The Four Spent the Day Together is populated with characters chasing after clean slates, trying to break free from addictions or harmful partnerships, only to see hope turn into violence. Kraus repeatedly invokes the phrase "new beginning", transforming it into deliberately jaded through constant reiteration. Phrases such as "He aimed to start over" and "They decided to make a fresh start" are scattered across the story. Meanwhile, the author herself seems to be making her personal new beginning, as this appears a novel form of writing – fact-based, truly literary. Yet it turns out to be packed with the recurring issues and approaches as past novels.
From Unplanned Author to Iconic Work
The writer started out as an artist who entered the literary world somewhat by chance with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, structured as letters to an unreceptive lover, transforming confessional female writing from humiliation into assassination. She persisted as a writer, but the three subsequent fascinating and rebarbative novels missed the impact and rawness that the letter form infused into the voice of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her identity as a nonconformist creator who had turned into a major property owner, so there was considerable focus on housing investments. It follows that she presently aims to experiment with different types of content, directing her gaze to the experiences of others, at a time when she states that contemporary political climate renders personal narrative unnecessary.
Three Generations, One Unescapable Past
The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, spanning multiple eras – each trapped by their pasts. There is the narrative about characters Emma and Jasper, versions of her own mother and father, transitioning from the Bronx to a pastoral setting. Then there is the story of Kraus herself, in the guise of protagonist Catt Greene, reckoning with the delayed acclaim of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her partner struggling with addiction Paul. And there is the account of a killing of one troubled youth by another in a community mostly forsaken by progressive politics only 80 miles from Catt's rural residence in the Minnesota countryside.
For this reader attracted to refined literature of the type the author herself typically rejects, I was seduced by the novelistic voice of the opening part.
As a reader drawn to crafted language of the kind that Kraus herself usually avoids, I was captivated by the novelistic voice of the opening segment. It exhibits a fresh level of observation that accommodates trivial aspects, like the bucket that the youthful Catt dislodges from ice at the start of the story, aided by her adored dad. "I found an ice toy!" she says; "a lovely toy", he answers, "the ambiguous meanings of language rolling around in their mouths like sweet treats". She tells Emma's narrative with inquiry and familiarity. "Emma felt like she'd stepped into a dream – not entirely her own."
Frustration and Disruption
I was bound to become frustrated when I expected this new voice could persist to the end. Kraus notes here that she resents the pleasure those who appreciate polished prose have taken from I Love Dick; she's committed to disruption, to the unpolished style she shares with her idol Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her past books returns in the second segment. Catt is working on refurbishing multiple decrepit residences in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while traveling between Minnesota and LA, unable to aid Paul curb his addiction. She is overwhelmed as Paul cycles through low-resource employment as an addiction therapist in a environment driven by the anger and fear that drives Trump's victory. Multiple pages are devoted about the protagonist facing cancellation on a platform, her listed profession modified from "novelist" to "real estate holder" on the online encyclopedia. Kraus still seems to invest excessive emotion about this. In a moment she states that she's looking into the killing so that before leaving Minnesota, "she may grasp something about an the United States that her Twitter detractors would be unable to grasp, would not even perceive".
The Homicide Account
Then we reach to the homicide in question – and the referenced day spent by the victim with the perpetrator and his companions. Kraus has great source material, and details moment by moment what occurred as Brandon came to meet Brittney after encountering her on a platform where she sold sex pictures. He was hoping for sex but seems amiably to have occupied the day with her companions, loitering having his vehicle repaired and covering the cost of food and substances, before being murdered by her romantic interest Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has often been institutionalized for fits of anger.
Fascination and Incompletion
The protagonist becomes fixated by the story, and I found myself captivated by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards ethical reporting and audacious rule-breaking wrestle in this part. However, I would have preferred her to go further into her personal fixations here. The most interesting character is Brittney, who comes alive in part due to Catt's identification with her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman going off the rails in a struggling, neglected community. Kraus notes that Catt speaks to Brittney in detention, but she fails to enact these dialogues. This entire part feels curiously unresolved, to the point that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par
