The Four Spent the Day Together is populated with protagonists chasing after clean slates, attempting to leave behind substance abuse or abusive marriages, only to witness hope devolve into violence. Kraus frequently uses the phrase "clean slate", rendering it deliberately jaded through constant reiteration. Phrases such as "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They decided to make a fresh start" recur in the narrative. And yet, she seems to be making her own fresh start, because this seems a novel form of writing – documentarian, genuinely novelistic. But then it reveals itself to be laden with the same dilemmas and styles as her previous works.
From Chance Novelist to Renowned Book
Kraus was originally an artist who entered the literary world unintentionally with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, structured as missives to a distant beloved, elevating confessional female writing from self-debasement into assassination. She continued writing, but the next trio of engaging and challenging novels lacked the shock and immediacy that the letter form infused into the voice of I Love Dick. It didn't help was her position as a maverick maker who had evolved into a large-scale low-rent landlord, so there was much discussion on property transactions. It is logical that she presently aims to experiment with fresh narrative sources, looking outwards to other people's stories, at a period in which she asserts that current political era makes confessional writing unnecessary.
Multiple Generations, Shared Inescapable History
The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, encompassing three generations – all unable to escape their histories. The book includes the narrative about Emma and Jasper, versions of the author's parents, moving from the urban environment to rural Connecticut. Additionally the narrative of the author, in the character of protagonist Catt Greene, confronting the delayed acclaim of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her partner struggling with addiction her husband Paul. Finally the account of a killing of one lost young man by another in a town largely deserted by liberal ideals only a short distance from Catt's cottage in a remote part of Minnesota.
From my perspective as a reader drawn to polished prose of the type Kraus often avoids, I was captivated by the literary tone of the opening part.
Being a reader drawn to honed writing of the style that the author often disregards, I was seduced by the novelistic voice of the opening segment. There is a novel degree of detail that allows space for trivial aspects, like the bucket that the protagonist as a child frees from the ice at the start of the story, helped by her adored dad. "Look, an ice toy!" she exclaims; "a great plaything", he answers, "the nuanced interpretations of terms circulating in their speech like hard candy". She tells Emma's story with interest and closeness. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not precisely her dream."
Disappointment and Disjunction
I was fated to feel let down when I wished this new voice could persist to the end. Kraus says here that she resents the enjoyment readers like me have taken from I Love Dick; she's devoted to fragmentation, to the unpolished style she has in common with her hero author Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her earlier works comes back in the central part. Catt Greene is attempting to do up 36 run-down apartments in the city's most challenging districts while moving between two different states, unable to aid Paul curb his addiction. She feels helpless as Paul cycles through underfunded jobs as an substance abuse counselor in a society propelled by the hostility and dread that powers Trump's victory. There are several pages about Catt being cancelled on Twitter, her occupation changed from "novelist" to "real estate holder" on the online encyclopedia. Kraus still seems to be overly concerned about this. At one point she remarks 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 be unable to grasp, would overlook entirely".
The Killing Story
So then we come to the actual killing – and the referenced day experienced by the murdered individual with the killer and his friends. Kraus utilizes great source material, and reconstructs step by step what transpired when the victim Brandon came to meet Brittney after meeting her on an app where she marketed explicit images. He was hoping for sex but appears congenially to have passed the day alongside her friends, mooching around getting his car mended and funding treats and narcotics, before being murdered by Brittney's partner Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has frequently been hospitalised for aggressive outbursts.
Preoccupation and Open Ends
Catt gets obsessed by the story, and I was fascinated by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards accurate chronicling and reckless transgression clash in this segment. However, I would have preferred her to explore more thoroughly her individual preoccupations here. The compelling persona is the character Brittney, who comes alive in part due to Catt's identification with her – a similarly gifted, tormented individual going off the rails in a struggling, neglected community. Kraus notes that Catt converses with Brittney in prison, but she doesn't dramatise these conversations. The whole section feels oddly unfinished, to the point that her narrative ends almost mid-par
