The new book is populated with characters seeking fresh starts, trying to break free from drugs or toxic relationships, only to see hope turn into aggression. The author frequently uses the phrase "fresh start", rendering it intentionally weary through recurring use. Phrases such as "He aimed to start over" and "They decided to make a fresh start" recur in the narrative. And yet, the author herself seems to be making her individual reinvention, as this seems a different type of work – documentarian, truly literary. However it turns out to be packed with the recurring issues and aesthetics as her previous works.
From Chance Novelist to Renowned Book
The writer began as an visual artist who became a writer almost accidentally with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, made up of missives to a distant beloved, elevating intimate women's literature from self-debasement into defiance. She kept producing books, but the following three fascinating and rebarbative novels missed 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 nonconformist creator who had become a large-scale low-rent landlord, so there was much discussion on housing investments. It follows that she presently aims to experiment with new kinds of material, looking outwards to the experiences of others, at a time when she claims that current political era renders personal narrative redundant.
Three Generations, One Unescapable Past
The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, covering multiple eras – all unable to escape their pasts. The book includes the narrative about a couple named Emma and Jasper, versions of Kraus's parents, relocating from the urban environment to a pastoral setting. Then there is the narrative of the author, in the guise of protagonist Catt Greene, grappling with the delayed acclaim of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her addict husband Paul. And there is the narrative of a homicide of one lost young man by another in a community long abandoned by liberal ideals only a brief drive from Catt's cottage in a remote part of Minnesota.
As a reader fond of polished prose of the type the author herself tends to eschew, I was seduced by the literary tone of the opening part.
As someone who reads drawn to honed writing of the variety that Kraus tends to eschew, I was won over by the storytelling approach of the first section. There is a new quality of attentiveness that accommodates minutiae, like the pail that the youthful Catt pries out of frozen water at the beginning of the narrative, aided by her beloved father. "I discovered a frozen plaything!" she says; "a lovely toy", he responds, "the nuanced interpretations of terms tumbling in their mouths like hard candy". She tells 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 hoped this different style could last out the book. Kraus notes here that she dislikes the satisfaction those who appreciate polished prose have derived from I Love Dick; she's committed to fragmentation, to the unpolished style she echoes from her inspiration writer Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her past books returns in the central part. Catt is trying to renovate multiple decrepit residences in the city's most challenging districts while moving between Minnesota and LA, unable to aid Paul manage his alcohol use. She is overwhelmed as her spouse cycles through underfunded jobs as an substance abuse counselor in a world propelled by the rage and anxiety that powers Trump's victory. A significant portion discusses about the protagonist facing cancellation on a platform, her listed profession modified from "writer" to "property owner" on the online encyclopedia. Kraus still seems to invest excessive emotion about this. On one occasion she remarks that she's researching the homicide so that before exiting the region, "she might be able to learn something about an the United States that her social media opponents would fail to comprehend, would not even see".
The Killing Story
Thus we arrive to the actual killing – and the eponymous day experienced by the victim with the perpetrator and his companions. Kraus has compelling foundational content, and details moment by moment what occurred as a man named Brandon came to see Brittney after encountering her on a platform where she offered adult photos. He was hoping for sex but appears congenially to have passed the day alongside her friends, loitering fixing his automobile and covering the cost of food and substances, before being shot by Brittney's partner Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has frequently been hospitalised for fits of anger.
Fascination and Incompletion
Catt gets obsessed by the narrative, and I was fascinated by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards accurate chronicling and daring boundary-pushing wrestle in this part. But I'd have liked her to delve deeper into her personal fixations here. The compelling persona is Brittney herself, who becomes vivid partially because of Catt's identification with her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman spiraling out of control in a troubled, forgotten town. Kraus notes that the protagonist communicates with Brittney in prison, but she doesn't dramatise these conversations. The complete segment feels curiously unresolved, to the degree that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par
