The new book features protagonists pursuing new beginnings, attempting to leave behind addictions or toxic relationships, only to see hope turn into conflict. Kraus often employs the phrase "new beginning", making it intentionally weary through its repetitions. Phrases such as "He could make a fresh start" and "They chose to begin anew" recur in the text. And yet, Kraus herself appears to be undertaking her individual reinvention, since this appears a new kind of book – observational, truly literary. Yet it turns out to be laden with the recurring issues and approaches as past novels.
From Chance Novelist to Renowned Book
The writer started out as an creative who became a writer almost accidentally with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, structured as epistles to an unresponsive love interest, converting personal female narrative from self-debasement into defiance. She kept producing books, but the next trio of engaging and challenging novels did not possess the impact and rawness that the epistolary style imparted to the narrative voice of I Love Dick. It didn't help was her role as a maverick maker who had evolved into a large-scale low-rent landlord, so there was considerable focus on real estate deals. It follows that she presently aims to try out fresh narrative sources, looking outwards to other people's stories, at a moment when she states that Trumpian politics renders personal narrative unnecessary.
Several Eras, Shared Inescapable History
The Four Spent the Day Together is structured in three parts, covering several time periods – none able to break free from their histories. We encounter the story of Emma and Jasper, based on the author's parents, moving from the Bronx to the Connecticut countryside. Additionally the narrative of the author, in the persona of Catt Greene, confronting the belated success of I Love Dick, the rise of Trump, and her addict husband a man named Paul. The third thread involves the account of a killing of one directionless individual by another in a community long abandoned by forward-thinking policies only 80 miles from Catt's rural residence in rural Minnesota.
From my perspective as a reader drawn to refined literature of the type Kraus herself typically rejects, I was captivated by the narrative style of the opening part.
As a reader who favors crafted language of the variety that Kraus usually avoids, I was seduced by the literary tone of the first section. It possesses a novel degree of detail that makes room for small details, like the pail that the protagonist as a child pries out of frozen water at the start of the story, assisted by her adored dad. "I found an ice toy!" she says; "a great plaything", he replies, "the elliptical meanings of words tumbling in their mouths like sweet treats". The author narrates Emma's story with interest and closeness. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not entirely her own."
Disappointment and Disjunction
I was bound to become frustrated when I wished this fresh tone could persist to the end. The author states here that she resents the enjoyment those who appreciate polished prose have taken from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to fragmentation, to the messy artistic approach she echoes from her hero writer Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her past books returns in the middle section. Catt is trying to renovate 36 run-down apartments in the city's most challenging districts while traveling between two different states, failing to help Paul manage his alcohol use. She is overwhelmed as Paul transitions between low-resource employment as an substance abuse counselor in a environment driven by the anger and fear that underpins a political win. Multiple pages are devoted about Catt being cancelled on Twitter, her professional designation altered from "novelist" to "landlord" on Wikipedia. Kraus still seems to be overly concerned about this. In a moment she states that she's researching the homicide so that before leaving Minnesota, "she could potentially understand something about an America that her social media opponents would not understand, would not even perceive".
The Murder Narrative
So then we come to the murder itself – and the referenced day passed by the victim with the perpetrator and his companions. Kraus has excellent raw material, and knows hour by hour what transpired when Brandon came to visit Brittney after encountering her on a platform where she sold sex pictures. He anticipated intimacy but seems amiably to have occupied the day alongside her friends, wandering about fixing his automobile and paying for snacks and drugs, before being killed by gunfire by her romantic interest Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has frequently been hospitalised for aggressive outbursts.
Obsession and Unfinished Business
Catt gets obsessed by the account, and I found myself captivated by the way that the author's conflicting impulses towards responsible documentation 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 herself, who comes alive in part due to Catt seeing herself in her – another bright, bullied girl derailing in a struggling, neglected community. Kraus notes that Catt converses with Brittney in prison, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. The complete segment feels oddly unfinished, to the point that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par
