The Four Spent the Day Together features characters pursuing new beginnings, struggling to escape drugs or toxic relationships, only to witness hope devolve into aggression. Kraus frequently uses the phrase "new beginning", making it deliberately jaded through constant reiteration. Sentences like "He aimed to start over" and "They chose to begin anew" are scattered across the text. Meanwhile, Kraus herself appears to be undertaking her own fresh start, since this seems a novel form of writing – fact-based, authentically narrative. Yet it proves to be filled with the recurring issues and styles as earlier books.
From Chance Novelist to Renowned Book
The writer began as an visual artist who transitioned to writing almost accidentally with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, structured as letters to an unreceptive lover, transforming confessional female writing from self-debasement into rebellion. She persisted as a writer, but the three subsequent engaging and challenging novels did not possess the shock and immediacy that the letter form infused into the narrative voice of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her position as a maverick maker who had turned into a large-scale low-rent landlord, so there was much discussion on housing investments. It makes sense that she now wants to try out fresh narrative sources, looking outwards to the experiences of others, at a moment when she asserts that contemporary political climate makes confessional writing obsolete.
Three Generations, Collective Unavoidable Background
The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, spanning three generations – each trapped by their backgrounds. We encounter the narrative about Emma and Jasper, representations of the author's parents, transitioning from the Bronx to rural Connecticut. There is the account of Kraus, in the guise of protagonist Catt Greene, confronting the belated success of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her addict husband Paul. Finally the account of a killing of one lost young man by another in a town mostly forsaken by forward-thinking policies only 80 miles from the protagonist's home in the Minnesota countryside.
As a reader attracted to refined literature of the kind Kraus often avoids, I was captivated by the narrative style of the initial segment.
As someone who reads drawn to crafted language of the style that the author often disregards, I was captivated by the storytelling approach of the first section. It possesses a fresh level of observation that makes room for minutiae, like the bucket that the youthful Catt dislodges from ice at the beginning of the narrative, aided by her adored dad. "Look, an ice toy!" she says; "a lovely toy", he replies, "the ambiguous meanings of language circulating in their speech like piece candy". She tells Emma's narrative with curiosity and intimacy. "It seemed to Emma she had entered a dream – not hers, exactly."
Frustration and Disruption
I was fated to feel let down when I hoped this fresh tone could persist to the end. Kraus notes here that she resents the enjoyment those who appreciate polished prose have taken from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to disjunction, to the untidy aesthetics she echoes from her inspiration writer Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her earlier works returns in the central part. Catt is attempting to do up multiple decrepit residences in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while shuttling between Minnesota and LA, unable to aid her husband manage his alcohol use. She is overwhelmed as Paul transitions between low-resource employment as an substance abuse counselor in a world propelled by the anger and fear that powers an electoral success. Multiple pages are devoted about the protagonist facing cancellation on Twitter, her professional designation altered from "author" to "property owner" on Wikipedia. Kraus still seems to care a little too much about this. On one occasion she remarks that she's investigating the murder so that before leaving Minnesota, "she could potentially understand something about an America that her social media opponents would not understand, would overlook entirely".
The Murder Narrative
Then we reach to the murder itself – and the eponymous day experienced by the deceased with the murderer and his associates. Kraus utilizes excellent raw material, and knows hour by hour what occurred as Brandon came to meet Brittney after encountering her on a platform where she marketed explicit images. He was hoping for sex but seems amiably to have occupied the day in the company of her associates, wandering about fixing his automobile and funding treats and narcotics, before being killed by gunfire by her romantic interest Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has often been institutionalized for violent rage.
Preoccupation and Open Ends
The protagonist becomes fixated by the narrative, and I found myself captivated by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards accurate chronicling and reckless transgression wrestle in this part. Yet I wished her to explore more thoroughly her individual preoccupations here. The standout figure is Brittney herself, who comes alive in part due to the protagonist's connection to her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman derailing in a troubled, forgotten town. The author informs us that Catt speaks to Brittney in jail, but she fails to enact these dialogues. This entire part feels strangely incomplete, to the extent that her narrative ends almost mid-par
