The Four Spent the Day Together is populated with characters chasing after fresh starts, attempting to leave behind addictions or abusive marriages, only to witness hope devolve into conflict. The author frequently uses the phrase "new beginning", making it willfully cynical through constant reiteration. Phrases such as "He could make a fresh start" and "They chose to begin anew" are scattered across the narrative. And yet, the author herself seems to be making her individual reinvention, because this seems a different type of work – fact-based, authentically narrative. But then it reveals itself to be filled with the same dilemmas and approaches as her previous works.
From Unplanned Author to Iconic Work
Kraus began 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, converting confessional female writing from humiliation into assassination. She persisted as a writer, but the next trio of fascinating and rebarbative novels did not possess the power and directness that the letter form brought to the narrative voice of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her position as a maverick maker who had turned into a extensive real estate holder, so there was much discussion on property transactions. It follows that she presently aims to experiment with new kinds of material, looking outwards to external narratives, at a period in which she asserts that contemporary political climate renders personal narrative unnecessary.
Several Eras, One Unescapable Past
The Four Spent the Day Together is structured in three parts, spanning several time periods – none able to break free from their pasts. The book includes the tale of characters Emma and Jasper, representations of her own mother and father, moving from the New York borough to a pastoral setting. There is the narrative of the author, in the guise of a figure named Catt Greene, grappling with the belated success of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her partner struggling with addiction Paul. Finally the story of the murder of one directionless individual by another in a locality mostly forsaken by progressive politics only a short distance from Catt's cottage in rural Minnesota.
From my perspective as a reader attracted to refined literature of the sort the author herself tends to eschew, I was seduced by the narrative style of the opening part.
As a reader who appreciates precise prose of the kind that Kraus herself often disregards, I was won over by the storytelling approach of the opening segment. There is a new quality of attentiveness that accommodates trivial aspects, like the pail that the youthful Catt dislodges from ice at the opening of the book, assisted by her adored dad. "I discovered a frozen plaything!" she says; "a great plaything", he answers, "the elliptical meanings of words rolling around in their mouths like piece candy". She tells Emma's story with curiosity and intimacy. "It seemed to Emma she had entered a dream – not entirely her own."
Disappointment and Disjunction
I was bound to become frustrated when I expected this fresh tone could last out the book. Kraus notes here that she is annoyed by the satisfaction those who appreciate polished prose have taken from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to disruption, to the untidy aesthetics she shares with her idol Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her earlier works reasserts itself in the middle section. Catt is attempting to do up multiple decrepit residences in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while traveling between the Midwest and the West Coast, failing to help Paul control his drinking. She experiences powerlessness as Paul moves between underfunded jobs as an addiction therapist in a society driven by the rage and anxiety that drives a political win. There are several pages about Catt being cancelled on social media, her occupation changed from "writer" to "property owner" on Wikipedia. She still gives the impression to invest excessive emotion about this. On one occasion she says that she's investigating the murder so that before exiting the region, "she might be able to learn something about an the nation that her Twitter detractors would be unable to grasp, would not even see".
The Homicide Account
So then we come to the homicide in question – and the titular day experienced by the victim with the killer and his associates. Kraus has great source material, and knows hour by hour what transpired when Brandon came to meet Brittney after encountering her on a platform where she offered adult photos. He sought a sexual encounter but appears congenially to have passed the day in the company of her associates, loitering fixing his automobile and covering the cost of food and substances, before being killed by gunfire by Brittney's boyfriend a man named Micah – a individual with mental health challenges who has repeatedly received inpatient care for violent rage.
Obsession and Unfinished Business
Catt develops an obsession by the narrative, and I found myself captivated by the way that the author's conflicting impulses towards ethical reporting and daring boundary-pushing tussle in this section. However, I would have preferred her to explore more thoroughly her own obsessions here. The compelling persona is Brittney, who becomes vivid partly through Catt seeing herself in her – another bright, bullied girl going off the rails in a struggling, neglected community. The author informs us that Catt converses with Brittney in prison, but she doesn't dramatise these conversations. This entire part feels oddly unfinished, to the point that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par
