The Four Spent the Day Together centers on protagonists pursuing fresh starts, trying to break free from addictions or toxic relationships, only to see hope turn into violence. Kraus frequently uses the phrase "clean slate", transforming it into intentionally weary through its repetitions. Sentences like "He could make a fresh start" and "They opted for a clean break" appear throughout the narrative. And yet, she is embarking on her personal new beginning, because this appears a novel form of writing – fact-based, truly literary. Yet it proves to be filled with the same dilemmas and aesthetics as her previous works.
From Chance Novelist to Renowned Book
Kraus was originally an visual artist who entered the literary world almost accidentally with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, which was composed of letters to an unreceptive lover, elevating intimate women's literature from abjection into rebellion. She continued writing, but the next trio of engaging and challenging novels did not possess the impact and rawness that the letter form infused into the narrative voice of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her identity as a maverick maker who had evolved into a large-scale low-rent landlord, so there was considerable focus on real estate deals. It follows that she currently desires to try out different types of content, looking outwards to other people's stories, at a time when she claims that contemporary political climate turns intimate literature redundant.
Multiple Generations, Collective Unavoidable Background
The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, covering several time periods – each trapped by their backgrounds. We encounter the tale of a couple named Emma and Jasper, representations of her own mother and father, moving from the urban environment to rural Connecticut. Then there is the story of Kraus herself, in the guise of protagonist Catt Greene, grappling with the late recognition of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her partner struggling with addiction her husband Paul. The third thread involves the story of the murder of one lost young man by another in a community largely deserted by forward-thinking policies only 80 miles from Catt's cottage in the Minnesota countryside.
For this reader attracted to honed writing of the kind Kraus often avoids, I was seduced by the narrative style of the initial segment.
As a reader who appreciates precise prose of the kind that Kraus herself tends to eschew, I was won over by the novelistic voice of the initial part. There is a fresh level of observation that accommodates small details, like the container that the young Catt pries out of frozen water at the opening of the book, aided by her beloved father. "Look, an ice toy!" she exclaims; "a nice toy", he responds, "the elliptical meanings of words tumbling in their mouths like sweet treats". Kraus writes the tale of Emma with interest and closeness. "Emma felt like she'd stepped into a dream – not entirely her own."
Frustration and Disruption
I was bound to become frustrated when I wished this different style could continue through the novel. Kraus says here that she resents the satisfaction readers like me have taken from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to fragmentation, to the untidy aesthetics she shares with her inspiration author Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her previous novels comes back in the central part. The protagonist is attempting to do up three dozen dilapidated units in the city's most challenging districts while moving between Minnesota and LA, unsuccessful in assisting Paul control his drinking. She is overwhelmed as her spouse cycles through low-resource employment as an substance abuse counselor in a world fueled by the anger and fear that drives a political win. A significant portion discusses about Catt being cancelled on Twitter, her occupation changed from "novelist" to "real estate holder" on Wikipedia. The author still appears to be overly concerned about this. At one point she remarks that she's looking into the killing so that before leaving Minnesota, "she may grasp something about an the nation that her Twitter detractors would not understand, would not even perceive".
The Homicide Account
So then we come to the actual killing – and the referenced day experienced by the murdered individual with the murderer and his friends. The author possesses compelling foundational content, and knows hour by hour what happened when Brandon came to see Brittney after meeting her on an app where she offered adult photos. He anticipated intimacy but seems affably to have spent the day with her companions, wandering about fixing his automobile and paying for snacks and drugs, before being killed by gunfire by Brittney's partner Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has often been institutionalized for fits of anger.
Obsession and Unfinished Business
Catt gets obsessed by the narrative, and I was intrigued by the way that her twin drives towards responsible documentation and daring boundary-pushing clash in this segment. However, I would have preferred her to delve deeper into her own obsessions here. The most interesting character is Brittney, who comes alive in part due to the protagonist's connection to her – a similarly gifted, tormented individual going off the rails in a difficult, overlooked locality. Kraus notes that the protagonist communicates with Brittney in detention, but she doesn't dramatise these conversations. This entire part feels oddly unfinished, to the degree that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par
