The new book features individuals pursuing new beginnings, trying to break free from substance abuse or abusive marriages, only to see hope turn into conflict. The author frequently uses the phrase "clean slate", making it intentionally weary through its repetitions. Examples include "He aimed to start over" and "They opted for a clean break" appear throughout the text. At the same time, the author herself is embarking on her personal new beginning, because this presents as a different type of work – documentarian, genuinely novelistic. However it reveals itself to be packed with the recurring issues and styles as past novels.
From Unplanned Author to Iconic Work
Kraus started out as an creative who entered the literary world somewhat by chance with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, structured as letters to an unreceptive lover, converting confessional female writing from humiliation into defiance. She persisted as a writer, but the next trio of engaging and challenging novels missed the power and directness that the epistolary style imparted to the voice of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her position as a nonconformist creator who had become a extensive real estate holder, so there was significant attention on housing investments. It makes sense that she currently desires to experiment with different types of content, looking outwards to the experiences of others, at a moment when she states that Trumpian politics turns intimate literature obsolete.
Several Eras, Collective Unavoidable Background
The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, spanning multiple eras – each trapped by their histories. The book includes the tale of Emma and Jasper, representations of her own mother and father, moving from the New York borough to rural Connecticut. Then there is the account of Kraus, in the persona of protagonist Catt Greene, grappling with the delayed acclaim of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her partner struggling with addiction a man named Paul. Finally the story of the murder of one directionless individual by another in a town long abandoned by progressive politics only 80 miles from Catt's cottage in a remote part of Minnesota.
From my perspective as a reader fond of polished prose of the type the author herself typically rejects, I was seduced by the narrative style of the first section.
As a reader who appreciates honed writing of the variety that Kraus often disregards, I was captivated by the literary tone of the opening segment. It possesses a new quality of attentiveness that makes room for minutiae, like the pail that the protagonist as a child pries out of frozen water at the beginning of the narrative, assisted by her cherished parent. "I found an ice toy!" she says; "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."
Frustration and Disruption
I was fated to feel let down when I expected this new voice could persist to the end. Kraus says here that she dislikes the pleasure those who appreciate polished prose have gotten from I Love Dick; she's committed to fragmentation, to the unpolished style she has in common with her idol author Kathy Acker, and the emptiness and redundancy of her earlier works reasserts itself in the middle section. The protagonist is working on refurbishing 36 run-down apartments in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while shuttling between the Midwest and the West Coast, failing to help Paul manage his alcohol use. She experiences powerlessness as Paul moves between underfunded jobs as an addiction therapist in a world propelled by the anger and fear that underpins a political win. A significant portion discusses about the protagonist facing cancellation on Twitter, her occupation changed from "writer" to "property owner" on a reference site. Kraus still seems to be overly concerned about this. At one point she says that she's investigating the murder so that before leaving Minnesota, "she could potentially understand something about an the United States that her online critics would be unable to grasp, would overlook entirely".
The Killing Story
Thus we arrive to the homicide in question – and the titular day passed by the murdered individual with the perpetrator and his friends. The author possesses excellent raw material, and knows hour by hour what occurred as the victim Brandon came to see Brittney after meeting her on an app where she sold sex pictures. He was hoping for sex but appears congenially to have passed the day alongside her friends, wandering about getting his car mended and covering the cost of food and substances, before being killed by gunfire by her romantic interest Micah – a individual with mental health challenges who has often been institutionalized for aggressive outbursts.
Preoccupation and Open Ends
Catt gets obsessed by the story, and I found myself captivated by the way that her twin drives towards responsible documentation and audacious rule-breaking tussle in this section. However, I would have preferred her to go further into her own obsessions here. The standout figure is Brittney, who becomes vivid in part due to Catt seeing herself in her – another bright, bullied girl derailing in a struggling, neglected community. Kraus notes that Catt converses with Brittney in prison, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. The whole section feels curiously unresolved, to the degree that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par
