The Four Spent the Day Together features individuals seeking new beginnings, trying to break free from drugs or abusive marriages, only to witness hope devolve into aggression. The author often employs the phrase "new beginning", making it intentionally weary through its repetitions. Examples include "He aimed to start over" and "They opted for a clean break" recur in the narrative. And yet, she appears to be undertaking her own fresh start, because this seems a different type of work – observational, authentically narrative. However it reveals itself to be laden with the same dilemmas and aesthetics as past novels.
From Unplanned Author to Iconic Work
Kraus began as an creative who transitioned to writing somewhat by chance with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, made up of missives to a distant beloved, converting confessional female writing from humiliation into rebellion. She kept producing books, but the next trio of engaging and challenging novels did not possess the impact and rawness that the correspondence format infused into the narrative voice of I Love Dick. It didn't help was her identity as a maverick maker who had become a extensive real estate holder, so there was considerable focus on housing investments. It makes sense that she presently aims to experiment with different types of content, turning outward to external narratives, at a time when she states that current political era renders personal narrative unnecessary.
Three Generations, One Unescapable Past
The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, spanning several time periods – none able to break free from their histories. The book includes the story of Emma and Jasper, representations of the author's parents, relocating from the urban environment to the Connecticut countryside. Then there is the story of Kraus herself, in the character of a figure named Catt Greene, confronting the delayed acclaim of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her substance-dependent spouse Paul. Finally the story of the murder of one troubled youth by another in a town mostly forsaken by progressive politics only a short distance from Catt's rural residence in the Minnesota countryside.
For this reader drawn to polished prose of the kind Kraus herself tends to eschew, I was captivated by the literary tone of the opening part.
As a reader who favors crafted language of the variety that Kraus often disregards, I was captivated by the novelistic voice of the opening segment. It exhibits a fresh level of observation that makes room for minutiae, like the pail that the young Catt dislodges from ice at the opening of the book, aided by her cherished parent. "I found an ice toy!" she says; "a great plaything", he responds, "the nuanced interpretations of terms rolling around in their mouths like hard candy". She tells Emma's narrative with interest and closeness. "Emma felt like she'd stepped into a dream – not hers, exactly."
Disappointment and Disjunction
I was destined to be disappointed when I expected this different style could continue through the novel. Kraus says here that she resents the enjoyment readers like me have taken from I Love Dick; she's devoted to fragmentation, to the unpolished style she has in common with her hero writer Kathy Acker, and the emptiness and redundancy of her previous novels returns in the second segment. The protagonist is trying to renovate multiple decrepit residences in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while shuttling between Minnesota and LA, failing to help her husband curb his addiction. She feels helpless as Paul moves between underfunded jobs as an addiction therapist in a environment propelled 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 "author" to "landlord" on Wikipedia. She still gives the impression to invest excessive emotion about this. In a moment she states that she's investigating the murder so that before exiting the region, "she might be able to learn something about an America that her social media opponents would not understand, would not even see".
The Murder Narrative
So then we come to the homicide in question – and the referenced day passed by the victim with the killer and his associates. Kraus has compelling foundational content, and reconstructs step by step what occurred as a man named Brandon came to meet Brittney after connecting via an application where she sold sex pictures. He sought a sexual encounter but seems affably to have spent the day with her companions, loitering having his vehicle repaired and funding treats and narcotics, before being murdered by her romantic interest Micah – a individual with mental health challenges who has repeatedly received inpatient care for fits of anger.
Preoccupation and Open Ends
The protagonist becomes fixated by the story, and I was fascinated by the way that the author's conflicting impulses towards accurate chronicling and reckless transgression clash in this segment. Yet I wished her to go further into her individual preoccupations here. The most interesting character is Brittney, who gains dimension partially because of the protagonist's connection to her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman spiraling out of control in a difficult, overlooked locality. The author informs us that the protagonist communicates with Brittney in detention, but she doesn't dramatise these conversations. The complete segment feels curiously unresolved, to the extent that her narrative ends almost mid-par
