The Four Spent the Day Together centers on individuals pursuing new beginnings, trying to break free from drugs or toxic relationships, only to find hope curdling into violence. The author repeatedly invokes the phrase "new beginning", rendering it willfully cynical through constant reiteration. Sentences like "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They opted for a clean break" recur in the narrative. Meanwhile, she is embarking on her personal new beginning, since this presents as a new kind of book – observational, truly literary. But then it reveals itself to be filled with the recurring issues and aesthetics as past novels.
From Accidental Writer to Cult Classic
Kraus started out as an creative who entered the literary world unintentionally with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, which was composed of letters to an unreceptive lover, converting personal female narrative from abjection into defiance. She persisted as a writer, but the next trio of engaging and challenging novels missed the impact and rawness that the correspondence format brought to the voice of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her identity as a maverick maker who had evolved into a major property owner, so there was considerable focus on property transactions. It makes sense that she presently aims to explore fresh narrative sources, looking outwards to the experiences of others, at a time when she asserts that current political era renders personal narrative obsolete.
Several Eras, Collective Unavoidable Background
The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, spanning multiple eras – all unable to escape their pasts. The book includes the narrative about a couple named Emma and Jasper, versions of Kraus's parents, relocating from the New York borough to rural Connecticut. Then there is the narrative of the author, in the character of Catt Greene, reckoning with the delayed acclaim of I Love Dick, the rise of Trump, and her substance-dependent spouse her husband Paul. And there is the account of a killing of one lost young man by another in a town long abandoned by progressive politics only a short distance from Catt's rural residence in a remote part of Minnesota.
For this reader fond of refined literature of the type Kraus herself tends to eschew, I was enchanted by the novelistic voice of the opening part.
As someone who reads who appreciates honed writing of the variety that the author tends to eschew, I was won over by the novelistic voice of the opening segment. It possesses a novel degree of detail that makes room for trivial aspects, like the container that the protagonist as a child pries out of frozen water at the start of the story, helped by her cherished parent. "I found an ice toy!" she exclaims; "a lovely toy", he replies, "the elliptical meanings of words rolling around in their mouths like piece candy". The author narrates Emma's story with curiosity and intimacy. "It seemed to Emma she had entered a dream – not precisely her dream."
Frustration and Disruption
I was destined to be disappointed when I expected this different style could last out the book. The author states here that she resents the satisfaction readers like me have taken from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to disruption, to the messy artistic approach she shares with her inspiration Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her previous novels reasserts itself in the middle section. Catt Greene is working on refurbishing multiple decrepit residences in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while shuttling between the Midwest and the West Coast, unable to aid Paul manage his alcohol use. She experiences powerlessness as Paul transitions between underfunded jobs as an substance abuse counselor in a environment fueled by the anger and fear that underpins Trump's victory. There are several pages about the protagonist facing cancellation on social media, her occupation changed from "novelist" to "real estate holder" on a reference site. The author still appears to invest excessive emotion about this. On one occasion she says that she's looking into the killing so that before exiting the region, "she could potentially understand something about an America that her Twitter detractors would be unable to grasp, would overlook entirely".
The Killing Story
Thus we arrive to the homicide in question – and the titular day spent by the deceased with the killer and his friends. Kraus utilizes excellent raw material, and knows hour by hour what happened when the victim Brandon came to visit Brittney after encountering her on a platform where she marketed explicit images. He anticipated intimacy but seems affably to have spent the day in the company of her associates, mooching around fixing his automobile and funding treats and narcotics, before being murdered by Brittney's partner Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has repeatedly received inpatient care for fits of anger.
Obsession and Unfinished Business
Catt develops an obsession by the narrative, and I found myself captivated by the way that the author's conflicting impulses towards responsible documentation and audacious rule-breaking wrestle in this part. Yet I wished her to go further into her personal fixations here. The most interesting character is Brittney, who gains dimension partly through Catt's identification with her – another bright, bullied girl derailing in a struggling, neglected community. The author informs us that Catt speaks to Brittney in jail, but she fails to enact these dialogues. The whole section feels strangely incomplete, to the degree that her narrative ends almost mid-par
