The Four Spent the Day Together features characters pursuing clean slates, struggling to escape substance abuse or toxic relationships, only to see hope turn into aggression. Kraus frequently uses the phrase "new beginning", rendering it deliberately jaded through its repetitions. Phrases such as "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They opted for a clean break" appear throughout the story. And yet, Kraus herself appears to be undertaking her individual reinvention, as this presents as a new kind of book – documentarian, authentically narrative. However it proves to be packed with the same dilemmas and styles as earlier books.
From Chance Novelist to Renowned Book
Kraus was originally an artist who entered the literary world almost accidentally with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, which was composed of letters to an unreceptive lover, transforming intimate women's literature from abjection into assassination. She continued writing, but the next trio of engaging and challenging novels missed the shock and immediacy that the letter form brought to the narrative voice of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her position as a maverick maker who had evolved into a extensive real estate holder, so there was considerable focus on property transactions. It follows that she currently desires to explore new kinds of material, looking outwards to external narratives, at a time when she states that contemporary political climate makes confessional writing redundant.
Several Eras, One Unescapable Past
The Four Spent the Day Together is structured in three parts, encompassing multiple eras – all unable to escape their pasts. The book includes the tale of Emma and Jasper, versions of the author's parents, transitioning from the Bronx to a pastoral setting. There is the story of Kraus herself, in the persona of Catt Greene, confronting the belated success of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her addict husband Paul. And there is the story of the murder of one directionless individual by another in a community mostly forsaken by forward-thinking policies only a short distance from Catt's rural residence in the Minnesota countryside.
From my perspective as a reader drawn to polished prose of the kind Kraus typically rejects, I was captivated by the narrative style of the first section.
Being a reader drawn to honed writing of the kind that the author usually avoids, I was won over by the storytelling approach of the first section. It exhibits a fresh level of observation that accommodates minutiae, like the container that the youthful Catt dislodges from ice at the beginning of the narrative, aided by her cherished parent. "Look, an ice toy!" she says; "a nice toy", he answers, "the nuanced interpretations of terms rolling around in their mouths like sweet treats". The author narrates Emma's narrative with curiosity and intimacy. "It seemed to Emma she had entered a dream – not hers, exactly."
Letdown and Fragmentation
I was bound to become frustrated when I hoped this new voice could continue through the novel. Kraus notes here that she is annoyed by the enjoyment readers like me have taken from I Love Dick; she's committed to disjunction, to the unpolished style she shares with her hero writer Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her earlier works returns in the central part. Catt is working on refurbishing 36 run-down apartments in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while moving between two different states, unsuccessful in assisting Paul control his drinking. She is overwhelmed as her spouse moves between low-resource employment as an recovery specialist in a society propelled by the rage and anxiety that underpins an electoral success. A significant portion discusses about the protagonist facing cancellation on Twitter, her occupation changed from "novelist" to "property owner" on Wikipedia. Kraus still seems to be overly concerned about this. At one point she states that she's looking into the killing so that before exiting the region, "she might be able to learn something about an America that her Twitter detractors would be unable to grasp, would not even perceive".
The Murder Narrative
Thus we arrive to the homicide in question – and the titular day passed by the deceased with the murderer and his companions. Kraus has great source material, and reconstructs step by step what transpired when the victim Brandon came to see Brittney after meeting her on an app where she marketed explicit images. He sought a sexual encounter but seems affably to have spent the day in the company of her associates, wandering about having his vehicle repaired and covering the cost of food and substances, before being shot by Brittney's boyfriend a man named Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has often been institutionalized for violent rage.
Preoccupation and Open Ends
Catt develops an obsession by the account, and I was fascinated by the way that her twin drives towards accurate chronicling and daring boundary-pushing clash in this segment. Yet I wished her to go further into her personal fixations here. The compelling persona is the character Brittney, who gains dimension partly through Catt's identification with her – another bright, bullied girl derailing in a struggling, neglected community. The author informs us that Catt converses with Brittney in jail, but she fails to enact these dialogues. This entire part feels strangely incomplete, to the extent that her narrative ends almost mid-par
