The Four Spent the Day Together is populated with individuals pursuing clean slates, trying to break free from substance abuse or abusive marriages, only to see hope turn into violence. The author repeatedly invokes the phrase "new beginning", rendering it intentionally weary through recurring use. Examples include "He could make a fresh start" and "They decided to make a fresh start" appear throughout the story. And yet, Kraus herself is embarking on her individual reinvention, because this presents as a different type of work – observational, authentically narrative. Yet it turns out to be packed with the same dilemmas and styles as past novels.
From Accidental Writer to Cult Classic
The writer began as an artist who entered the literary world almost accidentally with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, which was composed of epistles to an unresponsive love interest, elevating personal female narrative from abjection into defiance. She persisted as a writer, but the three subsequent engaging and challenging novels missed the impact and rawness that the correspondence format infused into the narrative voice of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her position as a maverick maker who had become a major property owner, so there was much discussion on real estate deals. It makes sense that she now wants to explore different types of content, looking outwards to other people's stories, at a time when she states that Trumpian politics renders personal narrative redundant.
Multiple Generations, Shared Inescapable History
The Four Spent the Day Together is structured in three parts, spanning multiple eras – each trapped by their backgrounds. We encounter the tale of Emma and Jasper, based on her own mother and father, moving from the Bronx to the Connecticut countryside. Additionally the narrative of the author, in the guise of Catt Greene, reckoning with the belated success of I Love Dick, the rise of Trump, and her partner struggling with addiction her husband Paul. The third thread involves the narrative of a homicide of one lost young man by another in a town long abandoned by liberal ideals only 80 miles from the protagonist's home in the Minnesota countryside.
For this reader fond of polished prose of the type Kraus typically rejects, I was enchanted by the novelistic voice of the initial segment.
As a reader who appreciates crafted language of the kind that the author often disregards, I was won over by the literary tone of the opening segment. There is a fresh level of observation that accommodates minutiae, like the pail that the protagonist as a child pries out of frozen water at the opening of the book, helped by her cherished parent. "I found an ice toy!" she says; "a nice toy", he answers, "the nuanced interpretations of terms rolling around in their mouths like hard candy". She tells the tale of Emma with interest and closeness. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not precisely her dream."
Letdown and Fragmentation
I was destined to be disappointed when I hoped this new voice could last out the book. Kraus says here that she is annoyed by the pleasure readers like me have gotten from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to disruption, to the untidy aesthetics she has in common with her idol writer Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her past books comes back in the middle section. Catt Greene is trying to renovate multiple decrepit residences in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while shuttling between two different states, unable to aid Paul control his drinking. She feels helpless as Paul moves between poorly supported positions as an substance abuse counselor in a environment propelled by the rage and anxiety that underpins an electoral success. A significant portion discusses about Catt being cancelled on social media, her occupation changed from "writer" to "property owner" on a reference site. The author still appears to invest excessive emotion about this. At one point she says that she's researching the homicide so that before departing the state, "she might be able to learn something about an the United States that her social media opponents would be unable to grasp, would not even perceive".
The Killing Story
So then we come to the actual killing – and the titular day passed by the murdered individual with the murderer and his associates. The author possesses excellent raw material, and knows hour by hour what transpired when Brandon came to see Brittney after connecting via an application where she marketed explicit images. He sought a sexual encounter but seems amiably to have occupied the day with her companions, wandering about having his vehicle repaired and covering the cost of food and substances, before being shot by Brittney's boyfriend a man named Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has often been institutionalized for violent rage.
Preoccupation and Open Ends
The protagonist becomes fixated by the narrative, and I was intrigued by the way that the author's conflicting impulses towards accurate chronicling and reckless transgression wrestle in this part. However, I would have preferred her to go further into her personal fixations here. The most interesting character is Brittney herself, who comes alive partly through the protagonist's connection to her – a similarly gifted, tormented individual spiraling out of control 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 point that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par
