The Four Spent the Day Together features protagonists chasing after clean slates, attempting to leave behind addictions or toxic relationships, only to find hope curdling into conflict. Kraus frequently uses the phrase "fresh start", rendering it willfully cynical through recurring use. Examples include "He aimed to start over" and "They opted for a clean break" are scattered across the narrative. And yet, the author herself appears to be undertaking her personal new beginning, since this appears a novel form of writing – observational, genuinely novelistic. But then it proves to be packed with the recurring issues and aesthetics as earlier books.
From Accidental Writer to Renowned Book
Kraus began as an visual artist who entered the literary world unintentionally with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, structured as letters to an unreceptive lover, transforming intimate women's literature from self-debasement into assassination. She persisted as a writer, but the next trio of engaging and challenging novels lacked the impact and rawness that the correspondence format brought to the tone of I Love Dick. It didn't help was her identity as a renegade artist who had turned into a large-scale low-rent landlord, so there was much discussion on property transactions. It makes sense that she presently aims to experiment with different types of content, directing her gaze to other people's stories, at a time when she states that Trumpian politics turns intimate literature redundant.
Multiple Generations, One Unescapable Past
The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, encompassing three generations – all unable to escape their histories. The book includes the narrative about a couple named Emma and Jasper, representations of Kraus's parents, moving from the urban environment to the Connecticut countryside. Then there is the narrative of the author, in the guise of protagonist Catt Greene, grappling with the belated success of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her substance-dependent spouse her husband Paul. Finally the account of a killing of one directionless individual by another in a community mostly forsaken by forward-thinking policies only 80 miles from the protagonist's home in a remote part of Minnesota.
As a reader drawn to honed writing of the kind Kraus tends to eschew, I was seduced by the narrative style of the first section.
As someone who reads who favors precise prose of the style that Kraus herself often disregards, I was won over by the novelistic voice of the opening segment. It exhibits a fresh level of observation that accommodates minutiae, like the bucket that the protagonist as a child pries out of frozen water at the opening of the book, helped by her beloved father. "Look, an ice toy!" she exclaims; "a great plaything", he replies, "the nuanced interpretations of terms tumbling in their mouths like piece candy". Kraus writes Emma's story with inquiry and familiarity. "It seemed to Emma she had entered a dream – not hers, exactly."
Disappointment and Disjunction
I was destined to be disappointed when I expected this different style could persist to the end. The author states here that she dislikes the satisfaction those who appreciate polished prose have derived from I Love Dick; she's devoted to fragmentation, to the untidy aesthetics she echoes from her inspiration Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her earlier works returns in the central part. Catt Greene is trying to renovate three dozen dilapidated units in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while moving between the Midwest and the West Coast, unsuccessful in assisting her husband curb his addiction. She is overwhelmed as Paul cycles through poorly supported positions as an recovery specialist in a environment fueled by the anger and fear that powers a political win. A significant portion discusses about the protagonist facing cancellation on Twitter, her occupation changed from "writer" to "property owner" on a reference site. She still gives the impression 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 United States that her online critics would not understand, would overlook entirely".
The Killing Story
Then we reach to the actual killing – and the referenced day experienced by the victim with the perpetrator and his associates. The author possesses great source material, and knows hour by hour what transpired when Brandon came to see Brittney after connecting via an application where she offered adult photos. He was hoping for sex but appears congenially to have passed the day with her companions, wandering about fixing his automobile and paying for snacks and drugs, before being murdered by Brittney's boyfriend Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has repeatedly received inpatient care for fits of anger.
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 responsible documentation and daring boundary-pushing wrestle in this part. However, I would have preferred her to delve deeper into her personal fixations here. The most interesting character is Brittney herself, who becomes vivid in part due to Catt seeing herself in her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman derailing in a struggling, neglected community. Kraus tells us that the protagonist communicates with Brittney in prison, but she fails to enact these dialogues. The whole section feels curiously unresolved, to the extent that her narrative ends almost mid-par
