The Four Spent the Day Together is populated with individuals chasing after fresh starts, struggling to escape drugs or abusive marriages, only to witness hope devolve into conflict. The author frequently uses the phrase "fresh start", rendering it deliberately jaded through constant reiteration. Phrases such as "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They opted for a clean break" recur in the story. Meanwhile, Kraus herself appears to be undertaking her personal new beginning, since this seems a different type of work – observational, genuinely novelistic. But then it turns out to be packed with the recurring issues and styles as her previous works.
From Accidental Writer to Renowned Book
The writer started out as an creative who entered the literary world unintentionally with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, structured as missives to a distant beloved, converting personal female narrative from abjection into assassination. She continued writing, but the following three fascinating and rebarbative novels did not possess the shock and immediacy that the correspondence format infused into the narrative voice of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her identity as a maverick maker who had become a large-scale low-rent landlord, so there was much discussion on property transactions. It makes sense that she currently desires to experiment with different types of content, looking outwards to other people's stories, at a moment when she states that current political era renders personal narrative unnecessary.
Multiple Generations, Shared Inescapable History
The Four Spent the Day Together is structured in three parts, encompassing several time periods – each trapped by their backgrounds. The book includes the narrative about characters Emma and Jasper, versions of the author's parents, transitioning from the New York borough to a pastoral setting. Then there is the account of Kraus, in the character of Catt Greene, confronting the belated success of I Love Dick, the rise of Trump, and her addict husband a man named Paul. And there is the narrative of a homicide of one troubled youth by another in a town largely deserted by forward-thinking policies only a brief drive from Catt's rural residence in rural Minnesota.
For this reader fond of polished prose of the sort Kraus typically rejects, I was captivated by the literary tone of the first section.
As someone who reads who appreciates crafted language of the variety that Kraus herself usually avoids, I was won over by the storytelling approach of the opening segment. It exhibits a fresh level of observation that allows space for small details, like the bucket that the youthful Catt frees from the ice at the opening of the book, aided by her adored dad. "Look, an ice toy!" she exclaims; "a lovely toy", he replies, "the elliptical meanings of words tumbling in their mouths like hard candy". The author narrates Emma's narrative with interest and closeness. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not entirely her own."
Frustration and Disruption
I was destined to be disappointed when I wished this fresh tone could continue through the novel. Kraus says here that she is annoyed by the enjoyment readers like me have taken from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to fragmentation, to the untidy aesthetics she has in common with her idol writer Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her past books reasserts itself in the central part. Catt Greene is working on refurbishing 36 run-down apartments in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while shuttling between two different states, failing to help Paul manage his alcohol use. She is overwhelmed as her spouse moves between low-resource employment as an addiction therapist in a environment fueled by the hostility and dread that powers a political win. A significant portion discusses about Catt being cancelled on social media, her professional designation altered from "novelist" to "property owner" on Wikipedia. She still gives the impression to care a little too much about this. At one point she states that she's investigating the murder so that before exiting the region, "she might be able to learn something about an the nation that her social media opponents would not understand, would not even perceive".
The Homicide Account
So then we come to the actual killing – and the eponymous day experienced by the deceased with the murderer and his friends. Kraus utilizes compelling foundational content, and details moment by moment what happened when Brandon came to see Brittney after meeting her on an app where she offered adult photos. He anticipated intimacy but appears congenially to have passed the day in the company of her associates, mooching around getting his car mended and funding treats and narcotics, before being murdered by her romantic interest Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has often been institutionalized for aggressive outbursts.
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 audacious rule-breaking tussle in this section. But I'd have liked her to delve deeper into her personal fixations here. The standout figure is Brittney, who gains dimension partially because of Catt's identification with her – a similarly gifted, tormented individual derailing in a troubled, forgotten town. Kraus tells us that Catt speaks to Brittney in detention, but she doesn't dramatise these conversations. The whole section feels curiously unresolved, to the degree that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par
