The Four Spent the Day Together features characters pursuing new beginnings, attempting to leave behind addictions or harmful partnerships, only to see hope turn into violence. Kraus frequently uses the phrase "fresh start", rendering it deliberately jaded through recurring use. Phrases such as "He could make a fresh start" and "They opted for a clean break" recur in the narrative. Meanwhile, she seems to be making her personal new beginning, because this appears a new kind of book – fact-based, truly literary. Yet it reveals itself to be filled with the recurring issues and styles as earlier books.
From Chance Novelist to Cult Classic
Kraus began as an artist who transitioned to writing somewhat by chance with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, which was composed of letters to an unreceptive lover, transforming confessional female writing from humiliation into assassination. 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 narrative voice of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her position as a renegade artist who had become a major property owner, so there was much discussion on real estate deals. It follows that she currently desires to try out different types of content, directing her gaze to other people's stories, at a moment when she asserts that Trumpian politics renders personal narrative obsolete.
Several Eras, One Unescapable Past
The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, encompassing multiple eras – all unable to escape their backgrounds. The book includes the narrative about characters Emma and Jasper, based on her own mother and father, moving from the urban environment to a pastoral setting. There is the story of Kraus herself, in the persona of protagonist Catt Greene, confronting the delayed acclaim of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her addict husband Paul. The third thread involves the account of a killing of one lost young man by another in a locality mostly forsaken by liberal ideals only a short distance from Catt's cottage in a remote part of Minnesota.
As a reader attracted to honed writing of the sort Kraus herself tends to eschew, I was captivated by the narrative style of the opening part.
As a reader who favors precise prose of the kind that Kraus usually avoids, I was won over by the novelistic voice of the first section. It possesses a new quality of attentiveness that accommodates minutiae, like the pail that the youthful Catt frees from the ice at the start of the story, assisted by her adored dad. "I discovered a frozen plaything!" she exclaims; "a lovely toy", he responds, "the ambiguous meanings of language tumbling in their mouths like piece candy". The author narrates the tale of Emma with inquiry and familiarity. "It seemed to Emma she had entered a dream – not hers, exactly."
Disappointment and Disjunction
I was bound to become frustrated when I wished this fresh tone could persist to the end. Kraus notes here that she resents the pleasure those who appreciate polished prose have taken from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to disruption, to the untidy aesthetics she shares with her hero writer Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her past books reasserts itself in the central part. Catt Greene is working on refurbishing 36 run-down apartments in the city's most challenging districts while moving between two different states, unable to aid Paul manage his alcohol use. She experiences powerlessness as Paul cycles through poorly supported positions as an substance abuse counselor in a environment propelled by the anger and fear that drives Trump's victory. A significant portion discusses about the protagonist facing cancellation on social media, her listed profession modified from "novelist" to "landlord" on a reference site. Kraus still seems to be overly concerned 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 social media opponents would be unable to grasp, would not even see".
The Homicide Account
Thus we arrive to the actual killing – and the titular day spent by the victim with the murderer and his companions. The author possesses excellent raw material, and details moment by moment what occurred as the victim Brandon came to meet Brittney after meeting her on an app where she marketed explicit images. He sought a sexual encounter but appears congenially to have passed the day in the company of her associates, wandering about having his vehicle repaired and paying for snacks and drugs, before being killed by gunfire by her romantic interest a man named Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has frequently been hospitalised for fits of anger.
Fascination and Incompletion
Catt develops an obsession by the narrative, and I was fascinated by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards responsible documentation and daring boundary-pushing tussle in this section. However, I would have preferred her to go further into her personal fixations here. The standout figure is the character Brittney, who gains dimension partly through Catt's identification with her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman spiraling out of control in a difficult, overlooked locality. The author informs us that the protagonist communicates with Brittney in prison, but she doesn't dramatise these conversations. This entire part feels curiously unresolved, to the degree that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par
