The Four Spent the Day Together features individuals seeking clean slates, struggling to escape drugs or harmful partnerships, only to witness hope devolve into aggression. The author often employs the phrase "new beginning", rendering it intentionally weary through recurring use. Examples include "He could make a fresh start" and "They chose to begin anew" recur in the story. And yet, Kraus herself is embarking on her own fresh start, as this appears a novel form of writing – documentarian, truly literary. But then it proves to be filled with the same dilemmas and aesthetics as earlier books.
From Chance Novelist to Renowned Book
Kraus started out as an visual artist who transitioned to writing unintentionally with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, made up of epistles to an unresponsive love interest, elevating personal female narrative from self-debasement into rebellion. She continued writing, but the following three engaging and challenging novels missed the impact and rawness that the epistolary style imparted to the voice of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her identity as a nonconformist creator who had become a extensive real estate holder, so there was considerable focus on housing investments. It follows that she now wants to experiment with fresh narrative sources, turning outward to external narratives, at a time when she states that Trumpian politics renders personal narrative unnecessary.
Several Eras, One Unescapable Past
The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, spanning multiple eras – none able to break free from their backgrounds. There is the narrative about Emma and Jasper, versions of Kraus's parents, relocating from the Bronx to rural Connecticut. Additionally the story of Kraus herself, in the character of Catt Greene, reckoning with the belated success of I Love Dick, the rise of Trump, and her substance-dependent spouse a man named Paul. Finally the narrative of a homicide of one lost young man by another in a community mostly forsaken by progressive politics only a short distance from Catt's cottage in rural Minnesota.
From my perspective as a reader drawn to polished prose of the kind Kraus herself tends to eschew, I was captivated by the literary tone of the first section.
As someone who reads drawn to honed writing of the style that Kraus tends to eschew, I was captivated by the storytelling approach of the initial part. It exhibits a fresh level of observation that accommodates minutiae, like the pail that the youthful Catt frees from the ice at the opening of the book, helped by her cherished parent. "Look, an ice toy!" she exclaims; "a great plaything", he responds, "the elliptical meanings of words tumbling in their mouths like piece candy". Kraus writes Emma's narrative with inquiry and familiarity. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not hers, exactly."
Frustration and Disruption
I was bound to become frustrated when I hoped this fresh tone could last out the book. Kraus says here that she resents the satisfaction those who appreciate polished prose have gotten from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to disruption, to the untidy aesthetics she shares with her inspiration writer Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her past books comes back in the middle section. The protagonist is trying to renovate three dozen dilapidated units in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while traveling between two different states, failing to help Paul manage his alcohol use. She experiences powerlessness as Paul transitions between low-resource employment as an substance abuse counselor in a environment propelled by the anger and fear that underpins an electoral success. Multiple pages are devoted about Catt being cancelled on Twitter, her occupation changed from "writer" to "real estate holder" on Wikipedia. She still gives the impression to care a little too much 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 fail to comprehend, would not even perceive".
The Killing Story
So then we come to the actual killing – and the referenced day passed by the deceased with the killer and his associates. The author possesses great source material, and knows hour by hour what occurred as a man named Brandon came to see Brittney after connecting via an application where she sold sex pictures. He sought a sexual encounter but seems amiably to have occupied the day with her companions, wandering about fixing his automobile and funding treats and narcotics, before being killed by gunfire by Brittney's partner a man named Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has repeatedly received inpatient care for aggressive outbursts.
Preoccupation and Open Ends
Catt gets obsessed by the narrative, and I was fascinated by the way that the author's conflicting impulses towards ethical reporting and reckless transgression tussle in this section. However, I would have preferred her to delve deeper into her personal fixations here. The most interesting character is Brittney, who comes alive partially because of Catt's identification with 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 jail, but she fails to enact these dialogues. The whole section feels oddly unfinished, to the degree that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par
