The Four Spent the Day Together centers on protagonists seeking clean slates, attempting to leave behind addictions or abusive marriages, only to witness hope devolve into aggression. Kraus repeatedly invokes the phrase "fresh start", transforming it into willfully cynical through recurring use. Phrases such as "He could make a fresh start" and "They decided to make a fresh start" appear throughout the narrative. And yet, the author herself appears to be undertaking her own fresh start, as this seems a different type of work – fact-based, truly literary. Yet it reveals itself to be laden with the recurring issues and approaches as her previous works.
From Unplanned Author to Iconic Work
The writer began as an creative who became a writer almost accidentally with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, structured as epistles to an unresponsive love interest, converting confessional female writing from humiliation into defiance. She persisted as a writer, but the next trio of fascinating and rebarbative novels did not possess the shock and immediacy that the correspondence format brought to the tone of I Love Dick. It didn't help was her identity as a maverick maker who had turned into a major property owner, so there was considerable focus on housing investments. It makes sense that she presently aims to experiment with fresh narrative sources, turning outward to the experiences of others, at a period in which she claims that Trumpian politics makes confessional writing unnecessary.
Multiple Generations, Collective Unavoidable Background
The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, covering several time periods – none able to break free from their histories. There is the story of characters Emma and Jasper, based on her own mother and father, transitioning from the urban environment to the Connecticut countryside. Additionally the story of Kraus herself, in the persona of protagonist Catt Greene, grappling with the belated success 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 directionless individual by another in a locality largely deserted by progressive politics only a short distance from Catt's rural residence in a remote part of Minnesota.
For this reader attracted to polished prose of the type the author herself often avoids, I was seduced by the literary tone of the opening part.
As a reader drawn to crafted language of the variety that Kraus herself usually avoids, I was won over by the literary tone of the first section. There is a fresh level of observation that accommodates small details, like the pail that the protagonist as a child frees from the ice at the start of the story, assisted by her beloved father. "Look, an ice toy!" she exclaims; "a great plaything", he responds, "the elliptical meanings of words rolling around in their mouths like sweet treats". Kraus writes the tale of Emma with interest and closeness. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not precisely her dream."
Frustration and Disruption
I was bound to become frustrated when I expected this fresh tone could persist to the end. Kraus says here that she dislikes the enjoyment readers like me have taken from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to disruption, to the untidy aesthetics she has in common with her inspiration Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her past books comes back in the second segment. The protagonist is working on refurbishing 36 run-down apartments in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while moving between Minnesota and LA, unable to aid Paul control his drinking. She feels helpless as Paul cycles through underfunded jobs as an recovery specialist in a society fueled by the anger and fear that powers a political win. There are several pages about the protagonist facing cancellation on a platform, her listed profession modified from "writer" to "landlord" on a reference site. She still gives the impression to care a little too much about this. On one occasion she remarks that she's looking into the killing so that before departing the state, "she might be able to learn something about an the nation that her online critics would fail to comprehend, would not even see".
The Homicide Account
So then we come to the homicide in question – and the referenced day passed by the victim with the killer and his associates. Kraus utilizes great source material, and knows hour by hour what transpired when the victim Brandon came to meet Brittney after connecting via an application where she offered adult photos. He sought a sexual encounter 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 shot by Brittney's partner Micah – a individual with mental health challenges who has frequently been hospitalised for fits of anger.
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 daring boundary-pushing tussle in this section. However, I would have preferred her to go further into her individual preoccupations here. The most interesting character is Brittney, who gains dimension partly through Catt seeing herself in her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman derailing in a difficult, overlooked locality. Kraus notes that the protagonist communicates with Brittney in detention, but she fails to enact these dialogues. This entire part feels oddly unfinished, to the point that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par
