The Four Spent the Day Together is populated with individuals pursuing clean slates, trying to break free from addictions or abusive marriages, only to witness hope devolve into conflict. The author repeatedly invokes the phrase "fresh start", making it willfully cynical through constant reiteration. Sentences like "He aimed to start over" and "They opted for a clean break" recur in the narrative. At the same time, the author herself seems to be making her personal new beginning, since this presents as a novel form of writing – fact-based, authentically narrative. However it reveals itself to be packed with the familiar conflicts and approaches as her previous works.
From Unplanned Author to Cult Classic
Kraus was originally an artist who transitioned to writing almost accidentally with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, made up of missives to a distant beloved, converting intimate women's literature from humiliation into rebellion. She persisted as a writer, but the next trio of compelling and abrasive novels lacked the shock and immediacy that the letter form imparted to the voice of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her position as a renegade artist who had become a major property owner, so there was considerable focus on property transactions. It makes sense that she now wants to try out fresh narrative sources, turning outward to external narratives, at a time when she states that current political era renders personal narrative obsolete.
Three Generations, Collective Unavoidable Background
The Four Spent the Day Together is structured in three parts, encompassing three generations – none able to break free from their backgrounds. We encounter the narrative about a couple named Emma and Jasper, representations of Kraus's parents, relocating from the New York borough to rural Connecticut. Then there is the story of Kraus herself, in the persona of protagonist Catt Greene, reckoning with the late recognition of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her substance-dependent spouse her husband Paul. The third thread involves the story of the murder of one lost young man by another in a locality largely deserted by liberal ideals only a short distance from the protagonist's home in rural Minnesota.
From my perspective as a reader drawn to refined literature of the type Kraus herself typically rejects, I was captivated by the literary tone of the first section.
Being a reader who appreciates honed writing of the variety that Kraus herself usually avoids, I was captivated by the storytelling approach of the initial part. It possesses a novel degree of detail that allows space for minutiae, like the pail that the youthful Catt frees from the ice at the opening of the book, assisted by her cherished parent. "Look, an ice toy!" she declares; "a great plaything", he answers, "the nuanced interpretations of terms rolling around in their mouths like sweet treats". She tells Emma's narrative with inquiry and familiarity. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not entirely her own."
Frustration and Disruption
I was fated to feel let down when I wished this fresh tone could persist to the end. Kraus notes here that she is annoyed by the satisfaction readers like me have taken from I Love Dick; she's committed to disjunction, to the messy artistic approach she has in common with her idol Kathy Acker, and the emptiness and redundancy of her previous novels returns in the middle section. The protagonist is attempting to do up three dozen dilapidated units in the city's most challenging districts while shuttling between two different states, unable to aid her husband control his drinking. She is overwhelmed as Paul transitions between low-resource employment as an recovery specialist in a environment driven by the rage and anxiety that powers Trump's victory. A significant portion discusses about Catt being cancelled on Twitter, her occupation changed from "author" to "property owner" on a reference site. Kraus still seems to be overly concerned about this. At one point she says that she's researching the homicide so that before departing the state, "she could potentially understand something about an the nation that her online critics would not understand, would not even perceive".
The Murder Narrative
Thus we arrive to the actual killing – and the titular day passed by the victim with the murderer and his associates. The author possesses great source material, and reconstructs step by step what transpired when Brandon came to see Brittney after encountering her on a platform where she marketed explicit images. He was hoping for sex but seems affably to have spent the day alongside her friends, mooching around having his vehicle repaired and covering the cost of food and substances, before being shot by Brittney's partner Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has repeatedly received inpatient care for fits of anger.
Obsession and Unfinished Business
Catt develops an obsession by the account, and I found myself captivated by the way that the author's conflicting impulses towards ethical reporting and audacious rule-breaking tussle in this section. However, I would have preferred her to delve deeper into her personal fixations here. The standout figure is Brittney, who gains dimension partially because of the protagonist's connection to her – another bright, bullied girl derailing in a troubled, forgotten town. The author informs us that Catt speaks to Brittney in prison, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. This entire part feels oddly unfinished, to the degree that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par
