This latest work features characters seeking new beginnings, attempting to leave behind substance abuse or toxic relationships, only to witness hope devolve into violence. The author often employs the phrase "clean slate", rendering it intentionally weary through constant reiteration. Phrases such as "He could make a fresh start" and "They decided to make a fresh start" are scattered across the text. And yet, Kraus herself appears to be undertaking her own fresh start, as this seems a new kind of book – observational, truly literary. But then it reveals itself to be packed with the same dilemmas and aesthetics as her previous works.
From Accidental Writer to Iconic Work
The writer was originally an visual artist who entered the literary world almost accidentally with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, structured as missives to a distant beloved, elevating intimate women's literature from humiliation into defiance. She persisted as a writer, but the next trio of fascinating and rebarbative novels did not possess the shock and immediacy that the correspondence format infused into the narrative voice of I Love Dick. It didn't help was her position as a renegade artist who had evolved into a major property owner, so there was significant attention on real estate deals. It follows that she presently aims to try out different types of content, directing her gaze to the experiences of others, at a moment when she claims that current political era turns intimate literature redundant.
Multiple 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 pasts. The book includes the narrative about Emma and Jasper, versions of Kraus's parents, transitioning from the Bronx to the Connecticut countryside. Then there is the story of Kraus herself, in the persona of Catt Greene, reckoning with the belated success of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her partner struggling with addiction a man named Paul. And there is the narrative of a homicide of one troubled youth by another in a town largely deserted by forward-thinking policies only a short distance from Catt's rural residence in rural Minnesota.
As a reader drawn to polished prose of the kind Kraus herself typically rejects, I was seduced by the novelistic voice of the initial segment.
As a reader who favors honed writing of the kind that the author often disregards, I was captivated by the literary tone of the first section. There is a new quality of attentiveness that accommodates minutiae, like the container that the protagonist as a child frees from the ice at the opening of the book, assisted by her adored dad. "I discovered a frozen plaything!" she exclaims; "a nice toy", he answers, "the elliptical meanings of words rolling around in their mouths like hard candy". The author narrates the tale of Emma with curiosity and intimacy. "Emma felt like she'd stepped into a dream – not hers, exactly."
Frustration and Disruption
I was destined to be disappointed when I wished this new voice could persist to the end. The author states here that she is annoyed by the satisfaction audiences such as myself have taken from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to disjunction, to the untidy aesthetics she shares with her idol author Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her past books comes back in the second segment. The protagonist is working on refurbishing 36 run-down apartments in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while shuttling between the Midwest and the West Coast, unsuccessful in assisting Paul curb his addiction. She experiences powerlessness as her spouse cycles through poorly supported positions as an recovery specialist in a environment fueled by the anger and fear that drives Trump's victory. A significant portion discusses about Catt's social media ostracism on social media, her professional designation altered from "author" to "landlord" on Wikipedia. She still gives the impression to invest excessive emotion about this. At one point she remarks that she's investigating the murder so that before departing the state, "she may grasp something about an the nation that her online critics would be unable to grasp, would not even perceive".
The Killing Story
Thus we arrive to the homicide in question – and the referenced day experienced by the victim with the killer and his associates. Kraus utilizes compelling foundational content, and knows hour by hour what happened when the victim Brandon came to visit Brittney after meeting her on an app where she sold sex pictures. He anticipated intimacy but appears congenially to have passed the day in the company of her associates, mooching around getting his car mended and covering the cost of food and substances, before being killed by gunfire by Brittney's boyfriend Micah – a individual with mental health challenges who has repeatedly received inpatient care for aggressive outbursts.
Fascination and Incompletion
Catt develops an obsession by the story, and I was intrigued by the way that the author's conflicting impulses towards accurate chronicling and reckless transgression tussle in this section. Yet I wished her to explore more thoroughly her personal fixations here. The most interesting character is the character Brittney, who gains dimension partly through the protagonist's connection to her – another bright, bullied girl going off the rails in a troubled, forgotten town. Kraus notes that the protagonist communicates with Brittney in detention, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. The whole section feels strangely incomplete, to the degree that her narrative ends almost mid-par
