The Four Spent the Day Together centers on individuals pursuing clean slates, attempting to leave behind drugs or harmful partnerships, only to find hope curdling into violence. Kraus often employs the phrase "clean slate", transforming it into willfully cynical through constant reiteration. Sentences like "He aimed to start over" and "They decided to make a fresh start" appear throughout the narrative. Meanwhile, Kraus herself is embarking on her individual reinvention, because this appears a novel form of writing – documentarian, truly literary. However it reveals itself to be filled with the recurring issues and approaches as earlier books.
From Accidental Writer to Cult Classic
Kraus was originally an visual artist who became a writer unintentionally with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, which was composed of epistles to an unresponsive love interest, converting personal female narrative from humiliation into rebellion. She persisted as a writer, but the next trio of compelling and abrasive novels did not possess the impact and rawness that the letter form brought to the tone of I Love Dick. It didn't help was her identity as a renegade artist who had turned into a major property owner, so there was much discussion on real estate deals. It follows that she presently aims to try out new kinds of material, turning outward to the experiences of others, at a time when she states that contemporary political climate turns intimate literature obsolete.
Multiple Generations, One Unescapable Past
The Four Spent the Day Together is structured in three parts, spanning multiple eras – each trapped by their pasts. The book includes the tale of a couple named Emma and Jasper, versions of the author's parents, transitioning from the urban environment to the Connecticut countryside. Then there is the narrative of the author, in the character of a figure named Catt Greene, grappling with the delayed acclaim of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her substance-dependent spouse Paul. Finally the narrative of a homicide of one troubled youth by another in a community long abandoned by forward-thinking policies only a short distance from Catt's cottage in a remote part of Minnesota.
From my perspective as a reader attracted to polished prose of the kind the author herself typically rejects, I was captivated by the literary tone of the opening part.
As a reader drawn to crafted language of the style that Kraus usually avoids, I was captivated by the novelistic voice of the first section. It exhibits a fresh level of observation that allows space for minutiae, like the pail that the youthful Catt dislodges from ice at the opening of the book, helped by her beloved father. "I discovered a frozen plaything!" she declares; "a lovely toy", he replies, "the elliptical meanings of words circulating in their speech like piece candy". She tells the tale of Emma with inquiry and familiarity. "It seemed to Emma she had entered a dream – not entirely her own."
Disappointment and Disjunction
I was destined to be disappointed when I wished this fresh tone could continue through the novel. Kraus says here that she resents the satisfaction those who appreciate polished prose have derived from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to fragmentation, to the unpolished style she has in common with her idol writer Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her earlier works comes back in the middle section. Catt Greene is trying to renovate multiple decrepit residences in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while shuttling between the Midwest and the West Coast, unsuccessful in assisting Paul curb his addiction. She is overwhelmed as Paul cycles through underfunded jobs as an substance abuse counselor in a environment fueled by the rage and anxiety that underpins Trump's victory. A significant portion discusses about the protagonist facing cancellation on social media, her occupation changed from "author" to "landlord" on the online encyclopedia. Kraus still seems to care a little too much about this. At one point she says that she's investigating the murder so that before exiting the region, "she could potentially understand something about an the nation that her Twitter detractors would not understand, would not even perceive".
The Homicide Account
So then we come to the homicide in question – and the titular day passed by the victim with the killer and his friends. Kraus has compelling foundational content, and knows hour by hour what happened when the victim Brandon came to meet Brittney after meeting her on an app where she offered adult photos. He was hoping for sex but seems amiably to have occupied the day alongside her friends, loitering fixing his automobile and paying for snacks and drugs, before being killed by gunfire by Brittney's partner Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has often been institutionalized for fits of anger.
Preoccupation and Open Ends
The protagonist becomes fixated by the account, and I found myself captivated by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards ethical reporting and reckless transgression clash in this segment. But I'd have liked her to explore more thoroughly her individual preoccupations here. The standout figure is Brittney herself, who gains dimension partially because of Catt seeing herself in her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman going off the rails in a struggling, neglected community. Kraus tells us that Catt converses with Brittney in prison, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. This entire part feels strangely incomplete, to the point that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par
