This latest work is populated with individuals chasing after fresh starts, attempting to leave behind addictions or abusive marriages, only to witness hope devolve into aggression. Kraus frequently uses the phrase "new beginning", making it deliberately jaded through recurring use. Sentences like "He aimed to start over" and "They opted for a clean break" recur in the narrative. And yet, the author herself is embarking on her own fresh start, since this presents as a new kind of book – fact-based, truly literary. Yet it reveals itself to be packed with the familiar conflicts and approaches as her previous works.
From Chance Novelist to Iconic Work
The writer 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, transforming confessional female writing from humiliation into assassination. She kept producing books, but the next trio of compelling and abrasive novels missed the power and directness that the correspondence format imparted to the narrative voice of I Love Dick. This was not aided by 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 makes sense that she presently aims to try out different types of content, directing her gaze to the experiences of others, at a period in which she claims that contemporary political climate turns intimate literature unnecessary.
Three Generations, One Unescapable Past
The Four Spent the Day Together is structured in three parts, spanning three generations – each trapped by their histories. We encounter the tale of characters Emma and Jasper, based on Kraus's parents, moving from the urban environment to rural Connecticut. Additionally the narrative of the author, in the character of Catt Greene, confronting the late recognition of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her addict husband Paul. Finally the narrative of a homicide of one lost young man by another in a town long abandoned by progressive politics only a short distance from the protagonist's home in a remote part of Minnesota.
For this reader drawn to refined literature of the sort the author herself often avoids, I was captivated by the literary tone of the initial segment.
As someone who reads drawn to crafted language of the style that Kraus usually avoids, I was captivated by the storytelling approach of the first section. It exhibits a fresh level of observation that makes room for small details, like the container that the young Catt pries out of frozen water at the beginning of the narrative, assisted by her beloved father. "I discovered a frozen plaything!" she exclaims; "a great plaything", he responds, "the elliptical meanings of words circulating in their speech like piece candy". She tells Emma's story with curiosity and intimacy. "Emma felt like she'd stepped into a dream – not hers, exactly."
Frustration and Disruption
I was destined to be disappointed when I expected this fresh tone could continue through the novel. Kraus says here that she resents the satisfaction audiences such as myself have taken from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to disruption, to the unpolished style she has in common with her idol author Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her past books reasserts itself in the central part. Catt Greene is attempting to do up three dozen dilapidated units in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while moving between two different states, failing to help her husband control his drinking. She is overwhelmed as Paul cycles through poorly supported positions as an substance abuse counselor in a society driven by the rage and anxiety that drives Trump's victory. A significant portion discusses about the protagonist facing cancellation on social media, her listed profession modified from "writer" to "landlord" on the online encyclopedia. Kraus still seems to invest excessive emotion about this. In a moment she remarks that she's investigating the murder so that before departing the state, "she may grasp something about an the nation that her Twitter detractors would not understand, would overlook entirely".
The Murder Narrative
Then we reach to the murder itself – and the titular day experienced by the murdered individual with the murderer and his associates. Kraus has great source material, and details moment by moment what happened when the victim Brandon came to see Brittney after encountering her on a platform where she offered adult photos. He was hoping for sex but seems affably to have spent the day in the company of her associates, wandering about getting his car mended and covering the cost of food and substances, before being shot by Brittney's boyfriend Micah – a individual with mental health challenges who has frequently been hospitalised for aggressive outbursts.
Preoccupation and Open Ends
The protagonist becomes fixated by the narrative, and I was fascinated by the way that the author's conflicting impulses towards responsible documentation and reckless transgression clash in this segment. Yet I wished her to go further into her individual preoccupations here. The most interesting character is Brittney herself, who gains dimension partly through the protagonist's connection to her – a similarly gifted, tormented individual derailing in a struggling, neglected community. Kraus notes that Catt converses with Brittney in detention, but she doesn't dramatise these conversations. This entire part feels curiously unresolved, to the point that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par
