This latest work centers on individuals chasing after new beginnings, trying to break free from substance abuse or abusive marriages, only to witness hope devolve into violence. Kraus frequently uses the phrase "clean slate", making it intentionally weary through recurring use. Examples include "He aimed to start over" and "They opted for a clean break" recur in the story. Meanwhile, the author herself seems to be making her own fresh start, since this presents as a different type of work – observational, genuinely novelistic. Yet it reveals itself to be laden with the recurring issues and aesthetics as past novels.
From Chance Novelist to Iconic Work
Kraus began as an artist who became a writer almost accidentally with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, made up of missives to a distant beloved, transforming intimate women's literature from abjection into rebellion. She persisted as a writer, but the next trio of engaging and challenging novels did not possess the shock and immediacy that the correspondence format imparted to the tone of I Love Dick. It didn't help was her position as a nonconformist creator who had become a major property owner, so there was significant attention on real estate deals. It makes sense that she presently aims to explore fresh narrative sources, looking outwards to external narratives, at a moment when she states that Trumpian politics turns intimate literature redundant.
Three Generations, Shared Inescapable History
The Four Spent the Day Together is structured in three parts, encompassing multiple eras – none able to break free from their pasts. The book includes the story of a couple named Emma and Jasper, representations of Kraus's parents, relocating from the urban environment to rural Connecticut. Then there is the account of Kraus, in the persona of protagonist Catt Greene, grappling with the delayed acclaim of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her partner struggling with addiction a man named Paul. And there is the narrative of a homicide of one lost young man by another in a locality long abandoned by liberal ideals only 80 miles from Catt's rural residence in the Minnesota countryside.
From my perspective as a reader drawn to polished prose of the type the author herself typically rejects, I was captivated by the narrative style of the opening part.
As someone who reads who favors honed writing of the variety that Kraus herself often disregards, I was won over by the literary tone of the initial part. It exhibits a fresh level of observation that allows space for minutiae, like the container that the young Catt dislodges from ice at the opening of the book, assisted by her adored dad. "I discovered a frozen plaything!" she exclaims; "a lovely toy", he answers, "the elliptical meanings of words tumbling in their mouths like sweet treats". The author narrates Emma's story with inquiry and familiarity. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not hers, exactly."
Frustration and Disruption
I was fated to feel let down when I wished this fresh tone could persist to the end. Kraus says here that she dislikes the satisfaction audiences such as myself have taken from I Love Dick; she's committed to disruption, to the unpolished style she echoes from her idol writer Kathy Acker, and the emptiness and redundancy of her earlier works reasserts itself in the central part. The protagonist is attempting to do up multiple decrepit residences in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while shuttling between Minnesota and LA, unsuccessful in assisting Paul control his drinking. She experiences powerlessness as her spouse cycles through poorly supported positions as an addiction therapist in a world driven by the anger and fear that underpins Trump's victory. There are several pages about Catt being cancelled on social media, her occupation changed from "author" to "landlord" on the online encyclopedia. Kraus still seems to invest excessive emotion about this. At one point she says that she's investigating the murder so that before leaving Minnesota, "she could potentially understand something about an America that her Twitter detractors would not understand, would overlook entirely".
The Killing Story
Thus we arrive to the homicide in question – and the eponymous day experienced by the murdered individual with the killer and his associates. The author possesses compelling foundational content, and details moment by moment what happened when Brandon came to meet Brittney after connecting via an application where she marketed explicit images. He sought a sexual encounter but seems amiably to have occupied the day with her companions, loitering getting his car mended and covering the cost of food and substances, before being shot by Brittney's boyfriend Micah – a individual with mental health challenges who has often been institutionalized for fits of anger.
Preoccupation and Open Ends
Catt develops an obsession by the account, and I was fascinated by the way that her twin drives towards accurate chronicling and daring boundary-pushing clash in this segment. However, I would have preferred her to go further into her personal fixations here. The compelling persona is the character Brittney, who gains dimension partially because of Catt seeing herself in her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman going off the rails in a troubled, forgotten town. 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 degree that her narrative ends almost mid-par
