The new book features individuals pursuing new beginnings, attempting to leave behind substance abuse or abusive marriages, only to see hope turn into aggression. The author frequently uses the phrase "clean slate", making it intentionally weary through its repetitions. Phrases such as "He could make a fresh start" and "They chose to begin anew" recur in the narrative. At the same time, Kraus herself is embarking on her own fresh start, because this presents as a different type of work – fact-based, authentically narrative. Yet it proves to be packed with the same dilemmas and styles as earlier books.
From Accidental Writer to Renowned Book
The writer began as an visual artist who transitioned to writing unintentionally with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, which was composed of missives to a distant beloved, elevating confessional female writing from abjection into defiance. She kept producing books, but the next trio of engaging and challenging novels did not possess the shock and immediacy that the letter form imparted to the narrative voice of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her position as a maverick maker who had become a major property owner, so there was much discussion on property transactions. It is logical that she now wants to experiment with new kinds of material, turning outward to other people's stories, at a time when she states that contemporary political climate renders personal narrative unnecessary.
Several Eras, One Unescapable Past
The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, encompassing multiple eras – all unable to escape their backgrounds. The book includes the tale of characters Emma and Jasper, versions of the author's parents, relocating from the New York borough to rural Connecticut. There is the narrative of the author, in the persona of protagonist Catt Greene, reckoning with the delayed acclaim of I Love Dick, the rise of Trump, and her partner struggling with addiction Paul. And there is the narrative of a homicide of one troubled youth by another in a town long abandoned by liberal ideals only a short distance from Catt's cottage in a remote part of Minnesota.
As a reader fond of refined literature of the kind the author herself tends to eschew, I was seduced by the narrative style of the initial segment.
As someone who reads who favors honed writing of the style that the author usually avoids, I was seduced by the storytelling approach of the opening segment. There is a new quality of attentiveness that allows space for trivial aspects, like the container that the protagonist as a child pries out of frozen water at the start of the story, helped by her cherished parent. "I found an ice toy!" she says; "a lovely toy", he replies, "the elliptical meanings of words tumbling in their mouths like piece candy". She tells Emma's story with inquiry and familiarity. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not precisely her dream."
Letdown and Fragmentation
I was destined to be disappointed when I wished this different style could continue through the novel. Kraus notes here that she resents the pleasure those who appreciate polished prose have taken from I Love Dick; she's committed to disjunction, to the untidy aesthetics she has in common with her inspiration Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her previous novels comes back in the middle section. Catt is trying to renovate 36 run-down apartments in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while moving between the Midwest and the West Coast, unsuccessful in assisting her husband control his drinking. She is overwhelmed as her spouse moves between poorly supported positions as an recovery specialist in a environment propelled by the hostility and dread that powers Trump's victory. A significant portion discusses about the protagonist facing cancellation on Twitter, her occupation changed from "novelist" to "real estate holder" on a reference site. Kraus still seems to be overly concerned about this. At one point she states that she's looking into the killing so that before leaving Minnesota, "she could potentially understand something about an the nation that her online critics would be unable to grasp, would not even see".
The Killing Story
Then we reach to the murder itself – and the titular day experienced by the murdered individual with the killer and his friends. The author possesses great source material, and reconstructs step by step what transpired when a man named Brandon came to see Brittney after connecting via an application where she marketed explicit images. He was hoping for sex but seems amiably to have occupied the day alongside her friends, wandering about getting his car mended and paying for snacks and drugs, before being murdered by Brittney's boyfriend Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has repeatedly received inpatient care for aggressive outbursts.
Fascination and Incompletion
Catt develops an obsession by the narrative, and I was fascinated by the way that the author's conflicting impulses towards responsible documentation and reckless transgression tussle in this section. Yet I wished her to delve deeper into her own obsessions here. The most interesting character is Brittney herself, who becomes vivid partially because of Catt seeing herself in her – a similarly gifted, tormented individual going off the rails in a troubled, forgotten town. The author informs us that Catt converses with Brittney in detention, but she doesn't dramatise these conversations. The whole section feels oddly unfinished, to the point that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par