The Four Spent the Day Together is populated with protagonists chasing after new beginnings, struggling to escape substance abuse or toxic relationships, only to see hope turn into violence. Kraus repeatedly invokes the phrase "new beginning", transforming it into intentionally weary through its repetitions. Examples include "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They opted for a clean break" appear throughout the text. And yet, Kraus herself appears to be undertaking her personal new beginning, as this presents as a different type of work – documentarian, truly literary. However it proves to be packed with the recurring issues and aesthetics as earlier books.
From Unplanned Author to Cult Classic
The writer was originally an visual artist who entered the literary world somewhat by chance with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, which was composed of epistles to an unresponsive love interest, transforming confessional female writing from humiliation into assassination. She continued writing, but the three subsequent fascinating and rebarbative novels lacked the power and directness that the correspondence format brought to the tone of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her position as a nonconformist creator who had turned into a major property owner, so there was significant attention on property transactions. It is logical that she now wants to experiment with new kinds of material, turning outward to external narratives, at a period in which she states that Trumpian politics 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 histories. We encounter the narrative about characters Emma and Jasper, representations of her own mother and father, transitioning from the urban environment to rural Connecticut. Then there is the narrative of the author, in the guise of Catt Greene, reckoning with the late recognition of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her addict husband a man named Paul. The third thread involves the account of a killing of one troubled youth by another in a locality mostly forsaken by forward-thinking policies only a brief drive from Catt's cottage in a remote part of Minnesota.
For this reader attracted to refined literature of the type Kraus herself often avoids, I was enchanted by the narrative style of the first section.
As someone who reads who favors precise prose of the variety that the author usually avoids, I was captivated by the storytelling approach of the initial part. There is a new quality of attentiveness that allows space for small details, like the container that the young Catt frees from the ice at the beginning of the narrative, helped by her adored dad. "I found an ice toy!" she says; "a lovely toy", he answers, "the elliptical meanings of words rolling around in their mouths like piece candy". She tells the tale of Emma with inquiry and familiarity. "Emma felt like she'd stepped into a dream – not precisely her dream."
Letdown and Fragmentation
I was destined to be disappointed when I wished this fresh tone could last out the book. Kraus says here that she resents the enjoyment audiences such as myself have taken from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to fragmentation, to the untidy aesthetics she shares with her inspiration Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her previous novels returns in the middle section. The protagonist is trying to renovate 36 run-down apartments in the city's most challenging districts while traveling between Minnesota and LA, unsuccessful in assisting Paul control his drinking. She experiences powerlessness as her spouse cycles through underfunded jobs as an substance abuse counselor in a society propelled by the anger and fear that powers an electoral success. A significant portion discusses about Catt being cancelled on a platform, her professional designation altered from "author" to "landlord" on Wikipedia. Kraus still seems to be overly concerned about this. At one point she says that she's investigating the murder so that before exiting the region, "she may grasp something about an America that her social media opponents would fail to comprehend, would overlook entirely".
The Homicide Account
Then we reach to the actual killing – and the titular day passed by the murdered individual with the killer and his associates. Kraus has excellent raw material, and reconstructs step by step what transpired when the victim Brandon came to visit Brittney after connecting via an application where she marketed explicit images. He anticipated intimacy but seems amiably to have occupied the day in the company of her associates, wandering about having his vehicle repaired and paying for snacks and drugs, before being murdered by Brittney's partner Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has frequently been hospitalised for aggressive outbursts.
Preoccupation and Open Ends
Catt develops an obsession by the story, and I was fascinated by the way that the author's conflicting impulses towards responsible documentation and audacious rule-breaking tussle in this section. However, I would have preferred her to explore more thoroughly her personal fixations here. The standout figure is the character Brittney, who gains dimension partly through Catt's identification with her – a similarly gifted, tormented individual spiraling out of control in a difficult, overlooked locality. The author informs us that the protagonist communicates with Brittney in jail, but she fails to enact these dialogues. The whole section feels oddly unfinished, to the degree that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par
