This latest work is populated with protagonists chasing after fresh starts, attempting to leave behind addictions or harmful partnerships, only to see hope turn into conflict. The author frequently uses the phrase "fresh start", rendering it intentionally weary through its repetitions. Examples include "He could make a fresh start" and "They opted for a clean break" are scattered across the narrative. And yet, the author herself seems to be making her personal new beginning, as this seems a new kind of book – observational, genuinely novelistic. But then it turns out to be laden with the same dilemmas and approaches as earlier books.
From Unplanned Author to Renowned Book
The writer started out as an artist who entered the literary world almost accidentally with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, which was composed of missives to a distant beloved, transforming confessional female writing from humiliation into defiance. She persisted as a writer, but the next trio of compelling and abrasive novels did not possess the shock and immediacy that the letter form infused into the voice of I Love Dick. It didn't help was her role as a maverick maker who had evolved into a extensive real estate holder, so there was considerable focus on property transactions. It makes sense that she now wants to experiment with different types of content, directing her gaze to other people's stories, at a period in which she states that current political era renders personal narrative obsolete.
Several Eras, Shared Inescapable History
The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, encompassing several time periods – each trapped by their backgrounds. There is the story of a couple named Emma and Jasper, representations of her own mother and father, transitioning from the New York borough to a pastoral setting. There is the narrative of the author, in the character of Catt Greene, confronting the belated success of I Love Dick, the rise of Trump, 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 community long abandoned by liberal ideals only a short distance from the protagonist's home in rural Minnesota.
For this reader attracted to refined literature of the kind Kraus tends to eschew, I was enchanted by the literary tone of the first section.
As someone who reads drawn to crafted language of the kind that Kraus often disregards, I was captivated by the novelistic voice of the opening segment. There is a novel degree of detail that makes room for minutiae, like the bucket that the young Catt dislodges from ice at the beginning of the narrative, helped by her adored dad. "I found an ice toy!" she says; "a nice toy", he responds, "the nuanced interpretations of terms tumbling in their mouths like piece candy". Kraus writes Emma's narrative with interest and closeness. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not precisely her dream."
Letdown and Fragmentation
I was bound to become frustrated when I hoped this different style could persist to the end. The author states here that she resents the pleasure those who appreciate polished prose have taken from I Love Dick; she's committed to disruption, to the untidy aesthetics she has in common with her hero author Kathy Acker, and the emptiness and redundancy of her previous novels reasserts itself in the second segment. Catt Greene is attempting to do up three dozen dilapidated units in the city's most challenging districts while moving between Minnesota and LA, unsuccessful in assisting Paul control his drinking. She experiences powerlessness as Paul moves between underfunded jobs as an substance abuse counselor in a environment fueled by the hostility and dread that drives a political win. Multiple pages are devoted about the protagonist facing cancellation on social media, her occupation changed from "writer" to "landlord" on the online encyclopedia. The author still appears to care a little too much about this. In a moment she states that she's researching the homicide so that before exiting the region, "she could potentially understand something about an America that her social media opponents would fail to comprehend, would overlook entirely".
The Homicide Account
Thus we arrive to the actual killing – and the eponymous day passed by the deceased with the murderer and his associates. The author possesses excellent raw material, and knows hour by hour what transpired when a man named Brandon came to visit Brittney after connecting via an application where she sold sex pictures. He was hoping for sex but seems amiably to have occupied the day alongside her friends, loitering getting his car mended and funding treats and narcotics, before being shot by Brittney's boyfriend a man named Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has repeatedly received inpatient care for violent rage.
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 audacious rule-breaking wrestle in this part. However, I would have preferred her to delve deeper into her own obsessions here. The most interesting character 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 struggling, neglected community. The author informs us that the protagonist communicates with Brittney in detention, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. The complete segment feels strangely incomplete, to the extent that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par
