This latest work centers on individuals seeking fresh starts, struggling to escape addictions or harmful partnerships, only to see hope turn into violence. The author frequently uses the phrase "new beginning", rendering it willfully cynical through constant reiteration. Examples include "He aimed to start over" and "They decided to make a fresh start" recur in the narrative. And yet, Kraus herself seems to be making her personal new beginning, since this presents as a novel form of writing – documentarian, genuinely novelistic. However it reveals itself to be laden with the same dilemmas and approaches as past novels.
From Chance Novelist to Renowned Book
Kraus started out as an creative who transitioned to writing unintentionally with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, structured as letters to an unreceptive lover, transforming intimate women's literature from humiliation into rebellion. She persisted as a writer, but the following three engaging and challenging novels lacked the impact and rawness that the epistolary style imparted to the tone of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her position as a renegade artist who had turned into a large-scale low-rent landlord, so there was significant attention on housing investments. It follows that she presently aims to try out fresh narrative sources, turning outward to the experiences of others, at a moment when she asserts that Trumpian politics renders personal narrative unnecessary.
Multiple Generations, Shared Inescapable History
The Four Spent the Day Together is structured in three parts, spanning three generations – none able to break free from their pasts. The book includes the tale of a couple named Emma and Jasper, versions of her own mother and father, transitioning from the New York borough to the Connecticut countryside. There is the account of Kraus, in the character of Catt Greene, confronting the delayed acclaim of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her addict husband Paul. Finally the account of a killing of one directionless individual by another in a town largely deserted by forward-thinking policies only a brief drive from the protagonist's home in the Minnesota countryside.
As a reader attracted to polished prose of the kind the author herself often avoids, I was captivated by the narrative style of the initial segment.
Being a reader drawn to crafted language of the variety that the author tends to eschew, I was captivated by the storytelling approach of the first section. There is a novel degree of detail that accommodates trivial aspects, like the container that the young Catt pries out of frozen water at the opening of the book, assisted by her cherished parent. "Look, an ice toy!" she declares; "a lovely toy", he responds, "the elliptical meanings of words tumbling in their mouths like sweet treats". The author narrates the tale of Emma with curiosity and intimacy. "Emma felt like she'd stepped into a dream – not hers, exactly."
Frustration and Disruption
I was fated to feel let down when I expected this new voice could persist to the end. Kraus notes here that she resents the enjoyment readers like me have derived from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to fragmentation, to the untidy aesthetics she has in common with her idol writer Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her past books returns in the middle section. The protagonist is attempting to do up three dozen dilapidated units in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while shuttling between Minnesota and LA, failing to help her husband control his drinking. She experiences powerlessness as her spouse transitions between underfunded jobs as an addiction therapist in a society driven by the rage and anxiety that underpins a political win. There are several pages about Catt being cancelled on social media, her professional designation altered from "writer" to "landlord" on Wikipedia. The author still appears to be overly concerned about this. At one point she states that she's investigating the murder so that before departing the state, "she may grasp something about an America that her Twitter detractors would be unable to grasp, would overlook entirely".
The Homicide Account
Thus we arrive to the actual killing – and the titular day passed by the murdered individual with the perpetrator and his associates. The author possesses compelling foundational content, and reconstructs step by step what occurred as the victim Brandon came to see Brittney after connecting via an application where she marketed explicit images. He sought a sexual encounter but seems amiably to have occupied the day with her companions, loitering getting his car mended and funding treats and narcotics, before being murdered by Brittney's boyfriend a man named Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has often been institutionalized for violent rage.
Preoccupation and Open Ends
The protagonist becomes fixated by the account, and I was intrigued by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards responsible documentation and daring boundary-pushing tussle in this section. However, I would have preferred her to delve deeper into her own obsessions here. The standout figure is the character Brittney, who comes alive partly through Catt's identification with her – another bright, bullied girl derailing in a struggling, neglected community. Kraus tells us that Catt speaks to Brittney in prison, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. This entire part feels oddly unfinished, to the point that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par
