The Four Spent the Day Together is populated with protagonists seeking fresh starts, attempting to leave behind drugs or abusive marriages, only to find hope curdling into conflict. The author often employs the phrase "fresh start", making it willfully cynical through its repetitions. Phrases such as "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They chose to begin anew" are scattered across the text. At the same time, Kraus herself is embarking on her individual reinvention, because this appears a different type of work – fact-based, genuinely novelistic. But then it reveals itself to be laden with the familiar conflicts and styles as past novels.
From Chance Novelist to Iconic Work
The writer started out as an artist who entered the literary world almost accidentally with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, which was composed of letters to an unreceptive lover, transforming confessional female writing from self-debasement into rebellion. She continued writing, but the three subsequent compelling and abrasive novels lacked the shock and immediacy that the letter form brought to the narrative voice of I Love Dick. It didn't help was her position as a nonconformist creator who had turned into a major property owner, so there was much discussion on real estate deals. It makes sense that she currently desires to experiment with new kinds of material, looking outwards to the experiences of others, at a time when she asserts that current political era makes confessional writing redundant.
Multiple Generations, One Unescapable Past
The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, spanning multiple eras – all unable to escape their histories. We encounter the narrative about Emma and Jasper, versions of Kraus's parents, moving from the New York borough to rural Connecticut. There is the narrative of the author, in the guise of Catt Greene, reckoning with the belated success of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her partner struggling with addiction Paul. And there is the account of a killing of one directionless individual by another in a community long abandoned by progressive politics only 80 miles from the protagonist's home in the Minnesota countryside.
As a reader drawn to refined literature of the type Kraus typically rejects, I was captivated by the narrative style of the opening part.
Being a reader who appreciates honed writing of the style that Kraus herself usually avoids, I was won over by the literary tone of the first section. There is a novel degree of detail that makes room for minutiae, like the pail that the youthful Catt frees from the ice at the opening of the book, helped by her cherished parent. "I found an ice toy!" she declares; "a nice toy", he responds, "the ambiguous meanings of language tumbling in their mouths like sweet treats". The author narrates Emma's story with inquiry and familiarity. "Emma felt like she'd stepped into a dream – not precisely her dream."
Letdown and Fragmentation
I was bound to become frustrated when I expected this different style could continue through the novel. Kraus notes here that she resents the satisfaction those who appreciate polished prose have taken from I Love Dick; she's committed to fragmentation, to the messy artistic approach she shares with her hero author Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her earlier works returns in the second segment. Catt Greene is trying to renovate 36 run-down apartments in the city's most challenging districts while traveling between Minnesota and LA, unable to aid her husband manage his alcohol use. She feels helpless as Paul transitions between poorly supported positions as an substance abuse counselor in a environment propelled by the hostility and dread that drives a political win. A significant portion discusses about the protagonist facing cancellation on social media, her professional designation altered from "author" to "real estate holder" on the online encyclopedia. She still gives the impression to be overly concerned about this. On one occasion she says that she's looking into the killing so that before departing the state, "she could potentially understand something about an the nation that her social media opponents would not understand, would overlook entirely".
The Homicide Account
Thus we arrive to the actual killing – and the eponymous day spent by the murdered individual with the perpetrator and his friends. Kraus utilizes compelling foundational content, and details moment by moment what happened when the victim Brandon came to meet Brittney after meeting her on an app where she offered adult photos. He was hoping for sex but appears congenially to have passed the day with her companions, mooching around getting his car mended and paying for snacks and drugs, before being shot by her romantic interest Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has frequently been hospitalised for violent rage.
Preoccupation and Open Ends
Catt develops an obsession by the account, and I was fascinated by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards ethical reporting and reckless transgression clash in this segment. Yet I wished her to delve deeper into her own obsessions here. The standout figure is the character Brittney, who becomes vivid in part due to Catt seeing herself in her – a similarly gifted, tormented individual going off the rails in a difficult, overlooked locality. Kraus tells us that Catt speaks to Brittney in detention, but she fails to enact these dialogues. This entire part feels curiously unresolved, to the point that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par
