The new book features characters chasing after clean slates, struggling to escape drugs or abusive marriages, only to find hope curdling into aggression. Kraus repeatedly invokes the phrase "fresh start", making it willfully cynical through constant reiteration. Examples include "He aimed to start over" and "They decided to make a fresh start" are scattered across the text. And yet, Kraus herself seems to be making her own fresh start, as this presents as a different type of work – documentarian, authentically narrative. But then it turns out to be packed with the familiar conflicts and styles as past novels.
From Accidental Writer to Renowned Book
The writer was originally an artist who entered the literary world somewhat by chance with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, made up of epistles to an unresponsive love interest, transforming intimate women's literature from abjection into rebellion. She kept producing books, but the following three compelling and abrasive novels missed the impact and rawness that the correspondence format infused into the narrative voice of I Love Dick. It didn't help was her identity as a maverick maker who had become a major property owner, so there was much discussion on real estate deals. It follows that she presently aims to try out new kinds of material, turning outward to the experiences of others, at a time when she states that contemporary political climate makes confessional writing unnecessary.
Three Generations, Shared Inescapable History
The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, covering three generations – all unable to escape their pasts. There is the tale of Emma and Jasper, versions of Kraus's parents, moving from the urban environment to a pastoral setting. Then there is the account of Kraus, in the character of protagonist Catt Greene, reckoning with the belated success of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her addict husband Paul. Finally the account of a killing of one lost young man by another in a town largely deserted by liberal ideals only a short distance from Catt's rural residence in a remote part of Minnesota.
As a reader attracted to honed writing of the sort the author herself often avoids, I was captivated by the narrative style of the first section.
Being a reader who favors honed writing of the kind that Kraus tends to eschew, I was captivated by the storytelling approach of the first section. It exhibits a fresh level of observation that accommodates trivial aspects, like the pail that the young Catt dislodges from ice at the start of the story, helped by her beloved father. "I found an ice toy!" she says; "a great plaything", he answers, "the nuanced interpretations of terms tumbling in their mouths like sweet treats". She tells the tale of Emma with curiosity and intimacy. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not entirely her own."
Disappointment and Disjunction
I was destined to be disappointed when I expected this fresh tone could continue through the novel. Kraus notes here that she resents the pleasure readers like me have taken from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to disruption, to the untidy aesthetics she shares with her hero Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her past books reasserts itself in the second segment. Catt is working on refurbishing multiple decrepit residences in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while shuttling between Minnesota and LA, failing to help Paul control his drinking. She feels helpless as her spouse moves between poorly supported positions as an substance abuse counselor in a environment driven by the rage and anxiety that underpins a political win. There are several pages about Catt being cancelled on a platform, her professional designation altered from "writer" to "real estate holder" on Wikipedia. Kraus still seems to be overly concerned about this. At one point she remarks that she's looking into the killing so that before departing the state, "she could potentially understand something about an the United States that her social media opponents would be unable to grasp, would not even see".
The Murder Narrative
So then we come to the actual killing – and the eponymous day experienced by the victim with the perpetrator and his associates. Kraus utilizes great source material, and knows hour by hour what happened when a man named Brandon came to visit Brittney after encountering her on a platform where she marketed explicit images. He was hoping for sex but appears congenially to have passed the day in the company of her associates, wandering about having his vehicle repaired and funding treats and narcotics, before being killed by gunfire by Brittney's boyfriend Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has repeatedly received inpatient care for aggressive outbursts.
Fascination and Incompletion
Catt gets obsessed by the story, and I was fascinated by the way that the author's conflicting impulses towards ethical reporting and daring boundary-pushing wrestle in this part. However, I would have preferred her to explore more thoroughly her own obsessions here. The compelling persona is Brittney herself, who gains dimension partly through Catt seeing herself in her – another bright, bullied girl spiraling out of control in a troubled, forgotten town. Kraus tells us that Catt speaks to Brittney in jail, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. The whole section feels strangely incomplete, to the point that her narrative ends almost mid-par
