The Four Spent the Day Together is populated with protagonists chasing after clean slates, struggling to escape substance abuse or harmful partnerships, only to see hope turn into aggression. The author often employs the phrase "clean slate", transforming it into deliberately jaded through constant reiteration. Examples include "He could make a fresh start" and "They decided to make a fresh start" are scattered across the text. And yet, the author herself seems to be making her individual reinvention, since this appears a new kind of book – documentarian, truly literary. However it proves to be filled with the recurring issues and aesthetics as her previous works.
From Unplanned Author to Cult Classic
Kraus was originally an creative who transitioned to writing almost accidentally with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, which was composed of missives to a distant beloved, elevating confessional female writing from abjection into rebellion. She continued writing, but the three subsequent engaging and challenging novels missed the power and directness that the correspondence format brought to the voice of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her identity as a maverick maker who had become a major property owner, so there was considerable focus on housing investments. It follows that she now wants to experiment with different types of content, looking outwards to the experiences of others, at a moment when she asserts that current political era makes confessional writing redundant.
Several Eras, One Unescapable Past
The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, covering multiple eras – all unable to escape their backgrounds. The book includes the narrative about a couple named Emma and Jasper, versions of Kraus's parents, relocating from the Bronx to the Connecticut countryside. Then there is the story of Kraus herself, in the persona of Catt Greene, confronting the belated success of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her addict husband Paul. Finally the narrative of a homicide of one directionless individual by another in a locality long abandoned by forward-thinking policies only a short distance from Catt's cottage in a remote part of Minnesota.
From my perspective as a reader attracted to refined literature of the type the author herself typically rejects, I was captivated by the novelistic voice of the first section.
As someone who reads drawn to honed writing of the variety that Kraus usually avoids, I was captivated by the literary tone of the initial part. It possesses a new quality of attentiveness that allows space for small details, like the pail that the young Catt dislodges from ice at the beginning of the narrative, aided by her beloved father. "Look, an ice toy!" she says; "a great plaything", he responds, "the nuanced interpretations of terms tumbling in their mouths like piece candy". Kraus writes the tale of Emma with curiosity and intimacy. "Emma felt like she'd stepped into a dream – not hers, exactly."
Disappointment and Disjunction
I was fated to feel let down when I expected this different style could persist to the end. The author states here that she dislikes the satisfaction readers like me have gotten from I Love Dick; she's devoted to disruption, to the unpolished style she shares with her inspiration Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her past books reasserts itself in the middle section. Catt is working on refurbishing multiple decrepit residences in the city's most challenging districts while traveling between the Midwest and the West Coast, unsuccessful in assisting Paul control his drinking. She feels helpless as Paul moves between low-resource employment as an addiction therapist in a world fueled by the rage and anxiety that powers an electoral success. A significant portion discusses about Catt's social media ostracism on social media, her professional designation altered from "writer" to "real estate holder" on Wikipedia. The author still appears to invest excessive emotion about this. At one point she remarks that she's looking into the killing so that before leaving Minnesota, "she might be able to learn something about an America that her Twitter detractors would fail to comprehend, would not even see".
The Homicide Account
Then we reach to the actual killing – and the referenced day passed by the deceased with the killer and his companions. Kraus utilizes great source material, and details moment by moment what transpired when the victim Brandon came to see Brittney after encountering her on a platform where she sold sex pictures. He sought a sexual encounter but appears congenially to have passed the day in the company of her associates, wandering about getting his car mended and paying for snacks and drugs, before being shot by Brittney's partner Micah – a individual with mental health challenges who has often been institutionalized for violent rage.
Obsession and Unfinished Business
The protagonist becomes fixated by the account, and I was intrigued by the way that her twin drives towards accurate chronicling and daring boundary-pushing wrestle in this part. However, I would have preferred her to go further into her own obsessions here. The standout figure is the character Brittney, who gains dimension in part due to the protagonist's connection to her – a similarly gifted, tormented individual spiraling out of control in a troubled, forgotten town. Kraus tells us that Catt converses with Brittney in detention, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. The whole section feels oddly unfinished, to the point that her narrative ends almost mid-par
