The Four Spent the Day Together features protagonists pursuing new beginnings, trying to break free from substance abuse or harmful partnerships, only to find hope curdling into conflict. Kraus repeatedly invokes the phrase "clean slate", transforming it into willfully cynical through recurring use. Examples include "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They opted for a clean break" appear throughout the narrative. At the same time, Kraus herself appears to be undertaking her individual reinvention, as this seems a different type of work – documentarian, authentically narrative. But then it reveals itself to be packed with the same dilemmas and approaches as past novels.
From Accidental Writer to Iconic Work
Kraus was originally an creative who transitioned to writing almost accidentally with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, made up of epistles to an unresponsive love interest, converting personal female narrative from self-debasement into defiance. She kept producing books, but the following three engaging and challenging novels lacked the shock and immediacy that the letter form imparted to the narrative voice of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her role as a maverick maker who had turned into a large-scale low-rent landlord, so there was considerable focus on real estate deals. It is logical that she presently aims to explore different types of content, looking outwards to external narratives, at a period in which she claims that current political era makes confessional writing obsolete.
Several Eras, One Unescapable Past
The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, encompassing three generations – each trapped by their backgrounds. We encounter the narrative about characters Emma and Jasper, representations of her own mother and father, transitioning from the urban environment to a pastoral setting. Additionally the account of Kraus, in the persona of Catt Greene, reckoning with the late recognition of I Love Dick, the rise of Trump, and her partner struggling with addiction Paul. And there is the story of the murder of one lost young man by another in a community largely deserted by progressive politics only a short distance from Catt's cottage in rural Minnesota.
As a reader attracted to honed writing of the type the author herself typically rejects, I was seduced by the narrative style of the opening part.
As someone who reads who favors precise prose of the variety that Kraus herself usually avoids, I was captivated by the storytelling approach of the first section. It exhibits a new quality of attentiveness that allows space for small details, like the pail that the youthful Catt pries out of frozen water at the opening of the book, helped by her beloved father. "I discovered a frozen plaything!" she exclaims; "a lovely toy", he answers, "the nuanced interpretations of terms tumbling in their mouths like sweet treats". Kraus writes the tale of Emma with curiosity and intimacy. "It seemed to Emma she had entered a dream – not entirely her own."
Disappointment and Disjunction
I was fated to feel let down when I expected this different style could last out the book. The author states here that she is annoyed by the satisfaction audiences such as myself have gotten from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to disjunction, to the untidy aesthetics she shares with her idol writer Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her past books reasserts itself in the central part. Catt is attempting to do up multiple decrepit residences in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while moving between the Midwest and the West Coast, unable to aid Paul curb his addiction. She experiences powerlessness as Paul transitions between low-resource employment as an addiction therapist in a environment driven by the rage and anxiety that underpins an electoral success. Multiple pages are devoted about Catt being cancelled on social media, her occupation changed from "novelist" to "real estate holder" on Wikipedia. The author still appears to care a little too much about this. On one occasion she says that she's investigating the murder so that before leaving Minnesota, "she may grasp something about an America that her Twitter detractors would not understand, would not even perceive".
The Killing Story
So then we come to the homicide in question – and the referenced day passed by the murdered individual with the killer and his associates. Kraus has great source material, and details moment by moment what occurred as the victim Brandon came to meet Brittney after connecting via an application where she offered adult photos. He was hoping for sex but seems amiably to have occupied the day in the company of her associates, wandering about having his vehicle repaired and paying for snacks and drugs, before being murdered by Brittney's partner a man named Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has repeatedly received inpatient care for fits of anger.
Obsession and Unfinished Business
The protagonist becomes fixated by the account, and I was intrigued by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards accurate chronicling and reckless transgression tussle in this section. But I'd have liked her to explore more thoroughly her individual preoccupations here. The compelling persona is Brittney, who comes alive partially because of Catt's identification with her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman spiraling out of control in a difficult, overlooked locality. The author informs us that Catt speaks to Brittney in prison, but she doesn't dramatise these conversations. The complete segment feels oddly unfinished, to the extent that her narrative ends almost mid-par
