The new book is populated with characters chasing after new beginnings, struggling to escape drugs or toxic relationships, only to witness hope devolve into aggression. Kraus often employs the phrase "clean slate", transforming it into willfully cynical through constant reiteration. Phrases such as "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They chose to begin anew" are scattered across the story. And yet, she is embarking on her individual reinvention, because this seems a different type of work – observational, truly literary. However it reveals itself to be laden with the recurring issues and approaches as her previous works.
From Accidental Writer to Renowned Book
The writer started out as an artist who entered the literary world unintentionally with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, which was composed of epistles to an unresponsive love interest, transforming personal female narrative from abjection into defiance. She continued writing, but the following three engaging and challenging novels missed the impact and rawness that the letter form brought to the tone of I Love Dick. It didn't help was her role as a maverick maker who had turned into a large-scale low-rent landlord, so there was much discussion on real estate deals. It follows that she currently desires to experiment with fresh narrative sources, turning outward to external narratives, at a time when she claims that current political era turns intimate literature obsolete.
Three Generations, Shared Inescapable History
The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, spanning several time periods – each trapped by their backgrounds. The book includes the tale of Emma and Jasper, based on her own mother and father, transitioning from the New York borough to rural Connecticut. There is the account of Kraus, in the character of protagonist Catt Greene, confronting the belated success of I Love Dick, the rise of Trump, and her substance-dependent spouse Paul. The third thread involves the story of the murder of one directionless individual by another in a community long abandoned by forward-thinking policies only 80 miles from the protagonist's home in the Minnesota countryside.
From my perspective as a reader drawn to refined literature of the type Kraus herself typically rejects, I was enchanted by the literary tone of the first section.
As someone who reads who appreciates precise prose of the style that Kraus herself tends to eschew, I was won over by the storytelling approach of the initial part. It possesses a new quality of attentiveness that accommodates small details, like the pail that the youthful Catt dislodges from ice at the beginning of the narrative, aided by her beloved father. "Look, an ice toy!" she exclaims; "a nice toy", he replies, "the ambiguous meanings of language circulating in their speech like piece candy". The author narrates the tale of Emma with interest and closeness. "It seemed to Emma she had entered a dream – not precisely her dream."
Letdown and Fragmentation
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 enjoyment those who appreciate polished prose have taken from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to disjunction, to the messy artistic approach she echoes from her idol author Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her past books returns in the middle section. The protagonist is trying to renovate multiple decrepit residences in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while traveling between two different states, unable to aid her husband curb his addiction. She is overwhelmed as her spouse moves between low-resource employment as an recovery specialist in a society propelled by the anger and fear that underpins an electoral success. A significant portion discusses about Catt's social media ostracism on Twitter, her listed profession modified from "writer" to "landlord" on the online encyclopedia. The author still appears to invest excessive emotion about this. In a moment she states that she's researching the homicide so that before exiting the region, "she could potentially understand something about an America that her Twitter detractors would fail to comprehend, would overlook entirely".
The Homicide Account
Then we reach to the actual killing – and the titular day experienced by the deceased with the murderer and his associates. Kraus utilizes excellent raw material, and details moment by moment what occurred as the victim Brandon came to meet Brittney after connecting via an application where she offered adult photos. He sought a sexual encounter but seems amiably to have occupied the day in the company of her associates, wandering about having his vehicle repaired and paying for snacks and drugs, before being killed by gunfire by her romantic interest a man named Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has frequently been hospitalised for fits of anger.
Obsession and Unfinished Business
Catt develops an obsession by the story, and I was intrigued by the way that her twin drives towards responsible documentation and reckless transgression tussle in this section. Yet I wished her to go further into her own obsessions here. The most interesting character is Brittney herself, who becomes vivid partially because of Catt seeing herself in her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman derailing in a troubled, forgotten town. The author informs us that Catt speaks to Brittney in prison, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. This entire part feels curiously unresolved, to the degree that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par
