This latest work centers on characters pursuing new beginnings, trying to break free from substance abuse or toxic relationships, only to see hope turn into violence. Kraus often employs the phrase "new beginning", transforming it into intentionally weary through constant reiteration. Examples include "He could make a fresh start" and "They chose to begin anew" appear throughout the story. Meanwhile, she seems to be making her own fresh start, since this presents as a new kind of book – documentarian, authentically narrative. However it turns out to be filled with the same dilemmas and approaches as past novels.
From Accidental Writer to Cult Classic
Kraus started out as an creative who entered the literary world almost accidentally with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, made up of letters to an unreceptive lover, transforming intimate women's literature from abjection into rebellion. She persisted as a writer, but the three subsequent compelling and abrasive novels did not possess the power and directness that the epistolary style infused into the tone of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her role as a renegade artist who had evolved into a major property owner, so there was much discussion on real estate deals. It is logical that she currently desires to try out different types of content, looking outwards to the experiences of others, at a period in which she states that Trumpian politics makes confessional writing redundant.
Three Generations, Shared Inescapable History
The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, covering three generations – each trapped by their histories. There is the story of Emma and Jasper, versions of Kraus's parents, moving from the New York borough to a pastoral setting. Additionally the narrative of the author, in the guise of a figure named Catt Greene, reckoning with the late recognition of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her addict husband her husband Paul. And there is the narrative of a homicide of one troubled youth by another in a locality mostly forsaken by liberal ideals only a short distance from the protagonist's home in rural Minnesota.
From my perspective as a reader fond of refined literature of the type Kraus herself often avoids, I was enchanted by the novelistic voice of the opening part.
Being a reader drawn to crafted language of the kind that Kraus herself tends to eschew, I was seduced by the storytelling approach of the first section. There is a new quality of attentiveness that accommodates minutiae, like the bucket that the youthful Catt pries out of frozen water at the opening of the book, helped by her beloved father. "Look, an ice toy!" she declares; "a great plaything", he replies, "the nuanced interpretations of terms rolling around in their mouths like piece candy". The author narrates Emma's story with inquiry and familiarity. "It seemed to Emma she had entered a dream – not entirely her own."
Frustration and Disruption
I was bound to become frustrated when I expected this new voice could persist to the end. The author states here that she resents the enjoyment readers like me have derived from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to disruption, to the messy artistic approach she has in common with her hero author Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her past books returns in the second segment. The protagonist is trying to renovate three dozen dilapidated units in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while shuttling between Minnesota and LA, unsuccessful in assisting Paul curb his addiction. She experiences powerlessness as Paul moves between poorly supported positions as an substance abuse counselor in a world fueled by the rage and anxiety that underpins an electoral success. Multiple pages are devoted about Catt's social media ostracism on a platform, her occupation changed from "writer" to "property owner" on a reference site. Kraus still seems to care a little too much about this. On one occasion she remarks that she's looking into the killing so that before exiting the region, "she could potentially understand something about an the United States that her online critics would be unable to grasp, would overlook entirely".
The Homicide Account
Thus we arrive to the homicide in question – and the referenced day spent by the murdered individual with the murderer and his associates. Kraus has compelling foundational content, and details moment by moment what happened when Brandon came to see Brittney after connecting via an application where she marketed explicit images. He was hoping for sex but appears congenially to have passed the day with her companions, loitering fixing his automobile and funding treats and narcotics, before being shot by Brittney's partner Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has repeatedly received inpatient care for fits of anger.
Fascination and Incompletion
The protagonist becomes fixated by the story, and I found myself captivated by the way that the author's conflicting impulses towards ethical reporting 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 partially because of Catt's identification with her – a similarly gifted, tormented individual going off the rails in a troubled, forgotten town. The author informs us that Catt speaks to Brittney in prison, but she fails to enact these dialogues. This entire part feels strangely incomplete, to the degree that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par
