This latest work features individuals chasing after clean slates, attempting to leave behind drugs or toxic relationships, only to see hope turn into aggression. The author frequently uses the phrase "clean slate", transforming it into intentionally weary through its repetitions. Examples include "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They opted for a clean break" are scattered across the text. At the same time, the author herself is embarking on her individual reinvention, because this appears a novel form of writing – observational, genuinely novelistic. Yet it reveals itself to be laden with the recurring issues and approaches as earlier books.
From Chance Novelist to Iconic Work
Kraus was originally an creative who entered the literary world unintentionally with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, which was composed of letters to an unreceptive lover, converting intimate women's literature from self-debasement into rebellion. She continued writing, but the following three compelling and abrasive novels did not possess the shock and immediacy that the epistolary style brought to the narrative voice of I Love Dick. It didn't help was her identity as a nonconformist creator who had turned into a large-scale low-rent landlord, so there was significant attention on property transactions. It makes sense that she currently desires to experiment with fresh narrative sources, directing her gaze to other people's stories, at a time when she asserts that contemporary political climate turns intimate literature obsolete.
Three Generations, Collective Unavoidable Background
The Four Spent the Day Together is structured in three parts, spanning multiple eras – all unable to escape their backgrounds. The book includes the story of a couple named Emma and Jasper, representations of her own mother and father, moving from the New York borough to rural Connecticut. Then there is the account of Kraus, in the character of a figure named Catt Greene, confronting the late recognition of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her substance-dependent spouse her husband Paul. And there is the account of a killing of one troubled youth by another in a community mostly forsaken by liberal ideals only a short distance from Catt's rural residence in a remote part of Minnesota.
As a reader drawn to polished prose of the type Kraus tends to eschew, I was captivated by the novelistic voice of the first section.
As someone who reads who favors crafted language of the style that Kraus herself often disregards, I was won over by the literary tone of the first section. It exhibits a new quality of attentiveness that allows space for small details, like the pail that the youthful Catt frees from the ice at the start of the story, aided by her adored dad. "I found an ice toy!" she exclaims; "a nice toy", he answers, "the elliptical meanings of words tumbling in their mouths like piece candy". The author narrates Emma's story with inquiry and familiarity. "It seemed to Emma she had entered a dream – not entirely her own."
Disappointment and Disjunction
I was destined to be disappointed when I wished this different style could last out the book. The author states here that she dislikes the enjoyment readers like me have derived from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to fragmentation, to the unpolished style she shares with her idol author Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her past books reasserts itself in the middle section. The protagonist is working on refurbishing multiple decrepit residences in the city's most challenging districts while traveling between Minnesota and LA, unsuccessful in assisting her husband control his drinking. She experiences powerlessness as Paul transitions between underfunded jobs as an addiction therapist in a environment fueled by the rage and anxiety that underpins a political win. A significant portion discusses about Catt's social media ostracism on social media, her listed profession modified from "novelist" to "real estate holder" on Wikipedia. Kraus still seems to care a little too much about this. On one occasion she remarks that she's researching the homicide so that before leaving Minnesota, "she may grasp something about an the United States that her online critics would fail to comprehend, would not even perceive".
The Homicide Account
So then we come to the actual killing – and the titular day experienced by the murdered individual with the murderer and his associates. Kraus has compelling foundational content, and details moment by moment what transpired when Brandon came to see Brittney after encountering her on a platform where she offered adult photos. He anticipated intimacy but seems affably to have spent the day in the company of her associates, mooching around getting his car mended and funding treats and narcotics, before being shot by Brittney's partner Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has frequently been hospitalised for fits of anger.
Preoccupation and Open Ends
Catt gets obsessed by the story, and I was intrigued by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards responsible documentation and reckless transgression clash in this segment. But I'd have liked her to explore more thoroughly her individual preoccupations here. The compelling persona is the character Brittney, who comes alive partially because of the protagonist's connection to her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman going off the rails in a troubled, forgotten town. Kraus notes that Catt speaks to Brittney in jail, but she doesn't dramatise these conversations. The complete segment feels strangely incomplete, to the point that her narrative ends almost mid-par
