The Four Spent the Day Together features protagonists chasing after clean slates, attempting to leave behind drugs or toxic relationships, only to witness hope devolve into violence. The author repeatedly invokes the phrase "fresh start", transforming it into willfully cynical through constant reiteration. Phrases such as "He aimed to start over" and "They chose to begin anew" appear throughout the text. At the same time, she appears to be undertaking her personal new beginning, because this seems a novel form of writing – observational, authentically narrative. Yet it proves to be laden with the familiar conflicts and aesthetics as earlier books.
From Unplanned Author to Cult Classic
Kraus was originally an visual artist who became a writer unintentionally with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, which was composed of letters to an unreceptive lover, elevating intimate women's literature from self-debasement into rebellion. She kept producing books, but the following three fascinating and rebarbative novels did not possess the impact and rawness that the epistolary style brought to the voice of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her role as a renegade artist who had evolved into a extensive real estate holder, so there was much discussion on property transactions. It makes sense that she currently desires to experiment with fresh narrative sources, looking outwards to external narratives, at a period in which she claims that current political era makes confessional writing redundant.
Several Eras, Shared Inescapable History
The Four Spent the Day Together is structured in three parts, covering multiple eras – none able to break free from their histories. The book includes the narrative about characters Emma and Jasper, based on the author's parents, relocating from the urban environment to a pastoral setting. Then there is the account of Kraus, in the persona of protagonist Catt Greene, grappling with the delayed acclaim of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her addict husband her husband Paul. Finally the account of a killing of one directionless individual by another in a town largely deserted by liberal ideals only 80 miles from Catt's cottage in a remote part of Minnesota.
From my perspective as a reader fond of refined literature of the kind Kraus typically rejects, I was captivated by the literary tone of the initial segment.
As a reader who appreciates crafted language of the style that Kraus often disregards, I was won over by the storytelling approach of the initial part. It possesses a novel degree of detail that allows space for trivial aspects, like the pail that the protagonist as a child dislodges from ice at the beginning of the narrative, helped by her cherished parent. "I found an ice toy!" she exclaims; "a lovely toy", he replies, "the elliptical meanings of words rolling around in their mouths like piece candy". The author narrates the tale of Emma with interest and closeness. "It seemed to Emma she had entered a dream – not hers, exactly."
Frustration and Disruption
I was destined to be disappointed when I hoped this new voice could continue through the novel. The author states here that she is annoyed by the satisfaction readers like me have gotten from I Love Dick; she's devoted to disjunction, to the untidy aesthetics she echoes from her hero author Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her previous novels comes back in the middle section. Catt is trying to renovate multiple decrepit residences in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while moving between the Midwest and the West Coast, unsuccessful in assisting Paul curb his addiction. She is overwhelmed as Paul moves between poorly supported positions as an recovery specialist in a society driven by the hostility and dread that underpins an electoral success. Multiple pages are devoted about Catt's social media ostracism on a platform, her listed profession modified from "novelist" to "real estate holder" on the online encyclopedia. The author still appears to invest excessive emotion about this. On one occasion she remarks that she's researching the homicide so that before leaving Minnesota, "she may grasp something about an the United States that her Twitter detractors would be unable to grasp, would overlook entirely".
The Murder Narrative
Then we reach to the actual killing – and the eponymous day experienced by the victim with the murderer and his companions. Kraus utilizes great source material, and knows hour by hour what occurred as Brandon came to see Brittney after meeting her on an app where she sold sex pictures. He sought a sexual encounter but seems amiably to have occupied the day with her companions, wandering about fixing his automobile and covering the cost of food and substances, before being killed by gunfire by Brittney's partner a man named Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has frequently been hospitalised for fits of anger.
Obsession and Unfinished Business
Catt gets obsessed by the story, and I found myself captivated by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards responsible documentation and reckless transgression wrestle in this part. However, I would have preferred her to delve deeper into her individual preoccupations here. The most interesting character is Brittney, who gains dimension in part due to the protagonist's connection to her – another bright, bullied girl spiraling out of control in a difficult, overlooked locality. The author informs us that Catt speaks to Brittney in prison, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. This entire part feels oddly unfinished, to the point that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par
