The Four Spent the Day Together centers on individuals seeking fresh starts, trying to break free from substance abuse or toxic relationships, only to witness hope devolve into violence. The author often employs the phrase "fresh start", rendering it willfully cynical through constant reiteration. Sentences like "He aimed to start over" and "They decided to make a fresh start" appear throughout the text. And yet, Kraus herself is embarking on her individual reinvention, as this presents as a new kind of book – fact-based, genuinely novelistic. Yet it proves to be packed with the familiar conflicts and styles as her previous works.
From Accidental Writer to Iconic Work
Kraus was originally an creative who transitioned to writing somewhat by chance with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, which was composed of missives to a distant beloved, converting confessional female writing from self-debasement into assassination. She kept producing books, but the following three fascinating and rebarbative novels missed the impact and rawness that the epistolary style imparted to the tone of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her identity as a nonconformist creator who had evolved into a major property owner, so there was much discussion on real estate deals. It makes sense that she presently aims to experiment with new kinds of material, turning outward to external narratives, at a period in which she claims that current political era turns intimate literature unnecessary.
Multiple Generations, Collective Unavoidable Background
The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, spanning three generations – each trapped by their pasts. We encounter the narrative about a couple named Emma and Jasper, versions of her own mother and father, relocating from the Bronx to a pastoral setting. Then there is the story of Kraus herself, in the persona of protagonist Catt Greene, grappling with the delayed acclaim of I Love Dick, the rise of Trump, and her substance-dependent spouse a man named Paul. Finally the story of the murder of one directionless individual by another in a community mostly forsaken by progressive politics only 80 miles from Catt's rural residence in rural Minnesota.
For this reader attracted to refined literature of the sort Kraus typically rejects, I was captivated by the novelistic voice of the first section.
As a reader who appreciates precise prose of the variety that the author often disregards, I was seduced by the novelistic voice of the opening segment. It possesses a fresh level of observation that allows space for minutiae, like the pail that the protagonist as a child pries out of frozen water at the opening of the book, aided by her cherished parent. "I discovered a frozen plaything!" she exclaims; "a great plaything", he answers, "the nuanced interpretations of terms rolling around in their mouths like piece candy". She tells the tale of Emma with interest and closeness. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not entirely her own."
Letdown and Fragmentation
I was destined to be disappointed when I wished this different style could continue through the novel. Kraus says here that she is annoyed by the satisfaction audiences such as myself have gotten from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to disjunction, to the untidy aesthetics she echoes from her idol author Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her earlier works reasserts itself in the middle section. The protagonist is attempting to do up 36 run-down apartments in the city's most challenging districts while traveling between two different states, failing to help Paul curb his addiction. She is overwhelmed as Paul moves between poorly supported positions as an substance abuse counselor in a society fueled by the anger and fear that powers a political win. Multiple pages are devoted about Catt being cancelled on a platform, her professional designation altered from "writer" to "landlord" on Wikipedia. She still gives the impression to invest excessive emotion about this. On one occasion she remarks that she's looking into the killing so that before exiting the region, "she might be able to learn something about an the nation that her social media opponents would fail to comprehend, would overlook entirely".
The Homicide Account
Thus we arrive to the murder itself – and the eponymous day spent by the deceased with the murderer and his associates. The author possesses great source material, and knows hour by hour what occurred as a man named Brandon came to meet Brittney after connecting via an application where she marketed explicit images. He sought a sexual encounter but seems affably to have spent the day with her companions, mooching around fixing his automobile and paying for snacks and drugs, before being shot by Brittney's boyfriend Micah – a individual with mental health challenges who has often been institutionalized for violent rage.
Preoccupation and Open Ends
Catt develops an obsession by the story, and I was intrigued by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards accurate chronicling and audacious rule-breaking tussle in this section. However, I would have preferred her to delve deeper into her own obsessions here. The compelling persona is Brittney, who gains dimension in part due to the protagonist's connection to her – a similarly gifted, tormented individual derailing in a struggling, neglected community. Kraus notes that the protagonist communicates with Brittney in prison, but she doesn't dramatise these conversations. This entire part feels strangely incomplete, to the degree that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par
