The Four Spent the Day Together features protagonists seeking new beginnings, trying to break free from drugs or toxic relationships, only to find hope curdling into violence. Kraus repeatedly invokes the phrase "new beginning", transforming it into willfully cynical through recurring use. Phrases such as "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They opted for a clean break" are scattered across the narrative. And yet, the author herself appears to be undertaking her personal new beginning, as this presents as a novel form of writing – documentarian, truly literary. Yet it reveals itself to be laden with the same dilemmas and approaches as past novels.
From Accidental Writer to Cult Classic
The writer was originally an creative who transitioned to writing unintentionally with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, structured as epistles to an unresponsive love interest, elevating personal female narrative from abjection into assassination. She continued writing, but the next trio of engaging and challenging novels did not possess the impact and rawness that the letter form imparted to the tone of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her identity as a nonconformist creator who had become a extensive real estate holder, so there was considerable focus on housing investments. It makes sense that she currently desires to try out fresh narrative sources, looking outwards to other people's stories, at a time when she claims that Trumpian politics renders personal narrative redundant.
Three Generations, One Unescapable Past
The Four Spent the Day Together is structured in three parts, encompassing three generations – each trapped by their histories. There is the tale of characters Emma and Jasper, representations of Kraus's parents, moving from the urban environment to a pastoral setting. Then there is the narrative of the author, in the guise of a figure named Catt Greene, reckoning with the belated success of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her partner struggling with addiction a man named Paul. Finally the account of a killing of one directionless individual by another in a town long abandoned by liberal ideals only 80 miles from Catt's cottage in rural Minnesota.
For this reader drawn to honed writing of the type Kraus herself tends to eschew, I was seduced by the novelistic voice of the initial segment.
Being a reader who appreciates crafted language of the variety that the author usually avoids, I was captivated by the novelistic voice of the opening segment. There is a fresh level of observation that accommodates trivial aspects, like the bucket that the young Catt pries out of frozen water at the beginning of the narrative, aided by her cherished parent. "I found an ice toy!" she says; "a nice toy", he responds, "the elliptical meanings of words rolling around in their mouths like sweet treats". Kraus writes Emma's narrative with inquiry and familiarity. "It seemed to Emma she had entered 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 notes here that she is annoyed by the pleasure readers like me have derived from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to disruption, to the untidy aesthetics she has in common with her inspiration writer Kathy Acker, and the emptiness and redundancy of her earlier works reasserts itself in the middle section. The protagonist is trying to renovate multiple decrepit residences in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while traveling between two different states, unable to aid Paul manage his alcohol use. She experiences powerlessness as her spouse transitions between underfunded jobs as an substance abuse counselor in a world fueled by the rage and anxiety that powers an electoral success. There are several pages about the protagonist facing cancellation on a platform, her occupation changed from "author" to "landlord" on Wikipedia. The author still appears to invest excessive emotion about this. On one occasion she says that she's looking into the killing so that before exiting the region, "she may grasp something about an America that her social media opponents would not understand, would overlook entirely".
The Homicide Account
So then we come to the homicide in question – and the eponymous day spent by the deceased with the killer and his friends. Kraus has excellent raw material, and reconstructs step by step what transpired when a man named Brandon came to visit Brittney after meeting her on an app where she sold sex pictures. He anticipated intimacy but seems amiably to have occupied the day with her companions, mooching around having his vehicle repaired and covering the cost of food and substances, before being killed by gunfire by Brittney's partner Micah – a individual with mental health challenges who has often been institutionalized for aggressive outbursts.
Obsession and Unfinished Business
Catt develops an obsession by the story, and I found myself captivated by the way that her twin drives towards accurate chronicling and daring boundary-pushing wrestle in this part. But I'd have liked her to go further into her own obsessions here. The standout figure is Brittney herself, who comes alive partly through Catt seeing herself in her – another bright, bullied girl spiraling out of control in a troubled, forgotten town. The author informs us that Catt converses with Brittney in jail, but she fails to enact these dialogues. This entire part feels strangely incomplete, to the point that her narrative ends almost mid-par
