The Four Spent the Day Together features individuals chasing after fresh starts, trying to break free from drugs or harmful partnerships, only to see hope turn into violence. Kraus frequently uses the phrase "new beginning", making it intentionally weary through its repetitions. Examples include "He could make a fresh start" and "They chose to begin anew" are scattered across the story. And yet, she seems to be making her own fresh start, since this appears a novel form of writing – observational, truly literary. But then it proves to be filled with the same dilemmas and approaches as past novels.
From Accidental Writer to Renowned Book
Kraus started out as an creative who transitioned to writing somewhat by chance with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, made up of letters to an unreceptive lover, elevating confessional female writing from humiliation into assassination. She persisted as a writer, but the three subsequent fascinating and rebarbative novels missed the impact and rawness that the epistolary style brought to the narrative voice of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her identity as a maverick maker who had turned into a major property owner, so there was considerable focus on housing investments. It follows that she currently desires to experiment with new kinds of material, directing her gaze to external narratives, at a period in which she claims that Trumpian politics makes confessional writing unnecessary.
Three Generations, Collective Unavoidable Background
The Four Spent the Day Together is structured in three parts, encompassing several time periods – each trapped by their backgrounds. There is the tale of characters Emma and Jasper, versions of the author's parents, moving from the urban environment 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 ascent of a political figure, and her substance-dependent spouse a man named Paul. The third thread involves the account of a killing of one troubled youth by another in a community long abandoned by forward-thinking policies only 80 miles from Catt's cottage in rural Minnesota.
For this reader fond of honed writing of the type Kraus often avoids, I was seduced by the literary tone of the initial segment.
As a reader who favors honed writing of the style that the author tends to eschew, I was won over by the literary tone of the first section. There is a fresh level of observation that accommodates minutiae, like the pail that the young Catt pries out of frozen water at the beginning of the narrative, helped by her cherished parent. "I discovered a frozen plaything!" she exclaims; "a great plaything", he answers, "the ambiguous meanings of language circulating in their speech like hard candy". The author narrates the tale of Emma with inquiry and familiarity. "Emma felt like she'd stepped into a dream – not entirely her own."
Frustration and Disruption
I was fated to feel let down when I expected this new voice could persist to the end. Kraus notes here that she is annoyed by the pleasure those who appreciate polished prose have gotten from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to disruption, to the untidy aesthetics she echoes from her idol writer Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her earlier works returns in the central part. Catt is attempting to do up multiple decrepit residences in the city's most challenging districts while moving between the Midwest and the West Coast, unsuccessful in assisting Paul control his drinking. She experiences powerlessness as Paul moves between underfunded jobs as an substance abuse counselor in a society driven by the hostility and dread that drives Trump's victory. A significant portion discusses about the protagonist facing cancellation on Twitter, her occupation changed from "novelist" to "property owner" on a reference site. She still gives the impression to be overly concerned about this. In a moment she remarks that she's researching the homicide so that before departing the state, "she could potentially understand something about an the nation that her Twitter detractors would be unable to grasp, would not even see".
The Murder Narrative
So then we come to the murder itself – and the referenced day experienced by the victim with the killer and his companions. The author possesses compelling foundational content, and reconstructs step by step what happened when Brandon came to see Brittney after meeting her on an app where she sold sex pictures. He was hoping for sex but seems amiably to have occupied the day alongside her friends, wandering about having his vehicle repaired and funding treats and narcotics, before being killed by gunfire by her romantic interest a man named Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has often been institutionalized for fits of anger.
Obsession and Unfinished Business
The protagonist becomes fixated by the account, and I was fascinated by the way that her twin drives towards responsible documentation and audacious rule-breaking tussle in this section. However, I would have preferred her to go further into her personal fixations here. The compelling persona is Brittney herself, who gains dimension in part due to the protagonist's connection to her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman going off the rails in a struggling, neglected community. Kraus notes that Catt speaks to Brittney in detention, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. This entire part feels strangely incomplete, to the extent that her narrative ends almost mid-par
