This latest work is populated with individuals pursuing new beginnings, attempting to leave behind addictions or toxic relationships, only to find hope curdling into conflict. The author frequently uses the phrase "clean slate", rendering it willfully cynical through recurring use. Examples include "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They decided to make a fresh start" recur in the narrative. At the same time, the author herself seems to be making her personal new beginning, as this appears a different type of work – observational, genuinely novelistic. But then it reveals itself to be filled with the recurring issues and styles as past novels.
From Accidental Writer to Renowned Book
Kraus began as an creative who entered the literary world almost accidentally with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, structured as letters to an unreceptive lover, elevating personal female narrative from self-debasement into defiance. She persisted as a writer, but the three subsequent compelling and abrasive novels lacked the impact and rawness that the correspondence format infused into the tone of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her position as a nonconformist creator who had become a large-scale low-rent landlord, so there was much discussion on housing investments. It makes sense that she currently desires to experiment with fresh narrative sources, directing her gaze to the experiences of others, at a period in which she states that current political era makes confessional writing unnecessary.
Multiple Generations, Shared Inescapable History
The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, covering several time periods – all unable to escape their backgrounds. The book includes the narrative about a couple named Emma and Jasper, based on Kraus's parents, transitioning from the Bronx to rural Connecticut. Then there is the account of Kraus, in the character of Catt Greene, confronting the delayed acclaim of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her substance-dependent spouse Paul. The third thread involves the account of a killing of one troubled youth by another in a town mostly forsaken by liberal ideals only a short distance from Catt's rural residence in the Minnesota countryside.
As a reader fond of polished prose of the kind Kraus herself often avoids, I was seduced by the narrative style of the first section.
As someone who reads who appreciates crafted language of the variety that Kraus herself tends to eschew, I was captivated by the storytelling approach of the first section. There is a novel degree of detail that makes room for small details, like the bucket that the protagonist as a child dislodges from ice at the beginning of the narrative, aided by her cherished parent. "I discovered a frozen plaything!" she exclaims; "a lovely toy", he responds, "the ambiguous meanings of language tumbling in their mouths like piece candy". Kraus writes the tale of Emma with interest and closeness. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not hers, exactly."
Letdown and Fragmentation
I was destined to be disappointed when I hoped this different style could continue through the novel. Kraus says here that she dislikes the satisfaction readers like me have gotten from I Love Dick; she's devoted to disjunction, to the untidy aesthetics she has in common with her idol author Kathy Acker, and the emptiness and redundancy of her past books reasserts itself in the central part. Catt Greene is working on refurbishing three dozen dilapidated units in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while moving between Minnesota and LA, failing to help her husband curb his addiction. She feels helpless as Paul transitions between underfunded jobs as an substance abuse counselor in a society propelled by the anger and fear that drives Trump's victory. A significant portion discusses about Catt being cancelled on Twitter, her listed profession modified from "author" to "landlord" on a reference site. Kraus still seems to invest excessive emotion about this. In a moment she remarks that she's researching the homicide so that before leaving Minnesota, "she may grasp something about an the United States that her online critics would not understand, would not even perceive".
The Murder Narrative
Thus we arrive to the homicide in question – and the eponymous day spent by the murdered individual with the killer and his companions. Kraus has compelling foundational content, and knows hour by hour what happened when Brandon came to meet Brittney after meeting her on an app where she sold sex pictures. He was hoping for sex but seems affably to have spent the day alongside her friends, mooching around getting his car mended and paying for snacks and drugs, before being murdered by her romantic interest a man named Micah – a individual with mental health challenges who has often been institutionalized for fits of anger.
Fascination and Incompletion
Catt gets obsessed by the narrative, and I was fascinated by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards ethical reporting and daring boundary-pushing tussle in this section. However, I would have preferred her to delve deeper into her personal fixations here. The standout figure is Brittney herself, who comes alive in part due to Catt's identification with her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman derailing in a difficult, overlooked locality. Kraus notes that Catt converses with Brittney in jail, but she doesn't dramatise these conversations. The complete segment feels strangely incomplete, to the point that her narrative ends almost mid-par
