This latest work centers on characters seeking fresh starts, attempting to leave behind substance abuse or abusive marriages, only to find hope curdling into conflict. Kraus frequently uses the phrase "clean slate", rendering it intentionally weary through its repetitions. Phrases such as "He could make a fresh start" and "They decided to make a fresh start" recur in the story. Meanwhile, Kraus herself seems to be making her own fresh start, because this appears a new kind of book – observational, truly literary. Yet it proves to be packed with the same dilemmas and styles as past novels.
From Unplanned Author to Renowned Book
The writer began as an creative who transitioned to writing almost accidentally with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, structured as missives to a distant beloved, converting personal female narrative from self-debasement into rebellion. She continued writing, but the three subsequent engaging and challenging novels missed the power and directness that the letter form imparted to the tone of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her position as a nonconformist creator who had evolved into a major property owner, so there was significant attention on real estate deals. It follows that she now wants to experiment with new kinds of material, looking outwards to other people's stories, at a moment when she states that contemporary political climate makes confessional writing redundant.
Three Generations, Shared Inescapable History
The Four Spent the Day Together is structured in three parts, encompassing three generations – all unable to escape their pasts. We encounter the story of characters Emma and Jasper, representations of her own mother and father, transitioning from the Bronx to rural Connecticut. Additionally the story of Kraus herself, in the guise of Catt Greene, grappling with the belated success of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her substance-dependent spouse a man named Paul. And there is the story of the murder of one directionless individual by another in a community largely deserted by progressive politics only a brief drive from the protagonist's home in a remote part of Minnesota.
For this reader fond of polished prose of the kind the author herself tends to eschew, I was captivated by the novelistic voice of the first section.
As someone who reads drawn to honed writing of the variety that Kraus herself tends to eschew, I was seduced by the novelistic voice of the opening segment. There is a new quality of attentiveness that allows space for small details, like the container that the protagonist as a child frees from the ice at the start of the story, helped by her beloved father. "I found an ice toy!" she declares; "a lovely toy", he responds, "the nuanced interpretations of terms tumbling in their mouths like sweet treats". Kraus writes Emma's narrative with curiosity and intimacy. "Emma felt like she'd stepped into a dream – not precisely her dream."
Letdown and Fragmentation
I was destined to be disappointed when I expected this new voice could continue through the novel. Kraus notes here that she dislikes the pleasure those who appreciate polished prose have derived from I Love Dick; she's committed to disruption, to the unpolished style she echoes from her inspiration writer Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her past books returns in the second segment. Catt is trying to renovate 36 run-down apartments in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while shuttling between Minnesota and LA, unsuccessful in assisting Paul manage his alcohol use. She experiences powerlessness as Paul transitions between low-resource employment as an recovery specialist in a environment driven by the hostility and dread that drives Trump's victory. There are several pages about the protagonist facing cancellation on social media, her listed profession modified from "author" to "landlord" on Wikipedia. The author still appears to care a little too much about this. On one occasion she says that she's looking into the killing so that before leaving Minnesota, "she could potentially understand something about an the nation that her social media opponents would not understand, would not even perceive".
The Homicide Account
Then we reach to the murder itself – and the eponymous day spent by the murdered individual with the murderer and his friends. Kraus has compelling foundational content, and details moment by moment what occurred as a man named Brandon came to meet Brittney after connecting via an application where she sold sex pictures. He was hoping for sex but seems amiably to have occupied the day in the company of her associates, wandering about getting his car mended and covering the cost of food and substances, before being shot by her romantic interest Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has often been institutionalized for fits of anger.
Preoccupation and Open Ends
Catt gets obsessed by the account, and I was intrigued by the way that the author's conflicting impulses towards accurate chronicling and audacious rule-breaking wrestle in this part. However, I would have preferred her to go further into her personal fixations here. The compelling persona is the character Brittney, who gains dimension partially because of the protagonist's connection to her – another bright, bullied girl going off the rails in a struggling, neglected community. Kraus notes that the protagonist communicates with Brittney in prison, 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
