🔗 Share this article

The new book centers on characters seeking new beginnings, attempting to leave behind drugs or toxic relationships, only to find hope curdling into conflict. Kraus often employs the phrase "fresh start", making it willfully cynical through constant reiteration. Phrases such as "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They opted for a clean break" appear throughout the story. Meanwhile, the author herself appears to be undertaking her individual reinvention, because this presents as a different type of work – fact-based, genuinely novelistic. But then it turns out to be filled with the recurring issues and approaches as past novels.

From Accidental Writer to Iconic Work

The writer was originally an visual artist who transitioned to writing unintentionally with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, made up of letters to an unreceptive lover, transforming personal female narrative from self-debasement into defiance. She continued writing, but the three subsequent engaging and challenging novels did not possess the shock and immediacy that the epistolary style imparted to the voice of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her role as a maverick maker who had turned into a extensive real estate holder, so there was much discussion on real estate deals. It follows that she now wants to explore fresh narrative sources, directing her gaze to the experiences of others, at a period in which she asserts that Trumpian politics turns intimate literature obsolete.

Three Generations, One Unescapable Past

The Four Spent the Day Together is structured in three parts, encompassing several time periods – each trapped by their histories. There is the story of Emma and Jasper, versions of Kraus's parents, moving from the Bronx to rural Connecticut. Then there is the account of Kraus, in the character of Catt Greene, confronting the belated success of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her partner struggling with addiction Paul. The third thread involves the story of the murder of one directionless individual by another in a town largely deserted by forward-thinking policies only 80 miles from Catt's rural residence in a remote part of Minnesota.

For this reader attracted to refined literature of the sort the author herself often avoids, I was enchanted by the narrative style of the first section.

As someone who reads who favors honed writing of the style that Kraus herself often disregards, I was captivated by the novelistic voice of the first section. There is a new quality of attentiveness that makes room for trivial aspects, like the bucket that the youthful Catt dislodges from ice at the opening of the book, helped by her beloved father. "Look, an ice toy!" she exclaims; "a lovely toy", he answers, "the elliptical meanings of words circulating in their speech like hard candy". The author narrates Emma's story with curiosity and intimacy. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not entirely her own."

Frustration and Disruption

I was bound to become frustrated when I hoped this new voice could last out the book. Kraus notes here that she is annoyed by the pleasure those who appreciate polished prose have taken from I Love Dick; she's committed to disjunction, to the untidy aesthetics she echoes from her idol writer Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her earlier works reasserts itself in the central part. The protagonist is working on refurbishing multiple decrepit residences in the city's most challenging districts while shuttling between two different states, failing to help Paul curb his addiction. She feels helpless as Paul transitions between low-resource employment as an substance abuse counselor in a environment driven by the anger and fear that drives Trump's victory. A significant portion discusses about Catt being cancelled on social media, her occupation changed from "writer" to "property owner" on the online encyclopedia. She still gives the impression to invest excessive emotion about this. At one point she states that she's investigating the murder so that before leaving Minnesota, "she could potentially understand something about an the United States that her online critics would be unable to grasp, would not even perceive".

The Killing Story

Thus we arrive to the actual killing – and the eponymous day experienced by the victim with the killer and his friends. The author possesses excellent raw material, and details moment by moment what occurred as a man named Brandon came to meet Brittney after connecting via an application where she sold sex pictures. He sought a sexual encounter but seems amiably to have occupied the day in the company of her associates, loitering 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 often been institutionalized for aggressive outbursts.

Preoccupation and Open Ends

The protagonist becomes fixated by the account, and I was intrigued by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards ethical reporting and reckless transgression wrestle in this part. Yet I wished her to go further into her personal fixations here. The compelling persona is Brittney herself, who gains dimension in part due to Catt's identification with her – a similarly gifted, tormented individual going off the rails in a troubled, forgotten town. The author informs us that Catt converses with Brittney in jail, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. This entire part feels curiously unresolved, to the point that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par