The new book features individuals pursuing new beginnings, trying to break free from substance abuse or harmful partnerships, only to witness hope devolve into aggression. The author repeatedly invokes the phrase "clean slate", rendering it deliberately jaded through recurring use. Examples include "He aimed to start over" and "They decided to make a fresh start" appear throughout the narrative. Meanwhile, the author herself is embarking on her own fresh start, since this seems a new kind of book – documentarian, authentically narrative. Yet it turns out to be packed with the familiar conflicts and approaches as her previous works.
From Chance Novelist to Renowned Book
Kraus began as an visual artist who entered the literary world unintentionally with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, made up of epistles to an unresponsive love interest, converting intimate women's literature from self-debasement into assassination. She continued writing, but the following three compelling and abrasive novels did not possess the shock and immediacy that the epistolary style infused into the narrative voice of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her identity as a nonconformist creator who had become a extensive real estate holder, so there was much discussion on property transactions. It is logical that she now wants to try out fresh narrative sources, directing her gaze to the experiences of others, at a time when she claims that Trumpian politics makes confessional writing unnecessary.
Three Generations, Collective Unavoidable Background
The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, encompassing three generations – all unable to escape their pasts. We encounter the story of characters Emma and Jasper, versions of the author's parents, moving from the New York borough to rural Connecticut. Then there is the narrative of the author, in the guise of a figure named Catt Greene, confronting the late recognition of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her partner struggling with addiction Paul. Finally the narrative of a homicide of one lost young man by another in a town mostly forsaken by liberal ideals only a brief drive from Catt's rural residence in a remote part of Minnesota.
From my perspective as a reader drawn to honed writing of the kind Kraus often avoids, I was enchanted by the novelistic voice of the initial segment.
As a reader who favors precise prose of the kind that the author tends to eschew, I was seduced by the novelistic voice of the initial part. There is a novel degree of detail that makes room for small details, like the pail that the young Catt pries out of frozen water at the opening of the book, aided by her beloved father. "I found an ice toy!" she says; "a nice toy", he replies, "the ambiguous meanings of language rolling around in their mouths like sweet treats". The author narrates 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 destined to be disappointed when I wished this fresh tone could persist to the end. The author states here that she is annoyed by the enjoyment readers like me have gotten from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to fragmentation, to the messy artistic approach she has in common with her hero writer Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her previous novels comes back in the middle section. Catt is attempting to do up multiple decrepit residences in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while shuttling between two different states, unable to aid Paul control his drinking. She is overwhelmed as Paul cycles through poorly supported positions as an addiction therapist in a environment driven by the anger and fear that underpins an electoral success. Multiple pages are devoted about Catt being cancelled on a platform, her listed profession modified from "author" to "landlord" on the online encyclopedia. She still gives the impression to care a little too much about this. On one occasion she states that she's investigating the murder so that before departing the state, "she could potentially understand something about an America that her social media opponents would fail to comprehend, would overlook entirely".
The Murder Narrative
So then we come to the actual killing – and the referenced day spent by the murdered individual with the perpetrator and his friends. Kraus has great source material, and details moment by moment what happened when a man named Brandon came to visit Brittney after meeting her on an app where she marketed explicit images. He was hoping for sex but seems amiably to have occupied the day alongside her friends, mooching around getting his car mended and funding treats and narcotics, before being killed by gunfire by Brittney's partner Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has often been institutionalized for aggressive outbursts.
Fascination and Incompletion
Catt develops an obsession by the story, and I found myself captivated by the way that the author's conflicting impulses towards responsible documentation and audacious rule-breaking tussle in this section. However, I would have preferred her to explore more thoroughly her own obsessions here. The compelling persona is the character Brittney, who comes alive partly through the protagonist's connection to her – another bright, bullied girl derailing in a struggling, neglected community. Kraus notes that Catt speaks to Brittney in prison, but she doesn't dramatise these conversations. This entire part feels oddly unfinished, to the extent that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par
