The new book features characters seeking new beginnings, attempting to leave behind addictions or toxic relationships, only to see hope turn into aggression. Kraus repeatedly invokes the phrase "clean slate", making it intentionally weary through constant reiteration. Sentences like "He could make a fresh start" and "They chose to begin anew" recur in the text. Meanwhile, Kraus herself is embarking on her personal new beginning, since this seems a novel form of writing – documentarian, genuinely novelistic. Yet it reveals itself to be packed with the recurring issues and styles as past novels.
From Chance Novelist to Iconic Work
The writer began as an artist who transitioned to writing almost accidentally with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, which was composed of letters to an unreceptive lover, elevating intimate women's literature from abjection into defiance. She kept producing books, but the next trio of fascinating and rebarbative novels lacked the power and directness that the epistolary style brought to the narrative voice of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her identity as a nonconformist creator who had turned into a major property owner, so there was considerable focus on real estate deals. It follows that she now wants to explore fresh narrative sources, looking outwards to the experiences of others, at a time when she claims that Trumpian politics renders personal narrative obsolete.
Three Generations, One Unescapable Past
The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, encompassing three generations – all unable to escape their histories. We encounter the narrative about characters Emma and Jasper, based on Kraus's parents, relocating from the New York borough to the Connecticut countryside. Additionally the story of Kraus herself, in the persona of protagonist Catt Greene, confronting the belated success of I Love Dick, the rise of Trump, and her partner struggling with addiction her husband Paul. And there is the story of the murder of one troubled youth by another in a locality mostly forsaken by liberal ideals only a short distance from Catt's rural residence in rural Minnesota.
For this reader fond of refined literature of the sort Kraus tends to eschew, I was enchanted by the novelistic voice of the initial segment.
As a reader who favors crafted language of the style that the author often disregards, I was captivated by the storytelling approach 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 opening of the book, assisted by her beloved father. "I found an ice toy!" she says; "a nice toy", he replies, "the ambiguous meanings of language rolling around in their mouths like piece candy". She tells Emma's story with curiosity and intimacy. "Emma felt like she'd stepped into a dream – not precisely her dream."
Disappointment and Disjunction
I was fated to feel let down when I expected this different style could continue through the novel. The author states 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 shares with her inspiration writer Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her past books reasserts itself in the middle section. Catt Greene is attempting to do up 36 run-down apartments in the city's most challenging districts while traveling between two different states, failing to help Paul control his drinking. She feels helpless as Paul cycles through poorly supported positions as an substance abuse counselor in a world fueled by the anger and fear that powers an electoral success. There are several pages about Catt's social media ostracism on Twitter, her listed profession modified from "writer" to "landlord" on Wikipedia. The author still appears to care a little too much about this. In a moment she states that she's investigating the murder so that before departing the state, "she could potentially understand something about an America that her Twitter detractors would be unable to grasp, would not even perceive".
The Murder Narrative
So then we come to the actual killing – and the titular day experienced by the victim with the killer and his associates. The author possesses excellent raw material, and knows hour by hour what occurred as Brandon came to see Brittney after encountering her on a platform where she sold sex pictures. He sought a sexual encounter but seems affably to have spent the day with her companions, loitering having his vehicle repaired and paying for snacks and drugs, before being killed by gunfire by her romantic interest Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has repeatedly received inpatient care for violent rage.
Preoccupation and Open Ends
Catt develops an obsession by the narrative, and I found myself captivated by the way that her twin drives towards responsible documentation and reckless transgression clash in this segment. But I'd have liked her to delve deeper into her own obsessions here. The most interesting character is the character Brittney, who becomes vivid partly through Catt's identification with her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman derailing in a struggling, neglected community. Kraus notes that the protagonist communicates with Brittney in jail, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. The whole section feels oddly unfinished, to the degree that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par
