This latest work centers on protagonists chasing after fresh starts, attempting to leave behind substance abuse or abusive marriages, only to see hope turn into violence. Kraus repeatedly invokes the phrase "fresh start", making it willfully cynical through constant reiteration. Examples include "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They opted for a clean break" recur in the story. Meanwhile, she seems to be making her own fresh start, because this appears a different type of work – documentarian, authentically narrative. But then it proves to be packed with the familiar conflicts and aesthetics as past novels.
From Chance Novelist to Renowned Book
The writer was originally an visual artist who transitioned to writing somewhat by chance with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, structured as missives to a distant beloved, transforming intimate women's literature from humiliation into assassination. She kept producing books, but the next trio of fascinating and rebarbative novels lacked the shock and immediacy that the letter form imparted to the voice of I Love Dick. It didn't help was her position as a maverick maker who had evolved into a major property owner, so there was much discussion on real estate deals. It is logical that she now wants to explore different types of content, directing her gaze to external narratives, at a moment when she asserts that contemporary political climate renders personal narrative unnecessary.
Three Generations, Collective Unavoidable Background
The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, encompassing multiple eras – each trapped by their histories. We encounter the narrative about characters Emma and Jasper, based on Kraus's parents, transitioning from the urban environment to rural Connecticut. Then there is the narrative of the author, in the character of protagonist Catt Greene, reckoning with the belated success of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her addict husband her husband Paul. The third thread involves the account of a killing of one directionless individual by another in a town largely deserted by progressive politics only a brief drive from the protagonist's home in rural Minnesota.
From my perspective as a reader attracted to honed writing of the sort the author herself tends to eschew, I was seduced by the literary tone of the opening part.
As someone who reads who appreciates crafted language of the kind that Kraus herself usually avoids, I was won over by the storytelling approach of the initial part. It possesses a new quality of attentiveness that allows space for small details, like the pail that the young Catt pries out of frozen water at the beginning of the narrative, assisted by her adored dad. "I found an ice toy!" she exclaims; "a nice toy", he replies, "the elliptical meanings of words rolling around in their mouths like hard candy". She tells Emma's story with curiosity and intimacy. "Emma felt like she'd stepped into a dream – not precisely her dream."
Disappointment and Disjunction
I was destined to be disappointed when I hoped this different style could persist to the end. Kraus says here that she dislikes the enjoyment audiences such as myself have gotten from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to disruption, to the unpolished style she has in common with her hero Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her previous novels comes back in the central part. Catt Greene is trying to renovate three dozen dilapidated units in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while traveling between Minnesota and LA, unsuccessful in assisting Paul control his drinking. She feels helpless as her spouse cycles through low-resource employment as an recovery specialist in a society fueled by the anger and fear that underpins Trump's victory. There are several pages about Catt's social media ostracism on a platform, her listed profession modified from "novelist" to "landlord" on Wikipedia. She still gives the impression to care a little too much about this. At one point she remarks that she's investigating the murder so that before departing the state, "she might be able to learn something about an America that her social media opponents would not understand, would not even see".
The Killing Story
So then we come to the homicide in question – and the eponymous day experienced by the murdered individual with the killer and his associates. The author possesses compelling foundational content, and reconstructs step by step what happened when Brandon came to see Brittney after encountering her on a platform where she offered adult photos. He anticipated intimacy but appears congenially to have passed the day in the company of her associates, mooching around getting his car mended and covering the cost of food and substances, before being shot by her romantic interest Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has often been institutionalized for fits of anger.
Obsession and Unfinished Business
Catt gets obsessed by the story, and I was fascinated by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards responsible documentation and reckless transgression wrestle in this part. However, I would have preferred her to go further into her personal fixations here. The compelling persona is Brittney, who comes alive in part due to the protagonist's connection to her – a similarly gifted, tormented individual spiraling out of control in a troubled, forgotten town. Kraus notes that the protagonist communicates with Brittney in prison, but she doesn't dramatise these conversations. The whole section feels curiously unresolved, to the point that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par
