The Four Spent the Day Together features protagonists chasing after fresh starts, attempting to leave behind drugs or abusive marriages, only to witness hope devolve into aggression. Kraus often employs the phrase "fresh start", rendering it willfully cynical through its repetitions. Phrases such as "He aimed to start over" and "They opted for a clean break" appear throughout the narrative. At the same time, Kraus herself seems to be making her own fresh start, as this appears a different type of work – documentarian, truly literary. But then it turns out to be filled with the recurring issues and styles as her previous works.
From Chance Novelist to Cult Classic
The writer started out as an visual artist who transitioned to writing almost accidentally with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, made up of missives to a distant beloved, transforming confessional female writing from self-debasement into rebellion. She persisted as a writer, but the following three compelling and abrasive novels did not possess the shock and immediacy that the epistolary style brought to the narrative voice of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her identity as a maverick maker who had evolved into a extensive real estate holder, so there was much discussion on property transactions. It makes sense that she presently aims to explore different types of content, directing her gaze to the experiences of others, at a moment when she asserts that Trumpian politics renders personal narrative obsolete.
Several Eras, Shared Inescapable History
The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, encompassing multiple eras – each trapped by their pasts. There is the narrative about a couple named Emma and Jasper, representations of Kraus's parents, moving from the urban environment to the Connecticut countryside. Additionally the account of Kraus, in the character of protagonist Catt Greene, confronting the late recognition of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her substance-dependent spouse Paul. Finally the account of a killing of one troubled youth by another in a community mostly forsaken by liberal ideals only a brief drive from the protagonist's home in rural Minnesota.
From my perspective as a reader drawn to refined literature of the kind Kraus herself tends to eschew, I was enchanted by the narrative style of the first section.
Being a reader drawn to honed writing of the kind that the author tends to eschew, I was seduced by the literary tone of the initial part. It exhibits a novel degree of detail that accommodates minutiae, like the bucket that the young Catt dislodges from ice at the opening of the book, assisted by her cherished parent. "I discovered a frozen plaything!" she declares; "a lovely toy", he answers, "the ambiguous meanings of language tumbling in their mouths like sweet treats". She tells the tale of Emma with interest and closeness. "It seemed to Emma she had entered a dream – not entirely her own."
Letdown and Fragmentation
I was bound to become frustrated when I wished this fresh tone could last out the book. Kraus says here that she dislikes the pleasure those who appreciate polished prose have taken from I Love Dick; she's committed to disruption, to the unpolished style she has in common with her hero Kathy Acker, and the emptiness and redundancy of her past books returns in the central part. Catt is attempting to do up multiple decrepit residences in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while moving between Minnesota and LA, failing to help Paul curb his addiction. She is overwhelmed as her spouse moves between poorly supported positions as an recovery specialist in a environment driven by the anger and fear that powers Trump's victory. Multiple pages are devoted about the protagonist facing cancellation on a platform, her professional designation altered from "author" to "landlord" on the online encyclopedia. She still gives the impression to care a little too much about this. In a moment she states that she's looking into the killing so that before exiting the region, "she might be able to learn something about an the United States that her social media opponents would not understand, would overlook entirely".
The Homicide Account
Thus we arrive to the actual killing – and the referenced day experienced by the murdered individual with the perpetrator and his associates. Kraus utilizes great source material, and reconstructs step by step what occurred as Brandon came to see Brittney after encountering her on a platform where she offered adult photos. He was hoping for sex but appears congenially to have passed the day with her companions, wandering about fixing his automobile and paying for snacks and drugs, before being murdered by her romantic interest Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has repeatedly received inpatient care for aggressive outbursts.
Fascination and Incompletion
The protagonist becomes fixated by the story, and I found myself captivated by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards accurate chronicling and audacious rule-breaking clash in this segment. Yet I wished her to explore more thoroughly her own obsessions here. The standout figure is Brittney herself, who becomes vivid partly through Catt seeing herself in her – another bright, bullied girl going off the rails in a troubled, forgotten town. The author informs us that the protagonist communicates with Brittney in detention, but she doesn't dramatise these conversations. The whole section feels strangely incomplete, to the extent that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par
