The Four Spent the Day Together is populated with protagonists chasing after clean slates, trying to break free from drugs or harmful partnerships, only to witness hope devolve into violence. The author frequently uses the phrase "fresh start", transforming it into willfully cynical through constant reiteration. Examples include "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They decided to make a fresh start" are scattered across the story. Meanwhile, the author herself seems to be making her own fresh start, since this appears a different type of work – fact-based, authentically narrative. Yet it proves to be packed with the same dilemmas and styles as past novels.
From Unplanned Author to Iconic Work
Kraus started out as an visual artist who became a writer somewhat by chance with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, structured as missives to a distant beloved, converting personal female narrative from self-debasement into assassination. She persisted as a writer, but the following three engaging and challenging novels did not possess the impact and rawness that the epistolary style brought to the narrative voice of I Love Dick. It didn't help was her identity as a renegade artist who had evolved into a large-scale low-rent landlord, so there was much discussion on property transactions. It makes sense that she now wants to try out new kinds of material, directing her gaze to external narratives, at a moment when she states that Trumpian politics makes confessional writing unnecessary.
Several Eras, One Unescapable Past
The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, covering three generations – each trapped by their pasts. The book includes the story of a couple named Emma and Jasper, representations of her own mother and father, moving from the Bronx to a pastoral setting. Then there is the account of Kraus, in the guise of Catt Greene, grappling with the delayed acclaim of I Love Dick, the rise of Trump, and her substance-dependent spouse Paul. The third thread involves the account of a killing of one lost young man by another in a community mostly forsaken by forward-thinking policies only a short distance from Catt's rural residence in the Minnesota countryside.
As a reader attracted to honed writing of the type Kraus herself typically rejects, I was enchanted by the literary tone of the initial segment.
Being a reader drawn to honed writing of the variety that Kraus usually avoids, I was captivated by the storytelling approach of the first section. It possesses a novel degree of detail that accommodates small details, like the bucket that the protagonist as a child dislodges from ice at the opening of the book, helped by her adored dad. "I found an ice toy!" she declares; "a great plaything", he answers, "the nuanced interpretations of terms tumbling in their mouths like hard candy". She tells the tale of Emma with interest and closeness. "Emma felt like she'd stepped into a dream – not hers, exactly."
Letdown and Fragmentation
I was fated to feel let down when I hoped this different style could persist to the end. Kraus notes here that she resents the satisfaction readers like me have derived from I Love Dick; she's committed to fragmentation, to the unpolished style she has in common with her idol writer Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her earlier works returns in the central part. Catt is attempting to do up three dozen dilapidated units in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while traveling between the Midwest and the West Coast, unsuccessful in assisting Paul manage his alcohol use. She feels helpless as her spouse transitions between underfunded jobs as an addiction therapist in a environment driven by the hostility and dread that powers an electoral success. Multiple pages are devoted about Catt's social media ostracism on social media, her occupation changed from "author" to "real estate holder" on a reference site. Kraus still seems to care a little too much about this. At one point she says that she's looking into the killing so that before departing the state, "she could potentially understand something about an the nation that her social media opponents would fail to comprehend, would overlook entirely".
The Killing Story
Then we reach to the actual killing – and the eponymous day passed by the murdered individual with the killer and his companions. The author possesses great source material, and knows hour by hour what happened when Brandon came to see Brittney after connecting via an application where she sold sex pictures. He sought a sexual encounter but seems affably to have spent the day in the company of her associates, loitering fixing his automobile and funding treats and narcotics, before being murdered by Brittney's partner Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has frequently been hospitalised for violent rage.
Preoccupation and Open Ends
Catt develops an obsession by the story, and I found myself captivated by the way that her twin drives towards ethical reporting and audacious rule-breaking clash in this segment. But I'd have liked her to delve deeper into her individual preoccupations here. The compelling persona is Brittney herself, who gains dimension in part due to the protagonist's connection to her – a similarly gifted, tormented individual going off the rails in a troubled, forgotten town. Kraus tells us that Catt converses with Brittney in detention, but she fails to enact these dialogues. The complete segment feels oddly unfinished, to the degree that her narrative ends almost mid-par
