The Four Spent the Day Together centers on characters pursuing fresh starts, struggling to escape addictions or abusive marriages, only to witness hope devolve into aggression. Kraus repeatedly invokes the phrase "new beginning", transforming it into willfully cynical through constant reiteration. Sentences like "He aimed to start over" and "They chose to begin anew" appear throughout the story. Meanwhile, the author herself seems to be making her personal new beginning, as this presents as a novel form of writing – observational, truly literary. However it proves to be packed with the same dilemmas and aesthetics as earlier books.
From Unplanned Author to Iconic Work
Kraus began as an visual artist who entered the literary world somewhat by chance with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, made up of missives to a distant beloved, elevating intimate women's literature from abjection into assassination. She continued writing, but the following three engaging and challenging novels did not possess the impact and rawness that the letter form infused into the voice of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her role as a nonconformist creator who had become a large-scale low-rent landlord, so there was much discussion on real estate deals. It follows that she currently desires to experiment with different types of content, turning outward to other people's stories, at a period in which she claims that current political era makes confessional writing redundant.
Three Generations, Shared Inescapable History
The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, spanning several time periods – all unable to escape their histories. The book includes the story of a couple named Emma and Jasper, representations of the author's parents, moving from the urban environment to the Connecticut countryside. There is the narrative of the author, in the character of protagonist Catt Greene, confronting the late recognition of I Love Dick, the rise of Trump, and her partner struggling with addiction her husband Paul. Finally the story of the murder of one directionless individual by another in a community long abandoned by liberal ideals only 80 miles from Catt's cottage in rural Minnesota.
For this reader fond of polished prose of the kind the author herself typically rejects, I was captivated by the novelistic voice of the first section.
As a reader drawn to honed writing of the variety that Kraus herself often disregards, I was captivated by the novelistic voice of the opening segment. It exhibits a fresh level of observation that accommodates small details, like the pail that the youthful Catt dislodges from ice at the start of the story, helped by her cherished parent. "I found an ice toy!" she exclaims; "a lovely toy", he responds, "the nuanced interpretations of terms rolling around in their mouths like hard candy". She tells Emma's story with interest and closeness. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not precisely her dream."
Frustration and Disruption
I was bound to become frustrated when I hoped this new voice could last out the book. Kraus says here that she dislikes the enjoyment audiences such as myself have gotten from I Love Dick; she's devoted to fragmentation, to the untidy aesthetics she echoes from her idol author Kathy Acker, and the emptiness and redundancy of her earlier works returns in the second segment. Catt is attempting to do up three dozen dilapidated units in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while traveling between the Midwest and the West Coast, unable to aid her husband manage his alcohol use. She is overwhelmed as her spouse cycles through underfunded jobs as an addiction therapist in a world fueled by the anger and fear that powers an electoral success. A significant portion discusses about Catt being cancelled on a platform, her listed profession modified from "novelist" to "real estate holder" on Wikipedia. The author still appears to care a little too much about this. In a moment 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 social media opponents would not understand, would not even see".
The Killing Story
Then we reach to the murder itself – and the eponymous day passed by the deceased with the perpetrator and his companions. The author possesses compelling foundational content, and reconstructs step by step what occurred as the victim Brandon came to meet Brittney after encountering her on a platform where she marketed explicit images. He sought a sexual encounter but appears congenially to have passed the day with her companions, loitering getting his car mended and funding treats and narcotics, before being shot by her romantic interest Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has repeatedly received inpatient care for aggressive outbursts.
Fascination and Incompletion
Catt gets obsessed by the account, and I found myself captivated by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards responsible documentation and audacious rule-breaking tussle in this section. But I'd have liked her to delve deeper into her own obsessions here. The most interesting character is Brittney herself, who gains dimension partially because of Catt seeing herself in her – another bright, bullied girl derailing in a struggling, neglected community. Kraus notes that Catt speaks to Brittney in detention, 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
