This latest work is populated with characters pursuing fresh starts, trying to break free from substance abuse or toxic relationships, only to see hope turn into conflict. The author repeatedly invokes the phrase "new beginning", making it intentionally weary through its repetitions. Phrases such as "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They chose to begin anew" appear throughout the text. And yet, the author herself seems to be making her personal new beginning, since this presents as a new kind of book – observational, authentically narrative. However it turns out to be filled with the same dilemmas and approaches as earlier books.
From Accidental Writer to Iconic Work
Kraus began as an visual artist who transitioned to writing almost accidentally with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, made up of epistles to an unresponsive love interest, elevating confessional female writing from self-debasement into defiance. She continued writing, but the three subsequent engaging and challenging novels did not possess the impact and rawness that the epistolary style infused into the voice of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her role as a renegade artist who had evolved into a large-scale low-rent landlord, so there was significant attention on housing investments. It follows that she currently desires to try out new kinds of material, turning outward to the experiences of others, at a time when she asserts that current political era makes confessional writing obsolete.
Three Generations, One Unescapable Past
The Four Spent the Day Together is structured in three parts, covering three generations – all unable to escape their pasts. We encounter the tale of characters Emma and Jasper, representations of her own mother and father, moving from the urban environment to rural Connecticut. Additionally the narrative of the author, in the character of protagonist Catt Greene, grappling with the late recognition of I Love Dick, the rise of Trump, and her addict husband Paul. The third thread involves the story of the murder of one lost young man by another in a locality mostly forsaken by liberal ideals only 80 miles from the protagonist's home in the Minnesota countryside.
From my perspective as a reader fond of polished prose of the kind Kraus herself often avoids, I was seduced by the novelistic voice of the opening part.
As someone who reads drawn to crafted language of the style that Kraus often disregards, I was won over by the storytelling approach of the opening segment. There is a fresh level of observation that accommodates small details, like the bucket that the young Catt frees from the ice at the start of the story, assisted by her cherished parent. "I discovered a frozen plaything!" she says; "a great plaything", he replies, "the elliptical meanings of words rolling around in their mouths like piece candy". The author narrates Emma's story with inquiry and familiarity. "Emma felt like she'd stepped into a dream – not entirely her own."
Letdown and Fragmentation
I was bound to become frustrated when I hoped this fresh tone could persist to the end. The author states here that she resents the enjoyment those who appreciate polished prose have gotten from I Love Dick; she's devoted to disruption, to the messy artistic approach she shares with her idol Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her earlier works comes back in the second segment. Catt is working on refurbishing three dozen dilapidated units in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while moving between Minnesota and LA, failing to help Paul control his drinking. She is overwhelmed as Paul moves between underfunded jobs as an addiction therapist in a world propelled by the rage and anxiety that drives a political win. A significant portion discusses about the protagonist facing cancellation on Twitter, her listed profession modified from "author" to "real estate holder" on Wikipedia. The author still appears to invest excessive emotion about this. On one occasion she remarks that she's investigating the murder so that before departing the state, "she might be able to learn something about an the nation that her Twitter detractors would not understand, would not even see".
The Murder Narrative
Then we reach to the actual killing – and the titular day experienced by the murdered individual with the perpetrator and his friends. Kraus utilizes compelling foundational content, and knows hour by hour what transpired when a man named Brandon came to visit Brittney after connecting via an application where she sold sex pictures. He was hoping for sex but appears congenially to have passed the day with her companions, loitering fixing his automobile and funding treats and narcotics, before being shot by Brittney's partner Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has repeatedly received inpatient care for violent rage.
Preoccupation and Open Ends
The protagonist becomes fixated by the story, and I was fascinated by the way that her twin drives towards responsible documentation and daring boundary-pushing clash in this segment. But I'd have liked her to explore more thoroughly her personal fixations here. The most interesting character is Brittney herself, who gains dimension partly through Catt seeing herself in her – another bright, bullied girl spiraling out of control in a difficult, overlooked locality. Kraus tells us that Catt converses with Brittney in detention, but she fails to enact these dialogues. The complete segment feels curiously unresolved, to the extent that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par
