The Four Spent the Day Together features individuals seeking fresh starts, attempting to leave behind drugs or harmful partnerships, only to find hope curdling into violence. The author often employs the phrase "new beginning", making it intentionally weary through recurring use. Sentences like "He could make a fresh start" and "They opted for a clean break" recur in the story. And yet, the author herself appears to be undertaking her individual reinvention, since this presents as a new kind of book – observational, truly literary. However it turns out to be laden with the recurring issues and styles as past novels.
From Unplanned Author to Cult Classic
Kraus began as an visual artist who transitioned to writing somewhat by chance with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, which was composed of missives to a distant beloved, elevating intimate women's literature from humiliation into rebellion. She persisted as a writer, but the three subsequent engaging and challenging novels missed the power and directness that the epistolary style infused into the voice of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her identity as a renegade artist who had evolved into a major property owner, so there was much discussion on property transactions. It makes sense that she currently desires to experiment with fresh narrative sources, looking outwards to external narratives, at a time when she asserts that Trumpian politics turns intimate literature redundant.
Three Generations, One Unescapable Past
The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, covering several time periods – all unable to escape their backgrounds. We encounter the tale of characters 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 character of protagonist Catt Greene, confronting the belated success of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her addict husband a man named Paul. And there is the narrative of a homicide of one lost young man by another in a community largely deserted by progressive politics only a brief drive from Catt's cottage in the Minnesota countryside.
For this reader attracted to refined literature of the type the author herself often avoids, I was enchanted by the narrative style of the first section.
As someone who reads who appreciates crafted language of the variety that the author usually avoids, I was captivated by the storytelling approach of the opening segment. It possesses a fresh level of observation that makes room for trivial aspects, like the pail that the youthful Catt frees from the ice at the opening of the book, aided by her cherished parent. "I discovered a frozen plaything!" she declares; "a great plaything", he answers, "the ambiguous meanings of language rolling around in their mouths like sweet treats". The author narrates the tale of Emma with interest and closeness. "It seemed to Emma she had entered a dream – not precisely her dream."
Frustration and Disruption
I was destined to be disappointed when I hoped this different style could continue through the novel. Kraus notes here that she dislikes the enjoyment those who appreciate polished prose have taken from I Love Dick; she's committed to disruption, to the messy artistic approach she has in common with her inspiration author Kathy Acker, and the emptiness and redundancy of her past books returns in the middle section. Catt is attempting to do up three dozen dilapidated units in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while shuttling between two different states, unable to aid Paul curb his addiction. She feels helpless as Paul transitions between poorly supported positions as an recovery specialist in a environment fueled by the rage and anxiety that drives a political win. A significant portion discusses about Catt being cancelled on social media, her listed profession modified from "novelist" to "real estate holder" on the online encyclopedia. Kraus still seems to invest excessive emotion about this. On one occasion she remarks 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 online critics would be unable to grasp, would overlook entirely".
The Homicide Account
Then we reach to the actual killing – and the referenced day passed by the deceased with the murderer and his associates. Kraus has compelling foundational content, and reconstructs step by step what happened when a man named Brandon came to visit Brittney after encountering her on a platform where she offered adult photos. He was hoping for sex but appears congenially to have passed the day with her companions, loitering fixing his automobile and covering the cost of food and substances, before being killed by gunfire by Brittney's partner Micah – a individual with mental health challenges who has often been institutionalized for fits of anger.
Obsession and Unfinished Business
Catt develops an obsession by the story, and I was intrigued by the way that the author's conflicting impulses towards responsible documentation and audacious rule-breaking clash in this segment. But I'd have liked her to explore more thoroughly her individual preoccupations here. The compelling persona is the character Brittney, who gains dimension in part due to Catt's identification with her – another bright, bullied girl derailing in a troubled, forgotten town. Kraus tells us that the protagonist communicates with Brittney in prison, but she fails to enact these dialogues. This entire part feels strangely incomplete, to the degree that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par
