The Four Spent the Day Together is populated with characters seeking clean slates, attempting to leave behind drugs or toxic relationships, only to see hope turn into aggression. The author repeatedly invokes the phrase "fresh start", making it deliberately jaded through its repetitions. Examples include "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They chose to begin anew" recur in the story. And yet, the author herself appears to be undertaking her own fresh start, as this presents as a novel form of writing – observational, genuinely novelistic. Yet it reveals itself to be laden with the recurring issues and aesthetics as earlier books.
From Unplanned Author to Renowned Book
Kraus started out as an visual artist who transitioned to writing almost accidentally with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, structured as missives to a distant beloved, transforming confessional female writing from self-debasement into assassination. She continued writing, but the three subsequent engaging and challenging novels missed the shock and immediacy that the epistolary style infused into the narrative voice of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her position as a nonconformist creator who had evolved into a major property owner, so there was considerable focus on real estate deals. It is logical that she now wants to explore new kinds of material, directing her gaze to the experiences of others, at a time when she asserts that Trumpian politics makes confessional writing redundant.
Multiple Generations, Collective Unavoidable Background
The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, encompassing three generations – all unable to escape their histories. There is the story of characters Emma and Jasper, versions of her own mother and father, transitioning from the urban environment to a pastoral setting. Additionally the narrative of the author, in the guise of Catt Greene, confronting the late recognition of I Love Dick, the rise of Trump, and her partner struggling with addiction Paul. The third thread involves the narrative of a homicide of one troubled youth by another in a locality long abandoned by progressive politics only 80 miles from Catt's cottage in the Minnesota countryside.
As a reader drawn to polished prose of the type Kraus herself often avoids, I was enchanted by the narrative style of the initial segment.
As a reader who appreciates crafted language of the variety that Kraus herself often disregards, I was won over by the literary tone of the opening segment. There is a novel degree of detail that allows space for small details, like the container that the protagonist as a child pries out of frozen water at the start of the story, helped by her cherished parent. "I discovered a frozen plaything!" she says; "a great plaything", he answers, "the elliptical meanings of words rolling around in their mouths like sweet treats". She tells Emma's narrative with inquiry and familiarity. "Emma felt like she'd stepped into a dream – not entirely her own."
Frustration and Disruption
I was destined to be disappointed when I expected this fresh tone could last out the book. Kraus notes here that she dislikes the enjoyment readers like me have derived from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to fragmentation, to the messy artistic approach she echoes from her idol author Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her earlier works returns in the central part. Catt Greene is trying to renovate three dozen dilapidated units in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while moving between Minnesota and LA, unsuccessful in assisting Paul curb his addiction. She is overwhelmed as Paul transitions between underfunded jobs as an recovery specialist in a environment propelled by the anger and fear that powers a political win. A significant portion discusses about Catt's social media ostracism on social media, her professional designation altered from "author" to "real estate holder" on Wikipedia. The author still appears to invest excessive emotion about this. On one occasion she remarks that she's investigating the murder so that before departing the state, "she may grasp something about an America that her online critics would not understand, would not even see".
The Murder Narrative
Thus we arrive to the murder itself – and the referenced day experienced by the murdered individual with the killer and his companions. Kraus utilizes great source material, and details moment by moment what transpired when Brandon came to visit Brittney after encountering her on a platform where she sold sex pictures. He was hoping for sex but seems affably to have spent the day alongside her friends, wandering about having his vehicle repaired and covering the cost of food and substances, before being murdered by Brittney's partner Micah – a individual with mental health challenges who has often been institutionalized for fits of anger.
Obsession and Unfinished Business
Catt gets obsessed by the story, and I found myself captivated by the way that her twin drives towards responsible documentation and audacious rule-breaking wrestle in this part. Yet I wished her to go further into her individual preoccupations here. The most interesting character is Brittney, who comes alive partly through the protagonist's connection to her – a similarly gifted, tormented individual derailing in a struggling, neglected community. Kraus notes that Catt speaks to Brittney in prison, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. The complete segment feels curiously unresolved, to the point that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par
