The Four Spent the Day Together is populated with characters chasing after clean slates, attempting to leave behind addictions or harmful partnerships, only to find hope curdling into conflict. Kraus repeatedly invokes the phrase "clean slate", transforming it into deliberately jaded through its repetitions. Examples include "He could make a fresh start" and "They chose to begin anew" recur in the story. And yet, she seems to be making her individual reinvention, because this seems a different type of work – fact-based, genuinely novelistic. However it turns out to be packed with the recurring issues and approaches as earlier books.
From Accidental Writer to Renowned Book
Kraus was originally an artist who became a writer unintentionally with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, made up of letters to an unreceptive lover, transforming confessional female writing from self-debasement into defiance. She kept producing books, but the next trio of engaging and challenging novels missed the shock and immediacy that the correspondence format brought to the narrative voice of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her position as a nonconformist creator who had evolved into a large-scale low-rent landlord, so there was considerable focus on property transactions. It is logical that she presently aims to try out different types of content, directing her gaze to external narratives, at a time when she asserts that current political era makes confessional writing unnecessary.
Multiple Generations, Shared Inescapable History
The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, covering three generations – each trapped by their histories. There is the tale of a couple named Emma and Jasper, representations of her own mother and father, relocating 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 belated success of I Love Dick, the rise of Trump, and her addict husband Paul. Finally the account of a killing of one lost young man by another in a town mostly forsaken by progressive politics only a short distance from Catt's rural residence in a remote part of Minnesota.
From my perspective as a reader fond of polished prose of the kind the author herself often avoids, I was enchanted by the literary tone of the first section.
As a reader drawn to precise prose of the variety that Kraus usually avoids, I was seduced by the literary tone of the opening segment. It possesses a new quality of attentiveness that makes room for minutiae, like the pail that the young Catt dislodges from ice at the start of the story, assisted by her adored dad. "Look, an ice toy!" she exclaims; "a lovely toy", he replies, "the elliptical meanings of words circulating in their speech like piece candy". The author narrates the tale of Emma with curiosity and intimacy. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not entirely her own."
Letdown and Fragmentation
I was fated to feel let down when I wished this new voice could continue through the novel. Kraus notes here that she dislikes the enjoyment those who appreciate polished prose have derived from I Love Dick; she's committed to disruption, to the unpolished style she shares with her inspiration writer Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her past books reasserts itself in the second segment. Catt is trying to renovate three dozen dilapidated units in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while traveling between two different states, unsuccessful in assisting Paul curb his addiction. She feels helpless as her spouse moves between poorly supported positions as an substance abuse counselor in a world driven by the anger and fear that powers an electoral success. There are several pages about the protagonist facing cancellation on a platform, her listed profession modified from "writer" to "real estate holder" on Wikipedia. She still gives the impression to care a little too much about this. In a moment she remarks that she's looking into the killing so that before departing the state, "she could potentially understand something about an the United States that her Twitter detractors would fail to comprehend, would overlook entirely".
The Murder Narrative
Thus we arrive to the actual killing – and the titular day experienced by the victim with the perpetrator and his companions. Kraus has excellent raw material, and knows hour by hour what happened when Brandon came to meet Brittney after encountering her on a platform where she marketed explicit images. He was hoping for sex but seems amiably to have occupied the day in the company of her associates, mooching around fixing his automobile and funding treats and narcotics, before being shot by her romantic interest Micah – a individual with mental health challenges who has repeatedly received inpatient care for fits of anger.
Obsession and Unfinished Business
Catt develops an obsession by the story, and I was intrigued by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards accurate chronicling and audacious rule-breaking wrestle in this part. However, I would have preferred her to go further into her individual preoccupations here. The standout figure is Brittney, who comes alive in part due to Catt seeing herself in her – a similarly gifted, tormented individual derailing in a difficult, overlooked locality. The author informs us that the protagonist communicates with Brittney in prison, but she fails to enact these dialogues. This entire part feels curiously unresolved, to the extent that her narrative ends almost mid-par
