This latest work features protagonists seeking new beginnings, attempting to leave behind addictions or harmful partnerships, only to witness hope devolve into violence. Kraus repeatedly invokes the phrase "fresh start", transforming it into willfully cynical through recurring use. Phrases such as "He aimed to start over" and "They opted for a clean break" appear throughout the story. At the same time, the author herself is embarking on her personal new beginning, since this presents as a new kind of book – documentarian, genuinely novelistic. However it proves to be filled with the same dilemmas and approaches as her previous works.
From Unplanned Author to Iconic Work
Kraus started out as an visual artist who became a writer almost accidentally with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, made up of letters to an unreceptive lover, transforming intimate women's literature from humiliation into assassination. She persisted as a writer, but the three subsequent fascinating and rebarbative novels lacked the shock and immediacy that the letter form brought to the narrative voice of I Love Dick. It didn't help was her role as a renegade artist who had become a extensive real estate holder, so there was significant attention on property transactions. It follows that she currently desires to experiment with new kinds of material, turning outward to the experiences of others, at a time when she asserts that Trumpian politics renders personal narrative unnecessary.
Several Eras, One Unescapable Past
The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, spanning several time periods – all unable to escape their pasts. We encounter the tale of a couple named Emma and Jasper, based on the author's parents, moving from the Bronx to a pastoral setting. Then there is the account of Kraus, in the character of a figure named Catt Greene, grappling with the belated success of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her partner struggling with addiction a man named Paul. Finally the account of a killing of one troubled youth by another in a town mostly forsaken by liberal ideals only a brief drive from the protagonist's home in rural Minnesota.
From my perspective as a reader drawn to refined literature of the type Kraus herself typically rejects, I was captivated by the narrative style of the opening part.
Being a reader drawn to precise prose of the variety that Kraus tends to eschew, I was seduced by the storytelling approach of the opening segment. It possesses a new quality of attentiveness that makes room for small details, like the bucket that the youthful Catt frees from the ice at the opening of the book, helped by her cherished parent. "I discovered a frozen plaything!" she declares; "a nice toy", he replies, "the elliptical meanings of words rolling around in their mouths like sweet treats". Kraus writes Emma's narrative with interest and closeness. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not entirely her own."
Letdown and Fragmentation
I was bound to become frustrated when I wished this new voice could persist to the end. Kraus says here that she resents the enjoyment those who appreciate polished prose have gotten from I Love Dick; she's committed to disruption, to the unpolished style she shares with her inspiration writer Kathy Acker, and the emptiness and redundancy of her earlier works returns in the middle section. Catt is trying to renovate multiple decrepit residences in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while shuttling between Minnesota and LA, unable to aid Paul manage his alcohol use. She experiences powerlessness as Paul transitions between poorly supported positions as an addiction therapist in a society fueled by the anger and fear that drives a political win. A significant portion discusses about the protagonist facing cancellation on Twitter, her listed profession modified from "writer" to "real estate holder" on the online encyclopedia. The author still appears to invest excessive emotion about this. At one point she remarks that she's looking into the killing so that before leaving Minnesota, "she might be able to learn something about an America that her social media opponents would not understand, would overlook entirely".
The Murder Narrative
Thus we arrive to the homicide in question – and the eponymous day spent by the murdered individual with the perpetrator and his friends. Kraus utilizes excellent raw material, and reconstructs step by step what happened when Brandon came to see Brittney after connecting via an application where she marketed explicit images. He sought a sexual encounter but seems affably to have spent the day in the company of her associates, wandering about fixing his automobile and funding treats and narcotics, before being murdered by Brittney's partner Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has frequently been hospitalised for aggressive outbursts.
Obsession and Unfinished Business
Catt gets obsessed by the account, and I was intrigued by the way that her twin drives towards responsible documentation and audacious rule-breaking wrestle in this part. However, I would have preferred her to explore more thoroughly her personal fixations here. The compelling persona is Brittney, who becomes vivid in part due to Catt seeing herself in her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman spiraling out of control in a troubled, forgotten town. The author informs us that the protagonist communicates with Brittney in jail, but she doesn't dramatise these conversations. The whole section feels oddly unfinished, to the extent that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par
