The new book is populated with characters seeking new beginnings, trying to break free from substance abuse or abusive marriages, only to see hope turn into conflict. Kraus repeatedly invokes the phrase "clean slate", transforming it into deliberately jaded through its repetitions. Phrases such as "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They chose to begin anew" appear throughout the text. And yet, she is embarking on her own fresh start, as this presents as a new kind of book – fact-based, truly literary. But then it turns out to be packed with the same dilemmas and styles as past novels.
From Unplanned Author to Cult Classic
Kraus began as an visual artist who became a writer unintentionally with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, made up of missives to a distant beloved, converting confessional female writing from abjection into defiance. She continued writing, but the following three engaging and challenging novels lacked the shock and immediacy that the correspondence format infused into 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 much discussion on real estate deals. It follows that she now wants to try out new kinds of material, turning outward to the experiences of others, at a period in which she asserts that Trumpian politics renders personal narrative unnecessary.
Several Eras, Shared Inescapable History
The Four Spent the Day Together is structured in three parts, encompassing several time periods – all unable to escape their histories. There is the story of Emma and Jasper, versions of Kraus's parents, moving from the urban environment to rural Connecticut. There is the story of Kraus herself, in the persona of a figure named Catt Greene, reckoning with the late recognition of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her addict husband Paul. Finally the account of a killing of one lost young man by another in a community mostly forsaken by progressive politics only 80 miles from the protagonist's home in rural Minnesota.
For this reader attracted to refined literature of the kind Kraus typically rejects, I was captivated by the literary tone of the initial segment.
As a reader drawn to honed writing of the style that the author often disregards, I was seduced by the storytelling approach of the initial part. There is a novel degree of detail that makes room for trivial aspects, like the pail that the youthful Catt pries out of frozen water at the beginning of the narrative, assisted by her adored dad. "I found an ice toy!" she exclaims; "a great plaything", he answers, "the elliptical meanings of words circulating in their speech like hard candy". The author narrates the tale of Emma with inquiry and familiarity. "Emma felt like she'd stepped into a dream – not precisely her dream."
Frustration and Disruption
I was bound to become frustrated when I expected this different style could persist to the end. Kraus notes here that she resents the enjoyment audiences such as myself have gotten from I Love Dick; she's committed to disjunction, to the messy artistic approach she shares with her inspiration author Kathy Acker, and the emptiness and redundancy of her earlier works comes back in the central part. Catt Greene is trying to renovate 36 run-down apartments in the city's most challenging districts while moving between Minnesota and LA, unable to aid Paul manage his alcohol use. She feels helpless as her spouse transitions between low-resource employment as an substance abuse counselor in a world driven by the anger and fear that underpins Trump's victory. A significant portion discusses about Catt being cancelled on social media, her occupation changed from "author" to "property owner" on a reference site. The author still appears to care a little too much about this. At one point she states that she's looking into the killing so that before exiting the region, "she could potentially understand something about an the nation that her Twitter detractors would not understand, would overlook entirely".
The Killing Story
Thus we arrive to the homicide in question – and the referenced day experienced by the victim with the murderer and his friends. Kraus utilizes excellent raw material, and reconstructs step by step what happened when Brandon came to see Brittney after meeting her on an app where she sold sex pictures. He sought a sexual encounter but appears congenially to have passed the day alongside her friends, wandering about getting his car mended and paying for snacks and drugs, before being murdered by Brittney's partner Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has repeatedly received inpatient care for violent rage.
Fascination and Incompletion
The protagonist becomes fixated by the narrative, and I was intrigued by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards responsible documentation and reckless transgression tussle in this section. But I'd have liked her to delve deeper into her individual preoccupations here. The compelling persona is the character Brittney, who gains dimension partially because of Catt's identification with her – a similarly gifted, tormented individual spiraling out of control in a troubled, forgotten town. The author informs us that Catt converses with Brittney in detention, but she fails to enact these dialogues. The complete segment feels curiously unresolved, to the extent that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par
