The new book is populated with individuals pursuing clean slates, attempting to leave behind addictions or abusive marriages, only to witness hope devolve into violence. The author often employs the phrase "clean slate", rendering it intentionally weary through its repetitions. Examples include "He could make a fresh start" and "They opted for a clean break" appear throughout the text. At the same time, Kraus herself appears to be undertaking her personal new beginning, because this presents as a different type of work – documentarian, authentically narrative. But then it proves to be packed with the same dilemmas and approaches as her previous works.
From Chance Novelist to Cult Classic
Kraus began as an artist who transitioned to writing unintentionally with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, made up of epistles to an unresponsive love interest, elevating personal female narrative from abjection into assassination. She persisted as a writer, but the following three fascinating and rebarbative novels lacked the power and directness that the letter form brought to the narrative voice of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her position as a maverick maker who had become a large-scale low-rent landlord, so there was considerable focus on real estate deals. It follows that she currently desires to experiment with fresh narrative sources, directing her gaze to other people's stories, at a time when she states that Trumpian politics makes confessional writing redundant.
Three Generations, Shared Inescapable History
The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, covering several time periods – each trapped by their histories. There is the story of Emma and Jasper, representations of the author's parents, transitioning from the urban environment to rural Connecticut. Then there is the account of Kraus, in the character of protagonist Catt Greene, reckoning with the delayed acclaim of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her substance-dependent spouse Paul. And there is the narrative of a homicide of one troubled youth by another in a town largely deserted by forward-thinking policies only 80 miles from Catt's cottage in rural Minnesota.
As a reader drawn to polished prose of the type the author herself tends to eschew, I was enchanted by the novelistic voice of the opening part.
Being a reader drawn to honed writing of the kind that Kraus herself tends to eschew, I was won over by the novelistic voice of the first section. It possesses a fresh level of observation that makes room for small details, like the container that the youthful Catt frees from the ice at the beginning of the narrative, aided by her beloved father. "I found an ice toy!" she says; "a lovely toy", he answers, "the nuanced interpretations of terms tumbling in their mouths like sweet treats". She tells the tale of Emma with interest and closeness. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not precisely her dream."
Letdown and Fragmentation
I was destined to be disappointed when I hoped this different style could last out the book. The author states here that she is annoyed by the pleasure readers like me have taken from I Love Dick; she's devoted to fragmentation, to the messy artistic approach she echoes from her idol writer Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her previous novels comes back in the second segment. Catt is working on refurbishing multiple decrepit residences in the city's most challenging districts while shuttling between two different states, unable to aid her husband manage his alcohol use. She is overwhelmed as Paul transitions between low-resource employment as an substance abuse counselor in a society fueled by the hostility and dread that powers an electoral success. A significant portion discusses about Catt's social media ostracism on social media, her listed profession modified from "novelist" to "real estate holder" on the online encyclopedia. Kraus still seems to be overly concerned about this. On one occasion she states that she's researching the homicide 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 not even perceive".
The Homicide Account
So then we come to the actual killing – and the titular day passed by the deceased with the killer and his friends. The author possesses compelling foundational content, and knows hour by hour what transpired when the victim Brandon came to meet Brittney after connecting via an application where she marketed explicit images. He was hoping for sex but seems amiably to have occupied 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 a man named Micah – a individual with mental health challenges who has repeatedly received inpatient care for aggressive outbursts.
Fascination and Incompletion
The protagonist becomes fixated by the story, and I was intrigued by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards accurate chronicling and daring boundary-pushing tussle in this section. But I'd have liked her to explore more thoroughly her own obsessions here. The most interesting character is the character Brittney, who comes alive partly through Catt seeing herself in her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman going off the rails in a struggling, neglected community. The author informs us that Catt converses with Brittney in detention, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. This entire part feels strangely incomplete, to the extent that her narrative ends almost mid-par
