The new book centers on protagonists pursuing new beginnings, attempting to leave behind addictions or harmful partnerships, only to witness hope devolve into conflict. The author often employs the phrase "fresh start", rendering it intentionally weary through its repetitions. Examples include "He aimed to start over" and "They decided to make a fresh start" recur in the story. And yet, she is embarking on her personal new beginning, as this appears a new kind of book – fact-based, genuinely novelistic. But then it turns out to be packed with the familiar conflicts and aesthetics as her previous works.
From Unplanned Author to Iconic Work
Kraus began as an visual artist who entered the literary world somewhat by chance with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, which was composed of epistles to an unresponsive love interest, elevating intimate women's literature from self-debasement into assassination. She persisted as a writer, but the three subsequent engaging and challenging novels missed the impact and rawness that the correspondence format brought to the voice of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her role as a maverick maker who had evolved into a major property owner, so there was considerable focus on real estate deals. It follows that she currently desires to experiment with new kinds of material, looking outwards to other people's stories, at a time when she asserts that contemporary political climate makes confessional writing redundant.
Several Eras, Collective Unavoidable Background
The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, covering three generations – none able to break free from their histories. We encounter the tale of characters Emma and Jasper, versions of her own mother and father, moving from the Bronx to rural Connecticut. There is the account of Kraus, in the character of Catt Greene, grappling with the belated success of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her addict husband Paul. And there is the story of the murder of one directionless individual by another in a locality long abandoned by liberal ideals only a brief drive from Catt's cottage in the Minnesota countryside.
From my perspective as a reader drawn to honed writing of the type the author herself often avoids, I was captivated by the narrative style of the initial segment.
As someone who reads who appreciates precise prose of the style that Kraus herself usually avoids, I was won over by the literary tone of the initial part. It possesses a novel degree of detail that accommodates trivial aspects, like the bucket that the youthful Catt pries out of frozen water at the start of the story, assisted by her adored dad. "I found an ice toy!" she exclaims; "a lovely toy", he answers, "the elliptical meanings of words circulating in their speech like sweet treats". Kraus writes Emma's narrative with curiosity and intimacy. "Emma felt like she'd stepped into a dream – not hers, exactly."
Disappointment and Disjunction
I was fated to feel let down when I expected this fresh tone could continue through the novel. Kraus says here that she resents the satisfaction readers like me have taken from I Love Dick; she's devoted to disjunction, to the unpolished style she echoes from her idol Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her previous novels comes back in the second segment. Catt Greene is working on refurbishing 36 run-down apartments in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while traveling between Minnesota and LA, failing to help Paul control his drinking. She experiences powerlessness as Paul moves between poorly supported positions as an substance abuse counselor in a society fueled by the anger and fear that drives a political win. Multiple pages are devoted about Catt's social media ostracism on social media, her listed profession modified from "novelist" to "landlord" on Wikipedia. The author still appears to be overly concerned about this. At one point she states that she's researching the homicide so that before departing the state, "she might be able to learn something about an the nation that her social media opponents would be unable to grasp, would not even perceive".
The Homicide Account
Thus we arrive to the homicide in question – and the titular day experienced by the victim with the murderer and his friends. The author possesses excellent raw material, and details moment by moment what transpired when Brandon came to meet Brittney after meeting her on an app where she marketed explicit images. He anticipated intimacy but seems amiably to have occupied the day with her companions, mooching around having his vehicle repaired and covering the cost of food and substances, before being killed by gunfire by Brittney's partner Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has frequently been hospitalised for violent rage.
Fascination and Incompletion
The protagonist becomes fixated by the account, and I was fascinated by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards accurate chronicling and daring boundary-pushing clash in this segment. But I'd have liked her to go further into her own obsessions here. The compelling persona is Brittney, who comes alive partially because of the protagonist's connection to her – another bright, bullied girl going off the rails in a struggling, neglected community. Kraus notes that Catt speaks to Brittney in detention, but she doesn't dramatise these conversations. The complete segment feels oddly unfinished, to the degree that her narrative ends almost mid-par
