The Four Spent the Day Together centers on protagonists chasing after new beginnings, struggling to escape drugs or harmful partnerships, only to witness hope devolve into violence. Kraus often employs the phrase "clean slate", transforming it into deliberately jaded through its repetitions. Examples include "He aimed to start over" and "They chose to begin anew" recur in the narrative. And yet, Kraus herself is embarking on her individual reinvention, because this seems a new kind of book – documentarian, truly literary. Yet it reveals itself to be filled with the familiar conflicts and styles as earlier books.
From Accidental Writer to Cult Classic
The writer began as an artist who became a writer unintentionally with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, structured as letters to an unreceptive lover, elevating confessional female writing from humiliation into defiance. She continued writing, but the following three compelling and abrasive novels missed the impact and rawness that the correspondence format brought to the narrative voice of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her role as a maverick maker who had become a large-scale low-rent landlord, so there was much discussion on housing investments. It is logical that she presently aims to experiment with fresh narrative sources, directing her gaze to external narratives, at a period in which she claims that Trumpian politics renders personal narrative redundant.
Multiple Generations, Shared Inescapable History
The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, covering three generations – none able to break free from their backgrounds. We encounter the tale of a couple named Emma and Jasper, versions of Kraus's parents, transitioning from the Bronx to a pastoral setting. Then there is the story of Kraus herself, in the guise of protagonist Catt Greene, grappling with the late recognition of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her partner struggling with addiction Paul. And there is the narrative of a homicide of one troubled youth by another in a locality largely deserted by progressive politics only a brief drive from Catt's cottage in a remote part of Minnesota.
From my perspective as a reader fond of refined literature of the type the author herself typically rejects, I was seduced by the novelistic voice of the initial segment.
As someone who reads who appreciates crafted language of the variety that Kraus herself usually avoids, I was captivated by the storytelling approach of the initial part. There is a novel degree of detail that accommodates trivial aspects, like the bucket that the protagonist as a child frees from the ice at the opening of the book, aided by her adored dad. "I found an ice toy!" she declares; "a great plaything", he replies, "the nuanced interpretations of terms tumbling in their mouths like sweet treats". Kraus writes the tale of Emma with inquiry and familiarity. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not hers, exactly."
Letdown and Fragmentation
I was destined to be disappointed when I hoped this fresh tone could continue through the novel. Kraus notes here that she resents the enjoyment audiences such as myself have gotten from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to disjunction, to the messy artistic approach she has in common with her inspiration writer Kathy Acker, and the emptiness and redundancy of her past books comes back in the second segment. Catt Greene is working on refurbishing 36 run-down apartments in the city's most challenging districts while shuttling between the Midwest and the West Coast, failing to help Paul manage his alcohol use. She is overwhelmed as Paul cycles through underfunded jobs as an substance abuse counselor in a world fueled by the rage and anxiety that powers Trump's victory. A significant portion discusses about the protagonist facing cancellation on Twitter, her listed profession modified from "writer" to "real estate holder" on Wikipedia. Kraus still seems to care a little too much about this. In a moment she remarks that she's investigating the murder so that before departing the state, "she may grasp something about an the United States that her Twitter detractors would be unable to grasp, would not even see".
The Killing Story
So then we come to the actual killing – and the eponymous day experienced by the victim with the perpetrator and his friends. The author possesses compelling foundational content, and knows hour by hour what transpired when Brandon came to meet Brittney after meeting her on an app where she offered adult photos. He was hoping for sex but seems affably to have spent the day alongside her friends, wandering about having his vehicle repaired and paying for snacks and drugs, before being shot by Brittney's partner a man named Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has often been institutionalized for violent rage.
Obsession and Unfinished Business
The protagonist becomes fixated by the story, and I was intrigued by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards responsible documentation and audacious rule-breaking clash in this segment. Yet I wished her to go further into her personal fixations here. The standout figure is Brittney, who gains dimension in part due to the protagonist's connection to her – a similarly gifted, tormented individual spiraling out of control in a difficult, overlooked locality. The author informs us that Catt converses with Brittney in detention, but she fails to enact these dialogues. This entire part feels strangely incomplete, to the degree that her narrative ends almost mid-par
