This latest work is populated with characters pursuing fresh starts, struggling to escape addictions or toxic relationships, only to witness hope devolve into conflict. The author repeatedly invokes the phrase "fresh start", transforming it into intentionally weary through constant reiteration. Phrases such as "He could make a fresh start" and "They decided to make a fresh start" recur in the narrative. At the same time, the author herself seems to be making her own fresh start, because this seems a novel form of writing – observational, truly literary. However it turns out to be packed with the same dilemmas and styles as earlier books.
From Chance Novelist to Renowned Book
Kraus began as an artist who became a writer unintentionally with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, which was composed of missives to a distant beloved, converting intimate women's literature from abjection into rebellion. She continued writing, but the following three engaging and challenging novels lacked the shock and immediacy that the correspondence format brought to the narrative voice of I Love Dick. It didn't help was her position as a maverick maker who had become a extensive real estate holder, so there was considerable focus on property transactions. It is logical that she currently desires to try out fresh narrative sources, directing her gaze to the experiences of others, at a time when she asserts that Trumpian politics renders personal narrative redundant.
Three Generations, One Unescapable Past
The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, spanning multiple eras – all unable to escape their histories. We encounter the tale of Emma and Jasper, representations of her own mother and father, relocating from the urban environment to a pastoral setting. Then there is the account of Kraus, in the guise of a figure named Catt Greene, reckoning with the belated success of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her addict husband her husband Paul. And there is the story of the murder of one troubled youth by another in a locality largely deserted by liberal ideals only a short distance from Catt's rural residence in rural Minnesota.
As a reader fond of honed writing of the sort Kraus typically rejects, I was enchanted by the novelistic voice of the opening part.
As a reader who appreciates honed writing of the variety that the author usually avoids, I was captivated by the novelistic voice of the opening segment. It possesses a fresh level of observation that allows space for small details, like the container that the protagonist as a child dislodges from ice at the opening of the book, assisted by her adored dad. "Look, an ice toy!" she declares; "a nice toy", he replies, "the ambiguous meanings of language circulating in their speech like piece candy". Kraus writes the tale of Emma with curiosity and intimacy. "It seemed to Emma she had entered a dream – not entirely her own."
Frustration and Disruption
I was bound to become frustrated when I expected this new voice could last out the book. Kraus says here that she is annoyed by the enjoyment audiences such as myself have taken from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to fragmentation, to the messy artistic approach she shares with her hero writer Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her past books reasserts itself in the middle section. Catt is attempting to do up 36 run-down apartments in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while traveling between Minnesota and LA, unsuccessful in assisting her husband curb his addiction. She is overwhelmed as Paul transitions between poorly supported positions as an addiction therapist in a world driven by the anger and fear that underpins Trump's victory. A significant portion discusses about Catt's social media ostracism on a platform, her professional designation altered from "author" to "landlord" on a reference site. The author still appears to care a little too much about this. At one point she remarks that she's investigating the murder so that before exiting the region, "she may grasp 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 eponymous day spent by the deceased with the perpetrator and his friends. Kraus utilizes excellent raw material, and details moment by moment what happened when a man named Brandon came to visit Brittney after connecting via an application where she offered adult photos. He was hoping for sex but appears congenially to have passed the day in the company of her associates, mooching around fixing his automobile and funding treats and narcotics, before being killed by gunfire by her romantic interest a man named Micah – a individual with mental health challenges who has repeatedly received inpatient care for fits of anger.
Preoccupation and Open Ends
Catt gets obsessed by the account, and I found myself captivated by the way that her twin drives towards ethical reporting and reckless transgression clash in this segment. But I'd have liked her to go further into her personal fixations here. The standout figure is Brittney herself, who becomes vivid partly through the protagonist's connection to her – another bright, bullied girl derailing in a difficult, overlooked locality. Kraus tells us that Catt converses with Brittney in jail, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. The whole section feels oddly unfinished, to the point that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par
