The Four Spent the Day Together is populated with protagonists seeking fresh starts, struggling to escape drugs or toxic relationships, only to witness hope devolve into conflict. Kraus repeatedly invokes the phrase "clean slate", transforming it into deliberately jaded through constant reiteration. Sentences like "He aimed to start over" and "They decided to make a fresh start" recur in the narrative. At the same time, the author herself seems to be making her own fresh start, since this presents as a new kind of book – observational, authentically narrative. Yet it turns out to be packed with the recurring issues and approaches as her previous works.
From Chance Novelist to Iconic Work
Kraus started out as an creative who transitioned to writing unintentionally with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, structured as missives to a distant beloved, converting intimate women's literature from humiliation into assassination. She continued writing, but the three subsequent engaging and challenging novels did not possess the power and directness that the correspondence format imparted to the tone of I Love Dick. It didn't help was her position as a renegade artist who had become a major property owner, so there was significant attention on housing investments. It follows that she presently aims to experiment with fresh narrative sources, directing her gaze to other people's stories, at a time when she states that Trumpian politics renders personal narrative unnecessary.
Multiple Generations, Shared Inescapable History
The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, encompassing several time periods – each trapped by their pasts. The book includes the narrative about characters Emma and Jasper, versions of the author's parents, moving from the urban environment to rural Connecticut. Additionally the narrative of the author, in the persona of Catt Greene, reckoning with the belated success of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her addict husband her husband Paul. Finally the narrative of a homicide of one directionless individual by another in a town long abandoned 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 attracted to polished prose of the type Kraus tends to eschew, I was captivated by the literary tone of the first section.
As a reader who favors honed writing of the variety that Kraus herself often disregards, I was won over by the storytelling approach of the initial part. It exhibits a novel degree of detail that makes room for small details, like the bucket that the young Catt dislodges from ice at the beginning of the narrative, assisted by her beloved father. "Look, an ice toy!" she exclaims; "a lovely toy", he responds, "the nuanced interpretations of terms tumbling in their mouths like sweet treats". Kraus writes Emma's story with inquiry and familiarity. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not precisely her dream."
Disappointment and Disjunction
I was fated to feel let down when I wished this different style could continue through the novel. Kraus notes here that she is annoyed by the enjoyment audiences such as myself have gotten from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to fragmentation, to the untidy aesthetics she echoes from her idol Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her past books comes back in the second segment. Catt is working on refurbishing multiple decrepit residences in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while moving between two different states, failing to help her husband control his drinking. She experiences powerlessness as Paul moves between poorly supported positions as an substance abuse counselor in a environment fueled by the rage and anxiety that drives an electoral success. There are several pages about Catt's social media ostracism on social media, her professional designation altered from "author" to "landlord" on Wikipedia. Kraus still seems to invest excessive emotion about this. At one point she says that she's investigating the murder so that before exiting the region, "she might be able to learn something about an the United States that her Twitter detractors would not understand, would not even see".
The Murder Narrative
So then we come to the murder itself – and the eponymous day passed by the murdered individual with the murderer and his associates. Kraus has excellent raw material, and knows hour by hour what occurred as Brandon came to meet Brittney after encountering her on a platform where she offered adult photos. He sought a sexual encounter but seems affably to have spent the day with her companions, mooching around getting his car mended and paying for snacks and drugs, before being murdered by Brittney's boyfriend a man named Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has often been institutionalized for aggressive outbursts.
Obsession and Unfinished Business
Catt gets obsessed by the account, and I found myself captivated by the way that the author's conflicting impulses towards accurate chronicling and audacious rule-breaking wrestle in this part. But I'd have liked her to delve deeper into her personal fixations here. The compelling persona is Brittney herself, who comes alive in part due to Catt seeing herself in her – a similarly gifted, tormented individual spiraling out of control in a troubled, forgotten town. The author informs us that the protagonist communicates with Brittney in detention, but she fails to enact these dialogues. The whole section feels strangely incomplete, to the point that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par
