This latest work is populated with characters seeking fresh starts, attempting to leave behind substance abuse or toxic relationships, only to witness hope devolve into conflict. Kraus repeatedly invokes the phrase "fresh start", rendering it willfully cynical through its repetitions. Sentences like "He could make a fresh start" and "They chose to begin anew" recur in the narrative. Meanwhile, the author herself is embarking on her personal new beginning, since this presents as a novel form of writing – fact-based, genuinely novelistic. Yet it proves to be laden with the same dilemmas and aesthetics as earlier books.
From Chance Novelist to Cult Classic
Kraus was originally an artist who transitioned to writing somewhat by chance with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, structured as epistles to an unresponsive love interest, transforming intimate women's literature from humiliation into assassination. She persisted as a writer, but the three subsequent fascinating and rebarbative novels lacked the power and directness that the correspondence format brought to the narrative voice of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her identity as a nonconformist creator who had evolved into a major property owner, so there was much discussion on housing investments. It is logical that she now wants to experiment with different types of content, looking outwards to other people's stories, at a time when she asserts that Trumpian politics renders personal narrative unnecessary.
Three Generations, Shared Inescapable History
The Four Spent the Day Together is structured in three parts, covering multiple eras – all unable to escape their backgrounds. There is the tale of characters Emma and Jasper, representations of the author's parents, moving from the New York borough to a pastoral setting. Additionally the story of Kraus herself, in the character of protagonist Catt Greene, reckoning with the belated success of I Love Dick, the rise of Trump, and her partner struggling with addiction Paul. Finally the narrative of a homicide of one lost young man by another in a locality largely deserted by progressive politics only a short distance from Catt's rural residence in rural Minnesota.
For this reader attracted to polished prose of the sort Kraus herself typically rejects, I was enchanted by the novelistic voice of the opening part.
As a reader drawn to precise prose of the style that Kraus herself usually avoids, I was seduced by the storytelling approach of the initial part. It possesses a new quality of attentiveness that makes room 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. "I found an ice toy!" she exclaims; "a lovely toy", he responds, "the elliptical meanings of words rolling around in their mouths like hard candy". Kraus writes Emma's story with inquiry and familiarity. "Emma felt like she'd stepped into a dream – not entirely her own."
Disappointment and Disjunction
I was bound to become frustrated when I expected this new voice could persist to the end. Kraus notes here that she dislikes the enjoyment audiences such as myself have gotten from I Love Dick; she's devoted to disjunction, to the unpolished style she shares with her idol writer Kathy Acker, and the emptiness and redundancy of her previous novels returns in the central part. The protagonist is trying to renovate multiple decrepit residences in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while traveling between the Midwest and the West Coast, unable to aid Paul manage his alcohol use. She feels helpless as Paul transitions between poorly supported positions as an recovery specialist in a world driven by the hostility and dread that underpins Trump's victory. A significant portion discusses about Catt's social media ostracism on Twitter, her professional designation altered from "author" to "property owner" on the online encyclopedia. The author still appears to be overly concerned about this. At one point she says that she's researching the homicide so that before exiting the region, "she may grasp something about an America that her online critics would not understand, would not even see".
The Murder Narrative
Thus we arrive to the murder itself – and the referenced day experienced by the deceased with the perpetrator and his companions. Kraus utilizes excellent raw material, and knows hour by hour what occurred as the victim Brandon came to visit Brittney after encountering her on a platform where she sold sex pictures. He sought a sexual encounter but seems amiably to have occupied the day with her companions, mooching around getting his car mended and funding treats and narcotics, before being killed by gunfire by Brittney's partner Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has repeatedly received inpatient care for violent rage.
Obsession and Unfinished Business
Catt gets obsessed by the account, and I was fascinated by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards responsible documentation and daring boundary-pushing wrestle in this part. However, I would have preferred her to delve deeper into her own obsessions here. The compelling persona is Brittney, who comes alive partly through Catt's identification with her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman going off the rails in a struggling, neglected community. Kraus tells us that Catt speaks to Brittney in detention, but she doesn't dramatise these conversations. This entire part feels strangely incomplete, to the point that her narrative ends almost mid-par
