This latest work centers on individuals pursuing new beginnings, trying to break free from substance abuse or abusive marriages, only to find hope curdling into violence. Kraus frequently uses the phrase "fresh start", transforming it into intentionally weary through recurring use. Examples include "He could make a fresh start" and "They opted for a clean break" are scattered across the narrative. And yet, Kraus herself seems to be making her individual reinvention, because this seems a new kind of book – documentarian, genuinely novelistic. But then it turns out to be packed with the recurring issues and approaches as her previous works.
From Unplanned Author to Iconic Work
Kraus was originally an visual artist who became a writer somewhat by chance with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, made up of missives to a distant beloved, elevating personal female narrative from abjection into defiance. She kept producing books, but the next trio of engaging and challenging novels missed the shock and immediacy that the letter form imparted to the voice of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her identity as a nonconformist creator who had turned into a extensive real estate holder, so there was much discussion on real estate deals. It makes sense that she currently desires to try out different types of content, turning outward to other people's stories, at a moment when she states that current political era renders personal narrative obsolete.
Multiple Generations, Collective Unavoidable Background
The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, covering several time periods – all unable to escape their pasts. The book includes the narrative about characters Emma and Jasper, based on Kraus's parents, moving from the urban environment to the Connecticut countryside. Then there is the narrative of the author, in the guise of protagonist Catt Greene, reckoning with the belated success of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her substance-dependent spouse her husband Paul. And there is the story of the murder of one troubled youth by another in a locality largely deserted by forward-thinking policies only 80 miles from the protagonist's home in rural Minnesota.
As a reader fond of polished prose of the sort Kraus herself often avoids, I was seduced by the narrative style of the initial segment.
Being a reader drawn to crafted language of the variety that Kraus often disregards, I was captivated by the storytelling approach of the initial part. There is a novel degree of detail that allows space for minutiae, like the pail that the youthful Catt pries out of frozen water at the opening of the book, aided by her cherished parent. "I found an ice toy!" she says; "a great plaything", he answers, "the elliptical meanings of words rolling around in their mouths like sweet treats". Kraus writes Emma's story with interest and closeness. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not precisely her dream."
Frustration and Disruption
I was bound to become frustrated when I expected this new voice could last out the book. Kraus notes here that she is annoyed by the pleasure those who appreciate polished prose have derived from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to fragmentation, to the unpolished style she has in common with her idol writer Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her previous novels reasserts itself in the middle section. Catt Greene is working on refurbishing three dozen dilapidated units in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while traveling between two different states, unsuccessful in assisting Paul curb his addiction. She is overwhelmed as Paul moves between underfunded jobs as an addiction therapist in a world driven by the hostility and dread that powers Trump's victory. There are several pages about Catt being cancelled on Twitter, her professional designation altered from "writer" to "landlord" on a reference site. The author still appears to be overly concerned about this. In a moment she remarks that she's investigating the murder so that before departing the state, "she could potentially understand something about an America that her social media opponents would fail to comprehend, would not even perceive".
The Murder Narrative
Then we reach to the homicide in question – and the titular day passed by the murdered individual with the killer and his companions. The author possesses great source material, and details moment by moment what happened when the victim Brandon came to visit Brittney after meeting her on an app where she marketed explicit images. He was hoping for sex but seems amiably to have occupied the day with her companions, wandering about having his vehicle repaired and paying for snacks and drugs, before being shot by Brittney's partner a man named Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has frequently been hospitalised for aggressive outbursts.
Fascination and Incompletion
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 personal fixations here. The standout figure is the character Brittney, who becomes vivid partly through the protagonist's connection to her – a similarly gifted, tormented individual going off the rails in a troubled, forgotten town. Kraus tells us that the protagonist communicates with Brittney in detention, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. This entire part feels curiously unresolved, to the point that her narrative ends almost mid-par
