The new book is populated with characters pursuing fresh starts, trying to break free from substance abuse or harmful partnerships, only to witness hope devolve into aggression. Kraus frequently uses the phrase "fresh start", transforming it into deliberately jaded through recurring use. Examples include "He aimed to start over" and "They opted for a clean break" are scattered across the narrative. Meanwhile, she appears to be undertaking her own fresh start, because this appears a new kind of book – observational, genuinely novelistic. However it turns out to be laden with the same dilemmas and styles as her previous works.
From Unplanned Author to Cult Classic
The writer was originally an visual artist who became a writer unintentionally with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, which was composed of letters to an unreceptive lover, elevating confessional female writing from humiliation into defiance. She persisted as a writer, but the following three fascinating and rebarbative novels did not possess the power and directness that the epistolary style imparted to the tone of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her role as a renegade artist who had evolved into a major property owner, so there was considerable focus on real estate deals. It makes sense that she now wants to explore fresh narrative sources, turning outward to other people's stories, at a time when she asserts that Trumpian politics renders personal narrative redundant.
Several Eras, One Unescapable Past
The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, spanning three generations – all unable to escape their backgrounds. There is the story of characters Emma and Jasper, based on Kraus's parents, transitioning from the Bronx to the Connecticut countryside. Then there is the story of Kraus herself, in the guise of Catt Greene, grappling with the belated success of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her partner struggling with addiction Paul. The third thread involves the account of a killing of one troubled youth by another in a locality largely deserted by forward-thinking policies only a brief drive from Catt's rural residence in a remote part of Minnesota.
From my perspective as a reader fond of honed writing of the sort Kraus tends to eschew, I was enchanted by the literary tone of the first section.
Being a reader who favors honed writing of the variety that Kraus herself usually avoids, I was seduced by the literary tone of the opening segment. It possesses a fresh level of observation that makes room for small details, like the pail that the protagonist as a child pries out of frozen water at the start of the story, assisted by her adored dad. "I found an ice toy!" she declares; "a lovely toy", he replies, "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 bound to become frustrated when I wished this fresh tone could continue through the novel. Kraus says here that she resents the satisfaction audiences such as myself have gotten from I Love Dick; she's committed to disjunction, to the messy artistic approach she echoes from her idol Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her previous novels comes back in the central part. Catt Greene is trying to renovate three dozen dilapidated units in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while moving between two different states, failing to help Paul curb his addiction. She is overwhelmed as Paul moves between underfunded jobs as an substance abuse counselor in a environment fueled by the rage and anxiety that drives Trump's victory. There are several pages about Catt being cancelled on Twitter, her professional designation altered from "author" to "real estate holder" on Wikipedia. Kraus still seems to invest excessive emotion about this. On one occasion she remarks that she's investigating the murder so that before departing the state, "she might be able to learn something about an the nation that her social media opponents would be unable to grasp, would overlook entirely".
The Homicide Account
Then we reach to the actual killing – and the titular day passed by the deceased with the murderer and his associates. Kraus has great source material, and details moment by moment what happened when the victim Brandon came to meet Brittney after encountering her on a platform where she marketed explicit images. He anticipated intimacy but appears congenially to have passed the day alongside her friends, loitering having his vehicle repaired and paying for snacks and drugs, before being shot by her romantic interest Micah – a individual with mental health challenges who has often been institutionalized for aggressive outbursts.
Preoccupation and Open Ends
Catt gets obsessed by the story, and I found myself captivated by the way that the author's conflicting impulses towards accurate chronicling and daring boundary-pushing tussle in this section. However, I would have preferred her to explore more thoroughly her individual preoccupations here. The standout figure is Brittney, who becomes vivid partly through the protagonist's connection to her – another bright, bullied girl derailing in a difficult, overlooked locality. Kraus notes that Catt converses with Brittney in jail, but she fails to enact these dialogues. This entire part feels oddly unfinished, to the degree that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par
