The new book is populated with characters seeking clean slates, trying to break free from addictions or harmful partnerships, only to see hope turn into conflict. The author frequently uses the phrase "new beginning", transforming it into intentionally weary through constant reiteration. Sentences like "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They chose to begin anew" are scattered across the text. Meanwhile, Kraus herself seems to be making her personal new beginning, since this seems a novel form of writing – fact-based, truly literary. But then it reveals itself to be laden with the recurring issues and approaches as earlier books.
From Chance Novelist to Cult Classic
The writer started out as an creative who entered the literary world somewhat by chance with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, structured as missives to a distant beloved, converting intimate women's literature from abjection into defiance. She kept producing books, but the three subsequent compelling and abrasive novels did not possess the impact and rawness that the epistolary style brought to the voice of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her role as a maverick maker who had evolved into a major property owner, so there was considerable focus on property transactions. It is logical that she now wants to experiment with fresh narrative sources, turning outward to external narratives, at a moment when she claims that current political era makes confessional writing obsolete.
Several Eras, Shared Inescapable History
The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, encompassing three generations – all unable to escape their backgrounds. We encounter the tale of characters Emma and Jasper, versions of Kraus's parents, transitioning from the New York borough to rural Connecticut. There is the account of Kraus, in the guise of protagonist Catt Greene, confronting the late recognition of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her addict husband Paul. Finally the account of a killing of one troubled youth by another in a locality long abandoned by progressive politics only 80 miles from the protagonist's home in the Minnesota countryside.
From my perspective as a reader fond of refined literature of the type Kraus tends to eschew, I was seduced by the literary tone of the initial segment.
As a reader drawn to crafted language of the variety that Kraus herself usually avoids, I was seduced by the novelistic voice of the initial part. There is a novel degree of detail that accommodates small details, like the container that the youthful Catt pries out of frozen water at the opening of the book, assisted by her beloved father. "I discovered a frozen plaything!" she declares; "a lovely toy", he responds, "the ambiguous meanings of language rolling around in their mouths like piece candy". The author narrates Emma's story with interest and closeness. "It seemed to Emma she had entered a dream – not precisely her dream."
Letdown and Fragmentation
I was fated to feel let down when I wished this different style could last out the book. Kraus notes here that she is annoyed by the enjoyment readers like me have gotten from I Love Dick; she's committed to fragmentation, to the untidy aesthetics she has in common with her hero author Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her earlier works reasserts itself in the middle section. Catt is trying to renovate multiple decrepit residences in the city's most challenging districts while shuttling between Minnesota and LA, unable to aid her husband manage his alcohol use. She feels helpless as her spouse cycles through underfunded jobs as an substance abuse counselor in a environment driven by the hostility and dread that drives an electoral success. There are several pages about Catt being cancelled on Twitter, her occupation changed from "writer" to "real estate holder" on a reference site. She still gives the impression to invest excessive emotion about this. On one occasion she says that she's looking into the killing so that before departing the state, "she could potentially understand something about an the nation that her online critics would be unable to grasp, would overlook entirely".
The Homicide Account
Thus we arrive to the homicide in question – and the titular day passed by the deceased with the killer and his associates. The author possesses compelling foundational content, and knows hour by hour what occurred as Brandon came to see Brittney after meeting her on an app where she offered adult photos. He sought a sexual encounter but seems amiably to have occupied the day with her companions, mooching around getting his car mended and funding treats and narcotics, before being murdered by her romantic interest a man named 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 responsible documentation and audacious rule-breaking wrestle in this part. But I'd have liked her to delve deeper into her own obsessions here. The most interesting character is Brittney herself, who comes alive partly through Catt's identification with her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman derailing in a difficult, overlooked locality. Kraus notes that the protagonist communicates with Brittney in prison, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. The complete segment feels strangely incomplete, to the degree that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par
