The new book is populated with protagonists chasing after new beginnings, trying to break free from drugs or abusive marriages, only to find hope curdling into conflict. Kraus frequently uses the phrase "new beginning", transforming it into intentionally weary through constant reiteration. Sentences like "He aimed to start over" and "They decided to make a fresh start" are scattered across the narrative. At the same time, the author herself is embarking on her own fresh start, as this presents as a different type of work – fact-based, authentically narrative. Yet it reveals itself to be packed with the familiar conflicts and styles as earlier books.
From Accidental Writer to Cult Classic
The writer began as an visual artist who became a writer almost accidentally with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, structured as letters to an unreceptive lover, transforming personal female narrative from abjection into assassination. She continued writing, but the following three compelling and abrasive novels lacked the shock and immediacy that the correspondence format brought to the narrative voice of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her role as a renegade artist who had turned into a extensive real estate holder, so there was significant attention on real estate deals. It follows that she now wants to experiment with different types of content, turning outward to the experiences of others, at a time when she asserts that Trumpian politics makes confessional writing unnecessary.
Multiple Generations, One Unescapable Past
The Four Spent the Day Together is structured in three parts, covering several time periods – none able to break free from their histories. There is the tale of a couple named Emma and Jasper, based on the author's parents, relocating from the Bronx to a pastoral setting. There is the narrative of the author, in the character of protagonist Catt Greene, confronting the late recognition of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her substance-dependent spouse her husband Paul. Finally the account of a killing of one lost young man by another in a town long abandoned by progressive politics only a brief drive from Catt's rural residence in a remote part of Minnesota.
From my perspective as a reader fond of honed writing of the sort Kraus often avoids, I was captivated by the literary tone of the opening part.
As a reader drawn to honed writing of the kind that the author often disregards, I was won over by the storytelling approach of the initial part. There is a fresh level of observation that accommodates trivial aspects, like the container that the youthful Catt pries out of frozen water at the beginning of the narrative, helped by her beloved father. "I discovered a frozen plaything!" she says; "a nice toy", he answers, "the elliptical meanings of words rolling around in their mouths like piece candy". She tells Emma's narrative with inquiry and familiarity. "It seemed to Emma she had entered a dream – not hers, exactly."
Disappointment and Disjunction
I was bound to become frustrated when I expected this fresh tone could persist to the end. The author states here that she resents the satisfaction audiences such as myself have gotten from I Love Dick; she's devoted to disruption, to the messy artistic approach she echoes from her inspiration author Kathy Acker, and the emptiness and redundancy of her earlier works returns in the central part. The protagonist is attempting to do up multiple decrepit residences in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while shuttling between the Midwest and the West Coast, failing to help her husband curb his addiction. She is overwhelmed as her spouse cycles through underfunded jobs as an addiction therapist in a world driven by the anger and fear that drives Trump's victory. There are several pages about the protagonist facing cancellation on Twitter, her listed profession modified from "author" to "real estate holder" on a reference site. She still gives the impression to care a little too much about this. At one point she says that she's researching the homicide so that before exiting the region, "she might be able to learn something about an America that her Twitter detractors would not understand, would not even perceive".
The Homicide Account
So then we come to the murder itself – and the titular day experienced by the deceased with the murderer and his friends. Kraus has excellent raw material, and details moment by moment what transpired when Brandon came to meet Brittney after meeting her on an app where she marketed explicit images. He sought a sexual encounter but seems affably to have spent the day in the company of her associates, loitering having his vehicle repaired and covering the cost of food and substances, before being shot by Brittney's partner a man named Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has often been institutionalized for aggressive outbursts.
Fascination and Incompletion
Catt develops an obsession by the account, and I found myself captivated by the way that the author's conflicting impulses towards responsible documentation and reckless transgression tussle in this section. Yet I wished her to delve deeper into her individual preoccupations here. The most interesting character is the character Brittney, who comes alive partially because of the protagonist's connection to her – another bright, bullied girl spiraling out of control in a troubled, forgotten town. The author informs us that Catt speaks to Brittney in jail, but she fails to enact these dialogues. The complete segment feels curiously unresolved, to the degree that her narrative ends almost mid-par
