This latest work is populated with individuals seeking fresh starts, struggling to escape drugs or harmful partnerships, only to see hope turn into aggression. Kraus often employs the phrase "new beginning", making it deliberately jaded through constant reiteration. Examples include "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They opted for a clean break" are scattered across the story. Meanwhile, the author herself appears to be undertaking her individual reinvention, because this presents as a new kind of book – documentarian, truly literary. But then it proves to be packed with the familiar conflicts and styles as past novels.
From Accidental Writer to Iconic Work
Kraus began as an artist who transitioned to writing somewhat by chance with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, made up of epistles to an unresponsive love interest, transforming personal female narrative from humiliation into defiance. She kept producing books, but the following three engaging and challenging novels did not possess the shock and immediacy that the letter form infused into the narrative voice of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her identity as a nonconformist creator who had become a extensive real estate holder, so there was considerable focus on housing investments. It follows that she now wants to explore new kinds of material, looking outwards to external narratives, at a time when she asserts that Trumpian politics turns intimate literature unnecessary.
Several Eras, One Unescapable Past
The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, covering multiple eras – each trapped by their backgrounds. The book includes the tale of Emma and Jasper, representations of the author's parents, relocating from the New York borough to a pastoral setting. There is the account of Kraus, in the persona of Catt Greene, confronting the late recognition of I Love Dick, the rise of Trump, and her partner struggling with addiction Paul. The third thread involves the account of a killing of one directionless individual by another in a community mostly forsaken by progressive politics only 80 miles from Catt's rural residence in a remote part of Minnesota.
From my perspective as a reader fond of refined literature of the sort the author herself often avoids, I was seduced by the literary tone of the first section.
As a reader who favors precise prose of the kind that the author usually avoids, I was captivated by the literary tone of the first section. It possesses a novel degree of detail that allows space for small details, like the bucket that the young Catt frees from the ice at the start of the story, aided by her beloved father. "Look, an ice toy!" she declares; "a nice toy", he responds, "the nuanced interpretations of terms circulating in their speech like hard candy". The author narrates the tale of Emma with interest and closeness. "It seemed to Emma she had entered a dream – not entirely her own."
Disappointment and Disjunction
I was bound to become frustrated when I hoped this different style could continue through the novel. Kraus says here that she resents the pleasure readers like me have gotten from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to disjunction, to the unpolished style she shares with her inspiration Kathy Acker, and the emptiness and redundancy of her previous novels comes back in the central part. Catt is working on refurbishing three dozen dilapidated units in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while moving between Minnesota and LA, failing to help Paul manage his alcohol use. She feels helpless as Paul moves between poorly supported positions as an recovery specialist in a world fueled by the anger and fear that powers an electoral success. There are several pages about Catt's social media ostracism on Twitter, her professional designation altered from "author" to "real estate holder" on Wikipedia. She still gives the impression to care a little too much about this. On one occasion she states that she's looking into the killing so that before leaving Minnesota, "she might be able to learn something about an the United States that her Twitter detractors would not understand, would overlook entirely".
The Murder Narrative
So then we come to the actual killing – and the titular day passed by the murdered individual with the killer and his associates. Kraus utilizes compelling foundational content, and details moment by moment what transpired when a man named Brandon came to meet Brittney after meeting her on an app where she sold sex pictures. He was hoping for sex but seems amiably to have occupied the day in the company of her associates, mooching around getting his car mended and paying for snacks and drugs, before being killed by gunfire by Brittney's boyfriend Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has often been institutionalized for fits of anger.
Obsession and Unfinished Business
Catt develops an obsession by the story, and I found myself captivated by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards responsible documentation and reckless transgression wrestle in this part. But I'd have liked her to delve deeper into her personal fixations here. The compelling persona is Brittney herself, who comes alive in part due to Catt's identification with her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman going off the rails in a difficult, overlooked locality. Kraus tells us that Catt speaks to Brittney in prison, but she doesn't dramatise these conversations. The complete segment feels oddly unfinished, to the degree that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par
