The Four Spent the Day Together centers on protagonists seeking fresh starts, struggling to escape drugs or harmful partnerships, only to see hope turn into aggression. The author repeatedly invokes the phrase "clean slate", rendering it willfully cynical through recurring use. Examples include "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They decided to make a fresh start" recur in the text. At the same time, she appears to be undertaking her individual reinvention, since this appears a different type of work – documentarian, truly literary. But then it reveals itself to be packed with the same dilemmas and approaches as earlier books.
From Chance Novelist to Renowned Book
Kraus began as an visual artist who became a writer almost accidentally with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, which was composed of letters to an unreceptive lover, transforming personal female narrative from abjection into rebellion. She persisted as a writer, but the next trio of engaging and challenging novels lacked the power and directness that the correspondence format brought to the narrative voice of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her position as a maverick maker who had evolved into a large-scale low-rent landlord, so there was considerable focus on housing investments. It makes sense that she now wants to experiment with different types of content, looking outwards to other people's stories, at a time when she claims that current political era makes confessional writing redundant.
Three Generations, Collective Unavoidable Background
The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, spanning several time periods – all unable to escape their histories. The book includes the tale of characters Emma and Jasper, versions of Kraus's parents, moving from the Bronx to the Connecticut countryside. Additionally the account of Kraus, in the character of protagonist Catt Greene, confronting the belated success of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her addict husband a man named Paul. Finally the narrative of a homicide of one troubled youth by another in a locality largely deserted by forward-thinking policies only a brief drive from Catt's rural residence in the Minnesota countryside.
As a reader drawn to polished prose of the kind the author herself often avoids, I was enchanted by the novelistic voice of the initial segment.
Being a reader drawn to honed writing of the variety that the author tends to eschew, I was won over by the literary tone of the first section. There is a novel degree of detail that accommodates minutiae, like the pail that the youthful Catt pries out of frozen water at the beginning of the narrative, aided by her beloved father. "I found an ice toy!" she exclaims; "a great plaything", he responds, "the elliptical meanings of words circulating in their speech like piece candy". Kraus writes Emma's story with curiosity and intimacy. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not precisely her dream."
Letdown and Fragmentation
I was fated to feel let down when I wished this new voice could continue through the novel. Kraus notes here that she resents the enjoyment readers like me have derived from I Love Dick; she's committed to disruption, to the unpolished style she shares with her idol writer Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her previous novels comes back in the middle section. Catt Greene is attempting to do up multiple decrepit residences in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while shuttling between the Midwest and the West Coast, unable to aid Paul curb his addiction. She is overwhelmed as her spouse moves between low-resource employment as an substance abuse counselor in a world propelled by the rage and anxiety that drives a political win. A significant portion discusses about Catt being cancelled on social media, her listed profession modified from "author" to "property owner" on the online encyclopedia. The author still appears to invest excessive emotion about this. In a moment she remarks that she's investigating the murder so that before exiting the region, "she could potentially understand something about an America that her social media opponents would not understand, would not even perceive".
The Homicide Account
So then we come to the murder itself – and the eponymous day passed by the murdered individual with the killer and his companions. The author possesses compelling foundational content, and knows hour by hour what happened when Brandon came to visit Brittney after connecting via an application where she marketed explicit images. He was hoping for sex but appears congenially to have passed the day in the company of her associates, mooching around getting his car mended and funding treats and narcotics, before being shot by her romantic interest Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has frequently been hospitalised for aggressive outbursts.
Preoccupation and Open Ends
Catt gets obsessed by the narrative, and I was intrigued by the way that the author's conflicting impulses towards accurate chronicling and reckless transgression 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 in part due to Catt's identification with her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman spiraling out of control in a struggling, neglected community. The author informs us that Catt converses with Brittney in detention, but she fails to enact these dialogues. This entire part feels curiously unresolved, to the degree that her narrative ends almost mid-par
