, who comes alive partially because of Catt seeing herself in her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman spiraling out of control in a troubled, forgotten town. Kraus tells us that Catt converses with Brittney in jail, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. The complete segment feels oddly unfinished, to the extent that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par
