The Four Spent the Day Together centers on protagonists chasing after clean slates, trying to break free from substance abuse or toxic relationships, only to see hope turn into aggression. Kraus repeatedly invokes the phrase "new beginning", transforming it into intentionally weary through constant reiteration. Examples include "He could make a fresh start" and "They chose to begin anew" are scattered across the text. And yet, Kraus herself is embarking on her own fresh start, as this seems a different type of work – observational, truly literary. But then it turns out to be laden with the familiar conflicts and aesthetics as earlier books.
From Accidental Writer to Iconic Work
The writer was originally an artist who became a writer unintentionally with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, which was composed of missives to a distant beloved, converting confessional female writing from self-debasement into rebellion. She persisted as a writer, but the following three compelling and abrasive novels missed the shock and immediacy that the letter form brought to the tone of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her position as a nonconformist creator who had evolved into a large-scale low-rent landlord, so there was much discussion on property transactions. It makes sense that she presently aims to explore new kinds of material, turning outward to other people's stories, at a time when she claims that current political era makes confessional writing redundant.
Multiple Generations, Collective Unavoidable Background
The Four Spent the Day Together is structured in three parts, covering three generations – all unable to escape their backgrounds. We encounter the tale of characters Emma and Jasper, versions of her own mother and father, moving from the urban environment to rural Connecticut. Then there is the narrative of the author, in the persona of a figure named Catt Greene, reckoning with the belated success of I Love Dick, the rise of Trump, and her partner struggling with addiction a man named Paul. And there is the narrative of a homicide of one lost young man by another in a town mostly forsaken by progressive politics only 80 miles from Catt's cottage in the Minnesota countryside.
As a reader attracted to honed writing of the sort Kraus herself often avoids, I was enchanted by the literary tone of the initial segment.
As a reader who appreciates crafted language of the style that Kraus herself often disregards, I was won over by the storytelling approach of the initial part. It exhibits a new quality of attentiveness that makes room for small details, like the pail that the youthful Catt frees from the ice at the opening of the book, assisted by her cherished parent. "I discovered a frozen plaything!" she declares; "a lovely toy", he replies, "the nuanced interpretations of terms rolling around in their mouths like sweet treats". Kraus writes Emma's narrative with interest and closeness. "Emma felt like she'd stepped into a dream – not precisely her dream."
Frustration and Disruption
I was bound to become frustrated when I wished this different style could continue through the novel. Kraus notes here that she is annoyed by the satisfaction audiences such as myself have derived from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to disjunction, to the unpolished style she shares with her hero Kathy Acker, and the emptiness and redundancy of her past books reasserts itself in the central part. The protagonist is trying to renovate three dozen dilapidated units in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while shuttling between the Midwest and the West Coast, unable to aid Paul manage his alcohol use. She feels helpless as her spouse transitions between poorly supported positions as an recovery specialist in a world driven by the rage and anxiety that drives a political win. Multiple pages are devoted about the protagonist facing cancellation on social media, her occupation changed from "writer" to "property owner" on Wikipedia. The author still appears to care a little too much about this. At one point she states that she's researching the homicide so that before leaving Minnesota, "she might be able to learn something about an the nation that her social media opponents would not understand, would not even perceive".
The Murder Narrative
Then we reach to the murder itself – and the titular day experienced by the victim with the killer and his associates. Kraus utilizes compelling foundational content, and knows hour by hour what happened when the victim Brandon came to visit Brittney after connecting via an application where she marketed explicit images. He was hoping for sex but seems affably to have spent the day in the company of her associates, wandering about getting his car mended and paying for snacks and drugs, before being shot by Brittney's partner Micah – a individual with mental health challenges who has repeatedly received inpatient care for aggressive outbursts.
Fascination and Incompletion
Catt develops an obsession by the narrative, and I was fascinated by the way that the author's conflicting impulses towards accurate chronicling and reckless transgression tussle in this section. Yet I wished her to go further into her own obsessions here. The compelling persona is the character Brittney, who comes alive partly through Catt seeing herself in her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman derailing in a struggling, neglected community. The author informs us that Catt speaks to Brittney in jail, but she fails to enact these dialogues. This entire part feels oddly unfinished, to the degree that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par
