The new book centers on individuals pursuing clean slates, trying to break free from addictions or abusive marriages, only to see hope turn into aggression. The author repeatedly invokes the phrase "new beginning", making it intentionally weary through recurring use. Sentences like "He could make a fresh start" and "They opted for a clean break" are scattered across the text. And yet, Kraus herself is embarking on her individual reinvention, because this seems a new kind of book – documentarian, truly literary. Yet it turns out to be laden with the recurring issues and aesthetics as past novels.
From Accidental Writer to Iconic Work
Kraus began as an creative who transitioned to writing somewhat by chance with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, structured as missives to a distant beloved, converting intimate women's literature from self-debasement into defiance. She kept producing books, but the next trio of engaging and challenging novels missed the impact and rawness that the letter form infused into the tone of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her position as a nonconformist creator who had turned into a major property owner, so there was significant attention on property transactions. It follows that she now wants to try out fresh narrative sources, directing her gaze to other people's stories, at a moment when she claims that Trumpian politics renders personal narrative obsolete.
Three Generations, One Unescapable Past
The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, covering three generations – none able to break free from their histories. The book includes the story of Emma and Jasper, versions of the author's parents, moving from the New York borough to rural Connecticut. There is the story of Kraus herself, in the guise of Catt Greene, grappling with the delayed acclaim of I Love Dick, the rise of Trump, and her partner struggling with addiction Paul. Finally the account of a killing of one lost young man by another in a community long abandoned by liberal ideals only a short distance from Catt's cottage in rural Minnesota.
As a reader drawn to refined literature of the sort Kraus herself tends to eschew, I was enchanted by the literary tone of the initial segment.
As someone who reads who favors crafted language of the kind that Kraus herself usually avoids, I was seduced by the novelistic voice of the first section. It exhibits a novel degree of detail that accommodates small details, like the bucket that the young Catt dislodges from ice at the opening of the book, assisted by her cherished parent. "I found an ice toy!" she declares; "a nice toy", he replies, "the elliptical meanings of words rolling around in their mouths like sweet treats". Kraus writes Emma's story 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 fresh tone could persist to the end. Kraus says here that she is annoyed by the pleasure readers like me have derived from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to disjunction, to the messy artistic approach she shares with her inspiration writer Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her earlier works comes back in the second segment. Catt is working on refurbishing multiple decrepit residences in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while shuttling between two different states, failing to help Paul curb his addiction. She experiences powerlessness as her spouse moves between underfunded jobs as an substance abuse counselor in a environment propelled by the hostility and dread that underpins Trump's victory. Multiple pages are devoted about Catt being cancelled on social media, her occupation changed from "novelist" to "landlord" on Wikipedia. She still gives the impression to be overly concerned about this. In a moment she says that she's investigating the murder so that before leaving Minnesota, "she could potentially understand something about an the United States that her social media opponents would not understand, would overlook entirely".
The Killing Story
Then we reach to the homicide in question – and the titular day passed by the deceased with the perpetrator and his companions. Kraus has excellent raw material, and knows hour by hour what happened when a man named Brandon came to visit Brittney after connecting via an application where she marketed explicit images. He anticipated intimacy but appears congenially to have passed the day in the company of her associates, loitering getting his car mended and paying for snacks and drugs, before being killed by gunfire 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 story, and I was fascinated by the way that the author's conflicting impulses towards responsible documentation and daring boundary-pushing clash in this segment. But I'd have liked her to delve deeper into her individual preoccupations here. The standout figure is the character Brittney, who gains dimension in part due to the protagonist's connection to her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman spiraling out of control in a troubled, forgotten town. The author informs us that Catt speaks to Brittney in prison, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. This entire part feels oddly unfinished, to the degree that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par
