The Four Spent the Day Together centers on characters seeking new beginnings, trying to break free from addictions or toxic relationships, only to find hope curdling into conflict. Kraus repeatedly invokes the phrase "new beginning", transforming it into deliberately jaded through its repetitions. Examples include "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They opted for a clean break" appear throughout the story. Meanwhile, she appears to be undertaking her own fresh start, as this presents as a new kind of book – fact-based, truly literary. Yet it turns out to be packed with the recurring issues and styles as past novels.
From Accidental Writer to Renowned Book
Kraus started out as an creative who entered the literary world almost accidentally with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, structured as missives to a distant beloved, elevating personal female narrative from abjection into rebellion. She kept producing books, but the next trio of fascinating and rebarbative novels missed the power and directness that the correspondence format brought to the voice of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her position as a maverick maker who had turned into a major property owner, so there was much discussion on housing investments. It is logical that she currently desires to experiment with fresh narrative sources, turning outward to external narratives, at a moment when she asserts that contemporary political climate renders personal narrative redundant.
Three Generations, One Unescapable Past
The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, covering three generations – each trapped by their pasts. The book includes the tale of characters Emma and Jasper, based on Kraus's parents, moving from the New York borough to rural Connecticut. Then there is the account of Kraus, in the character of Catt Greene, grappling with the belated success of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her partner struggling with addiction a man named Paul. And there is the account of a killing of one directionless individual by another in a locality largely deserted by progressive politics only a short distance from Catt's cottage in the Minnesota countryside.
From my perspective as a reader attracted to polished prose of the sort Kraus herself tends to eschew, I was enchanted by the narrative style of the opening part.
As someone who reads who appreciates precise prose of the style that Kraus herself usually avoids, I was won over by the literary tone of the initial part. There is a fresh level of observation that makes room for small details, like the bucket that the youthful Catt pries out of frozen water at the start of the story, helped by her cherished parent. "Look, an ice toy!" she declares; "a lovely toy", he answers, "the nuanced interpretations of terms rolling around in their mouths like hard candy". Kraus writes Emma's story with interest and closeness. "Emma felt like she'd stepped into a dream – not hers, exactly."
Disappointment and Disjunction
I was destined to be disappointed when I expected this new voice could persist to the end. Kraus notes here that she is annoyed by the satisfaction audiences such as myself have gotten from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to disruption, to the unpolished style she shares with her inspiration Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her previous novels comes back in the second segment. The protagonist is attempting to do up 36 run-down apartments in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while traveling between two different states, unsuccessful in assisting Paul manage his alcohol use. She feels helpless as Paul moves between poorly supported positions as an addiction therapist in a society propelled by the anger and fear that powers an electoral success. Multiple pages are devoted about Catt being cancelled on social media, her professional designation altered from "writer" to "landlord" on the online encyclopedia. The author still appears to care a little too much about this. On one occasion she remarks that she's looking into the killing so that before leaving Minnesota, "she could potentially understand something about an the nation that her Twitter detractors would fail to comprehend, would overlook entirely".
The Killing Story
So then we come to the homicide in question – and the eponymous day spent by the victim with the perpetrator and his friends. The author possesses great source material, and knows hour by hour what occurred as Brandon came to meet Brittney after meeting her on an app where she offered adult photos. He anticipated intimacy but appears congenially to have passed the day in the company of her associates, wandering about fixing his automobile and covering the cost of food and substances, before being killed by gunfire by Brittney's partner 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 story, and I was intrigued by the way that the author's conflicting impulses towards accurate chronicling and daring boundary-pushing wrestle in this part. Yet I wished her to delve deeper into her individual preoccupations here. The standout figure is Brittney herself, who comes alive partially because of Catt seeing herself in her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman spiraling out of control in a difficult, overlooked locality. Kraus notes that the protagonist communicates with Brittney in jail, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. The complete segment feels curiously unresolved, to the extent that her narrative ends almost mid-par
