The Four Spent the Day Together features protagonists pursuing clean slates, struggling to escape drugs or harmful partnerships, only to find hope curdling into conflict. The author frequently uses the phrase "clean slate", rendering it intentionally weary through constant reiteration. Examples include "He aimed to start over" and "They chose to begin anew" are scattered across the narrative. At the same time, the author herself is embarking on her individual reinvention, because this seems a different type of work – documentarian, truly literary. But then it turns out to be laden with the familiar conflicts and styles as past novels.
From Chance Novelist to Renowned Book
The writer was originally an artist who transitioned to writing somewhat by chance with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, structured as epistles to an unresponsive love interest, elevating confessional female writing from self-debasement into assassination. She continued writing, but the three subsequent compelling and abrasive novels missed the power and directness that the correspondence format infused into the tone of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her position as a renegade artist who had become a extensive real estate holder, so there was much discussion on housing investments. It is logical that she currently desires to experiment with different types of content, looking outwards to the experiences of others, at a moment when she asserts that current political era renders personal narrative unnecessary.
Multiple Generations, One Unescapable Past
The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, covering multiple eras – each trapped by their histories. There is the tale of characters Emma and Jasper, representations of the author's parents, transitioning from the urban environment to the Connecticut countryside. Additionally the account of Kraus, in the persona of a figure named Catt Greene, confronting the belated success of I Love Dick, the rise of Trump, and her substance-dependent spouse her husband Paul. Finally the story of the murder of one troubled youth by another in a town largely deserted by forward-thinking policies only 80 miles from the protagonist's home in rural Minnesota.
As a reader fond of refined literature of the type Kraus typically rejects, I was seduced by the literary tone of the opening part.
Being a reader who favors honed writing of the variety that the author often disregards, I was seduced by the storytelling approach of the initial part. It possesses a novel degree of detail that accommodates minutiae, like the bucket that the young Catt dislodges from ice at the start of the story, helped by her beloved father. "I discovered a frozen plaything!" she declares; "a great plaything", he responds, "the ambiguous meanings of language rolling around in their mouths like piece candy". Kraus writes the tale of Emma with interest and closeness. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not hers, exactly."
Disappointment and Disjunction
I was destined to be disappointed when I expected this fresh tone could continue through the novel. The author states here that she resents the enjoyment audiences such as myself have gotten from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to disjunction, to the untidy aesthetics she has in common with her idol Kathy Acker, and the emptiness and redundancy of her earlier works reasserts itself in the second segment. Catt Greene is attempting to do up multiple decrepit residences in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while shuttling between Minnesota and LA, unable to aid Paul control his drinking. She experiences powerlessness as Paul cycles through poorly supported positions as an substance abuse counselor in a environment driven by the rage and anxiety that drives an electoral success. There are several pages about the protagonist facing cancellation on Twitter, her professional designation altered from "novelist" to "landlord" on the online encyclopedia. Kraus still seems to care a little too much about this. At one point she says that she's investigating the murder so that before exiting the region, "she might be able to learn something about an the United States that her Twitter detractors would fail to comprehend, would not even see".
The Murder Narrative
So then we come to the actual killing – and the referenced day spent by the victim with the perpetrator and his friends. Kraus has excellent raw material, and knows hour by hour what occurred as a man named Brandon came to visit 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, wandering about getting his car mended and paying for snacks and drugs, before being killed by gunfire by Brittney's partner Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has frequently been hospitalised for aggressive outbursts.
Preoccupation and Open Ends
Catt develops an obsession by the account, and I found myself captivated by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards ethical reporting and reckless transgression tussle in this section. However, I would have preferred her to go further into her own obsessions here. The standout figure is the character Brittney, who comes alive partly through Catt's identification with her – a similarly gifted, tormented individual spiraling out of control in a difficult, overlooked locality. Kraus notes that Catt converses with Brittney in jail, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. This entire part feels oddly unfinished, to the point that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par
