This latest work features characters pursuing new beginnings, struggling to escape drugs or harmful partnerships, only to witness hope devolve into violence. Kraus repeatedly invokes the phrase "clean slate", transforming it into deliberately jaded through constant reiteration. Phrases such as "He could make a fresh start" and "They opted for a clean break" recur in the narrative. And yet, the author herself appears to be undertaking her individual reinvention, since this seems a novel form of writing – fact-based, genuinely novelistic. However it proves to be packed with the recurring issues and approaches as earlier books.
From Accidental Writer to Iconic Work
The writer started out as an creative who became a writer almost accidentally with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, which was composed of missives to a distant beloved, transforming confessional female writing from abjection into defiance. She kept producing books, but the three subsequent engaging and challenging novels lacked the impact and rawness that the correspondence format brought to the tone of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her identity as a maverick maker who had turned into a extensive real estate holder, so there was considerable focus on real estate deals. It follows that she presently aims to try out new kinds of material, turning outward to external narratives, at a period in which she claims that Trumpian politics turns intimate literature redundant.
Three Generations, Shared Inescapable History
The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, encompassing several time periods – each trapped by their histories. We encounter the story of characters Emma and Jasper, representations of Kraus's parents, relocating from the urban environment to a pastoral setting. Then there is the account of Kraus, in the guise of protagonist Catt Greene, reckoning with the delayed acclaim of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her addict husband her husband Paul. And there is the account of a killing of one troubled youth by another in a community long abandoned by progressive politics only a short distance from Catt's cottage in a remote part of Minnesota.
From my perspective as a reader attracted to refined literature of the kind the author herself often avoids, I was captivated by the novelistic voice of the opening part.
Being a reader who appreciates honed writing of the style that Kraus herself usually avoids, I was won over by the novelistic voice of the first section. It exhibits a new quality of attentiveness that accommodates trivial aspects, like the bucket that the youthful Catt pries out of frozen water at the beginning of the narrative, assisted by her beloved father. "I discovered a frozen plaything!" she exclaims; "a great plaything", he replies, "the nuanced interpretations of terms rolling around in their mouths like hard candy". She tells the tale of Emma with curiosity and intimacy. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not precisely her dream."
Disappointment and Disjunction
I was destined to be disappointed when I hoped this new voice could continue through the novel. The author states here that she dislikes the pleasure those who appreciate polished prose have derived from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to disjunction, to the unpolished style she has in common with her idol Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her earlier works reasserts itself in the second segment. Catt Greene is attempting to do up three dozen dilapidated units in the city's most challenging districts while moving between the Midwest and the West Coast, failing to help Paul curb his addiction. She experiences powerlessness as her spouse cycles through low-resource employment as an substance abuse counselor in a environment driven by the rage and anxiety that underpins Trump's victory. There are several pages about Catt being cancelled on social media, her listed profession modified from "author" to "landlord" on a reference site. She still gives the impression to care a little too much about this. In a moment she says that she's researching the homicide so that before leaving Minnesota, "she could potentially understand something about an America that her online critics would not understand, would not even see".
The Homicide Account
Then we reach to the actual killing – and the titular day passed by the victim with the killer and his companions. Kraus has compelling foundational content, and details moment by moment what occurred as the victim Brandon came to see Brittney after connecting via an application where she sold sex pictures. He was hoping for sex but appears congenially to have passed the day in the company of her associates, wandering about fixing his automobile and funding treats and narcotics, before being shot by Brittney's boyfriend a man named Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has often been institutionalized for aggressive outbursts.
Preoccupation and Open Ends
Catt develops an obsession by the narrative, and I was fascinated by the way that her twin drives towards ethical reporting and daring boundary-pushing wrestle in this part. Yet I wished her to go further into her individual preoccupations here. The standout figure is the character Brittney, who gains dimension in part due to Catt's identification with her – another bright, bullied girl going off the rails in a difficult, overlooked locality. The author informs us that Catt speaks to Brittney in prison, but she fails to enact these dialogues. The complete segment feels strangely incomplete, to the point that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par
