The Four Spent the Day Together is populated with protagonists seeking new beginnings, struggling to escape addictions or toxic relationships, only to find hope curdling into conflict. Kraus often employs the phrase "clean slate", rendering it intentionally weary through constant reiteration. Examples include "He aimed to start over" and "They chose to begin anew" are scattered across the story. And yet, she is embarking on her personal new beginning, since this appears a different type of work – documentarian, authentically narrative. But then it proves to be packed with the same dilemmas and aesthetics as past novels.
From Unplanned Author to Iconic Work
The writer was originally an creative who transitioned to writing unintentionally with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, made up of missives to a distant beloved, transforming intimate women's literature from humiliation into assassination. She continued writing, but the next trio of compelling and abrasive novels lacked the power and directness that the correspondence format infused into the tone of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her identity as a maverick maker who had become a major property owner, so there was significant attention on housing investments. It is logical that she now wants to try out different types of content, looking outwards to external narratives, at a time when she states that contemporary political climate turns intimate literature obsolete.
Three Generations, Shared Inescapable History
The Four Spent the Day Together is structured in three parts, covering multiple eras – all unable to escape their pasts. There is the narrative about characters Emma and Jasper, versions of Kraus's parents, transitioning from the New York borough to rural Connecticut. Then there is the narrative of the author, in the persona of a figure named Catt Greene, reckoning with the delayed acclaim of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her partner struggling with addiction a man named Paul. And there is the story of the murder of one troubled youth by another in a town largely deserted by progressive politics only 80 miles from Catt's cottage in a remote part of Minnesota.
For this reader attracted to polished prose of the kind the author herself typically rejects, I was captivated by the novelistic voice of the first section.
As someone who reads who favors precise prose of the style that Kraus herself often disregards, I was captivated by the storytelling approach of the initial part. It exhibits a novel degree of detail that allows space for minutiae, like the container that the youthful Catt frees from the ice at the opening of the book, aided by her beloved father. "Look, an ice toy!" she exclaims; "a nice toy", he replies, "the elliptical meanings of words rolling around in their mouths like sweet treats". She tells Emma's story with interest and closeness. "Emma felt like she'd stepped into a dream – not hers, exactly."
Frustration and Disruption
I was destined to be disappointed when I wished this new voice could last out the book. Kraus notes here that she resents the satisfaction those who appreciate polished prose have taken from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to fragmentation, to the messy artistic approach she has in common with her inspiration Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her earlier works comes back in the middle section. Catt is trying to renovate 36 run-down apartments in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while shuttling between Minnesota and LA, unsuccessful in assisting Paul manage his alcohol use. She feels helpless as her spouse cycles through poorly supported positions as an substance abuse counselor in a society fueled by the anger and fear that underpins a political win. A significant portion discusses about Catt being cancelled on Twitter, her professional designation altered from "novelist" to "real estate holder" on the online encyclopedia. She still gives the impression to invest excessive emotion about this. At one point she says that she's researching the homicide so that before leaving Minnesota, "she might be able to learn something about an the nation that her online critics would not understand, would not even perceive".
The Murder Narrative
Then we reach to the actual killing – and the eponymous day spent by the murdered individual with the perpetrator and his associates. Kraus utilizes great source material, and reconstructs step by step what transpired when a man named Brandon came to see Brittney after connecting via an application where she marketed explicit images. He was hoping for sex but seems affably to have spent the day in the company of her associates, wandering about fixing his automobile and paying for snacks and drugs, before being murdered by Brittney's partner a man named Micah – a individual with mental health challenges who has frequently been hospitalised for fits of anger.
Fascination and Incompletion
The protagonist becomes fixated by the account, and I found myself captivated by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards accurate chronicling and daring boundary-pushing clash in this segment. However, I would have preferred her to go further into her individual preoccupations here. The standout figure is Brittney, who becomes vivid in part due to the protagonist's connection to her – another bright, bullied girl derailing in a troubled, forgotten town. Kraus notes that Catt speaks to Brittney in detention, but she doesn't dramatise these conversations. The complete segment feels strangely incomplete, to the point that her narrative ends almost mid-par
