The Four Spent the Day Together centers on individuals seeking clean slates, attempting to leave behind substance abuse or harmful partnerships, only to see hope turn into violence. The author frequently uses the phrase "new beginning", rendering it intentionally weary through its repetitions. Examples include "He could make a fresh start" and "They opted for a clean break" recur in the story. And yet, the author herself is embarking on her individual reinvention, as this presents as a different type of work – fact-based, genuinely novelistic. Yet it proves to be packed with the recurring issues and styles as earlier books.
From Chance Novelist to Renowned Book
Kraus began as an visual artist who transitioned to writing almost accidentally with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, made up of epistles to an unresponsive love interest, converting personal female narrative from abjection into assassination. She persisted as a writer, but the following three fascinating and rebarbative novels missed the impact and rawness that the letter form imparted to the tone of I Love Dick. It didn't help was her identity as a renegade artist who had evolved into a major property owner, 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 the experiences of others, at a moment when she states that current political era turns intimate literature redundant.
Several Eras, One Unescapable Past
The Four Spent the Day Together is structured in three parts, spanning multiple eras – each trapped by their pasts. There is the tale of Emma and Jasper, based on the author's parents, moving from the New York borough to rural Connecticut. Then there is the account of Kraus, in the character of protagonist Catt Greene, grappling with the late recognition of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her substance-dependent spouse a man named Paul. And there is the story of the murder of one directionless individual by another in a town largely deserted by progressive politics only a short distance from the protagonist's home in a remote part of Minnesota.
For this reader drawn to refined literature of the sort Kraus herself typically rejects, I was enchanted by the narrative style of the opening part.
Being a reader who favors honed writing of the variety that the author often disregards, I was won over by the novelistic voice of the opening segment. It possesses a novel degree of detail that allows space for trivial aspects, like the pail that the protagonist as a child frees from the ice at the opening of the book, assisted by her adored dad. "Look, an ice toy!" she declares; "a great plaything", he responds, "the nuanced interpretations of terms tumbling in their mouths like sweet treats". Kraus writes Emma's narrative with curiosity and intimacy. "It seemed to Emma she had entered a dream – not precisely her dream."
Frustration and Disruption
I was bound to become frustrated when I wished this new voice could persist to the end. Kraus notes here that she resents the pleasure those who appreciate polished prose have gotten from I Love Dick; she's committed to disruption, to the unpolished style she echoes from her inspiration writer Kathy Acker, and the emptiness and redundancy of her past books returns in the middle section. Catt is attempting to do up 36 run-down apartments in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while moving between the Midwest and the West Coast, unable to aid Paul curb his addiction. She is overwhelmed as Paul moves between underfunded jobs as an addiction therapist in a world propelled by the rage and anxiety that drives an electoral success. Multiple pages are devoted about Catt being cancelled on Twitter, her listed profession modified from "novelist" to "landlord" on Wikipedia. The author still appears to be overly concerned about this. In a moment she states that she's investigating the murder so that before leaving Minnesota, "she could potentially understand something about an the nation that her social media opponents would not understand, would not even see".
The Killing Story
Then we reach to the homicide in question – and the titular day experienced by the victim with the murderer and his associates. The author possesses excellent raw material, and reconstructs step by step what happened when the victim Brandon came to see Brittney after meeting her on an app where she marketed explicit images. He sought a sexual encounter but seems affably to have spent the day in the company of her associates, loitering having his vehicle repaired and paying for snacks and drugs, before being murdered by her romantic interest Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has frequently been hospitalised for violent rage.
Fascination and Incompletion
Catt develops an obsession by the story, and I was intrigued by the way that her twin drives towards ethical reporting and daring boundary-pushing wrestle in this part. Yet I wished her to explore more thoroughly her individual preoccupations here. The standout figure is Brittney herself, who becomes vivid partly through Catt's identification with her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman going off the rails in a struggling, neglected community. The author informs us that Catt converses with Brittney in prison, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. The complete segment feels strangely incomplete, to the point that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par
