The new book features protagonists chasing after clean slates, attempting to leave behind drugs or harmful partnerships, only to see hope turn into violence. The author frequently uses the phrase "fresh start", making it intentionally weary through constant reiteration. Examples include "He could make a fresh start" and "They decided to make a fresh start" are scattered across the text. Meanwhile, she appears to be undertaking her personal new beginning, as this appears a different type of work – documentarian, truly literary. But then it proves to be filled with the familiar conflicts and approaches as her previous works.
From Chance Novelist to Renowned Book
Kraus started out as an visual artist who entered the literary world almost accidentally with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, which was composed of epistles to an unresponsive love interest, transforming confessional female writing from abjection into rebellion. She continued writing, but the next trio of engaging and challenging novels did not possess the impact and rawness that the letter form infused into the narrative voice of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her role as a renegade artist who had evolved into a extensive real estate holder, so there was much discussion on property transactions. It makes sense that she now wants to try out different types of content, looking outwards to the experiences of others, at a time when she states that current political era makes confessional writing obsolete.
Multiple Generations, One Unescapable Past
The Four Spent the Day Together is structured in three parts, spanning multiple eras – none able to break free from their histories. There is the story of characters Emma and Jasper, based on Kraus's parents, moving from the New York borough to rural Connecticut. Then there is the narrative of the author, in the persona of Catt Greene, reckoning with the delayed acclaim of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her substance-dependent spouse her husband Paul. And there is the story of the murder of one directionless individual by another in a locality largely deserted by liberal ideals only 80 miles from Catt's rural residence in the Minnesota countryside.
From my perspective as a reader fond of honed writing of the kind Kraus herself typically rejects, I was enchanted by the literary tone of the opening part.
As someone who reads who appreciates honed writing of the style that Kraus usually avoids, I was captivated by the literary tone of the opening segment. It possesses a new quality of attentiveness that accommodates minutiae, like the bucket that the youthful Catt frees from the ice at the opening of the book, assisted by her beloved father. "Look, an ice toy!" she declares; "a lovely toy", he replies, "the elliptical meanings of words tumbling in their mouths like sweet treats". The author narrates Emma's narrative with inquiry and familiarity. "It seemed to Emma she had entered a dream – not precisely her dream."
Letdown and Fragmentation
I was fated to feel let down when I expected this new voice could continue through the novel. Kraus says here that she dislikes the enjoyment audiences such as myself have gotten from I Love Dick; she's committed to disruption, to the untidy aesthetics she shares with her idol author Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her past books comes back in the second segment. The protagonist is working on refurbishing 36 run-down apartments in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while moving between two different states, unsuccessful in assisting Paul manage his alcohol use. She is overwhelmed as Paul transitions between poorly supported positions as an recovery specialist in a environment propelled by the rage and anxiety that underpins an electoral success. A significant portion discusses about Catt being cancelled on a platform, her professional designation altered from "novelist" to "property owner" on the online encyclopedia. She still gives the impression to invest excessive emotion about this. At one point she states that she's investigating the murder so that before exiting the region, "she might be able to learn something about an America that her social media opponents would be unable to grasp, would overlook entirely".
The Murder Narrative
Then we reach to the homicide in question – and the eponymous day passed by the murdered individual with the killer and his associates. The author possesses compelling foundational content, and reconstructs step by step what happened when the victim Brandon came to meet Brittney after meeting her on an app where she sold sex pictures. He anticipated intimacy but appears congenially to have passed the day with her companions, wandering about getting his car mended and covering the cost of food and substances, before being killed by gunfire by Brittney's boyfriend Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has frequently been hospitalised for aggressive outbursts.
Fascination and Incompletion
The protagonist becomes fixated by the account, and I was fascinated 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 delve deeper into her own obsessions here. The most interesting character is Brittney herself, who becomes vivid partially because of the protagonist's connection to her – another bright, bullied girl spiraling out of control in a struggling, neglected community. Kraus notes that Catt speaks to Brittney in detention, but she fails to enact these dialogues. This entire part feels curiously unresolved, to the point that her narrative ends almost mid-par
