The new book centers on characters chasing after clean slates, attempting to leave behind addictions or abusive marriages, only to witness hope devolve into violence. Kraus repeatedly invokes the phrase "clean slate", transforming it into willfully cynical through its repetitions. Phrases such as "He aimed to start over" and "They opted for a clean break" recur in the narrative. At the same time, Kraus herself seems to be making her personal new beginning, since this presents as a new kind of book – documentarian, authentically narrative. However it reveals itself to be packed with the same dilemmas and aesthetics as past novels.
From Chance Novelist to Renowned Book
Kraus was originally an visual artist who became a writer unintentionally with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, which was composed of letters to an unreceptive lover, elevating intimate women's literature from self-debasement into rebellion. She persisted as a writer, but the following three compelling and abrasive novels did not possess the impact and rawness that the epistolary style imparted to the tone of I Love Dick. It didn't help was her position as a nonconformist creator who had evolved into a extensive real estate holder, so there was considerable focus on housing investments. It is logical that she currently desires to try out new kinds of material, turning outward to other people's stories, at a period in which she states that contemporary political climate turns intimate literature obsolete.
Three Generations, One Unescapable Past
The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, encompassing multiple eras – none able to break free from their histories. We encounter the story of Emma and Jasper, based on the author's parents, transitioning from the New York borough to the Connecticut countryside. There is the account of Kraus, in the character of protagonist Catt Greene, reckoning with the belated success of I Love Dick, the rise of Trump, and her substance-dependent spouse her husband Paul. The third thread involves the account of a killing of one troubled youth by another in a town mostly forsaken by progressive politics only 80 miles from the protagonist's home in a remote part of Minnesota.
As a reader attracted to honed writing of the kind Kraus herself typically rejects, I was seduced by the novelistic voice of the initial segment.
As a reader who appreciates crafted language of the kind that the author usually avoids, I was captivated by the literary tone of the first section. It possesses a new quality of attentiveness that makes room for trivial aspects, like the bucket that the youthful Catt dislodges from ice at the start of the story, assisted by her beloved father. "I discovered a frozen plaything!" she exclaims; "a great plaything", he responds, "the elliptical meanings of words rolling around in their mouths like hard candy". She tells Emma's narrative with interest and closeness. "It seemed to Emma she had entered a dream – not entirely her own."
Disappointment and Disjunction
I was fated to feel let down when I expected this different style could last out the book. Kraus notes here that she dislikes the pleasure readers like me have taken from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to disjunction, to the unpolished style she has in common with her hero author Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her previous novels reasserts itself in the middle section. Catt is attempting to do up three dozen dilapidated units in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while moving between Minnesota and LA, failing to help Paul control his drinking. She experiences powerlessness as her spouse transitions between underfunded jobs as an substance abuse counselor in a society driven by the rage and anxiety that powers a political win. Multiple pages are devoted about Catt's social media ostracism on Twitter, her professional designation altered from "novelist" to "real estate holder" on Wikipedia. The author still appears to be overly concerned about this. In a moment she says that she's looking into the killing so that before leaving Minnesota, "she might be able to learn something about an the United States that her Twitter detractors would not understand, would not even see".
The Homicide Account
Then we reach to the murder itself – and the titular day experienced by the murdered individual with the murderer and his friends. The author possesses excellent raw material, and knows hour by hour what transpired when Brandon came to see Brittney after meeting her on an app where she marketed explicit images. He sought a sexual encounter but appears congenially to have passed the day with her companions, mooching around having his vehicle repaired and funding treats and narcotics, before being killed by gunfire by Brittney's partner a man named Micah – a individual with mental health challenges who has repeatedly received inpatient care for aggressive outbursts.
Obsession and Unfinished Business
Catt develops an obsession by the account, and I was intrigued by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards responsible documentation and daring boundary-pushing clash in this segment. But I'd have liked her to go further into her own obsessions here. The most interesting character is Brittney, who gains dimension in part due to Catt's identification with her – another bright, bullied girl spiraling out of control in a struggling, neglected community. Kraus tells us that Catt speaks to Brittney in detention, but she fails to enact these dialogues. This entire part feels oddly unfinished, to the extent that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par
