The Four Spent the Day Together features protagonists seeking clean slates, trying to break free from drugs or toxic relationships, only to find hope curdling into conflict. Kraus frequently uses the phrase "clean slate", rendering it willfully cynical through its repetitions. Sentences like "He aimed to start over" and "They opted for a clean break" are scattered across the story. At the same time, the author herself appears to be undertaking her individual reinvention, since this seems a different type of work – observational, genuinely novelistic. However it reveals itself to be laden with the recurring issues and approaches as her previous works.
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, which was composed of epistles to an unresponsive love interest, converting personal female narrative from abjection into rebellion. She continued writing, 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 role as a nonconformist creator who had become a extensive real estate holder, so there was significant attention on real estate deals. It follows that she currently desires to explore different types of content, directing her gaze to other people's stories, at a time when she states that current political era renders personal narrative redundant.
Multiple Generations, Shared Inescapable History
The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, spanning several time periods – each trapped by their backgrounds. We encounter the narrative about a couple named Emma and Jasper, versions of the author's parents, transitioning from the New York borough to a pastoral setting. Additionally the story of Kraus herself, in the persona of Catt Greene, reckoning with the late recognition of I Love Dick, the rise of Trump, and her partner struggling with addiction her husband Paul. And there is the narrative of a homicide of one troubled youth by another in a community largely deserted by forward-thinking policies only 80 miles from Catt's cottage in the Minnesota countryside.
From my perspective as a reader fond of refined literature of the type Kraus herself typically rejects, I was captivated by the novelistic voice of the opening part.
As someone who reads who favors crafted language of the variety that the author tends to eschew, I was captivated by the storytelling approach of the initial part. It exhibits a novel degree of detail that makes room for minutiae, like the bucket that the protagonist as a child dislodges from ice at the beginning of the narrative, assisted by her adored dad. "I discovered a frozen plaything!" she exclaims; "a lovely toy", he answers, "the nuanced interpretations of terms circulating in their speech like sweet treats". The author narrates the tale of Emma with inquiry and familiarity. "It seemed to Emma she had entered a dream – not precisely her dream."
Frustration and Disruption
I was bound to become frustrated when I expected this new voice could last out the book. Kraus says here that she resents the pleasure readers like me have gotten from I Love Dick; she's devoted to fragmentation, to the unpolished style she shares with her idol Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her previous novels reasserts itself in the middle section. The protagonist is working on refurbishing 36 run-down apartments in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while moving between the Midwest and the West Coast, failing to help Paul curb his addiction. She is overwhelmed as Paul cycles through poorly supported positions as an substance abuse counselor in a society propelled by the hostility and dread that drives an electoral success. A significant portion discusses about Catt being cancelled on social media, her occupation changed from "novelist" to "property owner" on Wikipedia. Kraus still seems to invest excessive emotion about this. In a moment she states that she's researching the homicide so that before leaving Minnesota, "she may grasp something about an America that her Twitter detractors would fail to comprehend, would not even perceive".
The Killing Story
So then we come to the murder itself – and the referenced day passed by the victim with the perpetrator and his associates. Kraus has great source material, and reconstructs step by step what transpired when a man named Brandon came to see Brittney after encountering her on a platform where she offered adult photos. He sought a sexual encounter but appears congenially to have passed the day in the company of her associates, mooching around getting his car mended and funding treats and narcotics, before being killed by gunfire by Brittney's boyfriend Micah – a individual with mental health challenges who has frequently been hospitalised for violent rage.
Obsession and Unfinished Business
Catt gets obsessed by the story, and I found myself captivated by the way that her twin drives towards accurate chronicling and reckless transgression clash in this segment. However, I would have preferred her to delve deeper into her own obsessions here. The compelling persona is the character Brittney, who gains dimension in part due to the protagonist's connection to her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman derailing in a struggling, neglected community. Kraus notes that Catt speaks to Brittney in detention, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. The complete segment feels oddly unfinished, to the point that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par
