The new book is populated with individuals seeking fresh starts, struggling to escape drugs or harmful partnerships, only to witness hope devolve into conflict. Kraus frequently uses the phrase "clean slate", transforming it into intentionally weary through constant reiteration. Phrases such as "He could make a fresh start" and "They chose to begin anew" are scattered across the text. At the same time, the author herself is embarking on her own fresh start, because this presents as a different type of work – fact-based, genuinely novelistic. However it reveals itself to be filled with the same dilemmas and approaches as earlier books.
From Unplanned Author to Renowned Book
Kraus began as an visual artist who became a writer almost accidentally with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, which was composed of missives to a distant beloved, transforming intimate women's literature from abjection into assassination. She kept producing books, but the next trio of engaging and challenging novels missed the power and directness that the correspondence format imparted to the tone of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her role as a renegade artist who had turned into a extensive real estate holder, so there was considerable focus on property transactions. It is logical that she currently desires to experiment with different types of content, directing her gaze to external narratives, at a period in which she asserts that current political era makes confessional writing unnecessary.
Three Generations, Shared Inescapable History
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 characters Emma and Jasper, versions of her own mother and father, transitioning from the Bronx to rural Connecticut. There is the account of Kraus, in the persona of a figure named Catt Greene, confronting the late recognition of I Love Dick, the rise of Trump, and her substance-dependent spouse her husband Paul. Finally the narrative of a homicide of one lost young man by another in a community largely deserted by progressive politics only 80 miles from Catt's rural residence in the Minnesota countryside.
For this reader drawn to polished prose of the type Kraus herself often avoids, I was enchanted by the literary tone of the opening part.
As a reader who favors honed writing of the kind that the author usually avoids, I was seduced by the storytelling approach of the opening segment. There is a new quality of attentiveness that makes room for trivial aspects, like the bucket that the young Catt frees from the ice at the opening of the book, helped by her adored dad. "I discovered a frozen plaything!" she says; "a great plaything", he answers, "the elliptical meanings of words rolling around in their mouths like hard candy". She tells 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 hoped this fresh tone could continue through the novel. Kraus says here that she resents the enjoyment those who appreciate polished prose have derived from I Love Dick; she's committed to disruption, to the untidy aesthetics she has in common with her idol author Kathy Acker, and the emptiness and redundancy of her past books returns in the central part. The protagonist is trying to renovate three dozen dilapidated units in the city's most challenging districts while shuttling between Minnesota and LA, unsuccessful in assisting Paul curb his addiction. She feels helpless as Paul cycles through poorly supported positions as an substance abuse counselor in a environment fueled by the hostility and dread that drives an electoral success. A significant portion discusses about Catt's social media ostracism on social media, her professional designation altered from "author" to "real estate holder" on the online encyclopedia. The author still appears to be overly concerned about this. At one point she says that she's looking into the killing so that before exiting the region, "she could potentially understand something about an the United States that her online critics would be unable to grasp, would not even perceive".
The Homicide Account
So then we come to the actual killing – and the referenced day spent by the murdered individual with the killer and his companions. The author possesses excellent raw material, and knows hour by hour what transpired when Brandon came to meet Brittney after connecting via an application where she marketed explicit images. He was hoping for sex but seems affably to have spent the day in the company of her associates, loitering fixing his automobile and covering the cost of food and substances, before being killed by gunfire by Brittney's boyfriend a man named Micah – a individual with mental health challenges who has often been institutionalized for violent rage.
Obsession and Unfinished Business
Catt gets obsessed by the account, and I was fascinated by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards accurate chronicling and reckless transgression wrestle in this part. However, I would have preferred her to go further into her own obsessions here. The most interesting character is Brittney, who comes alive in part due to the protagonist's connection to her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman going off the rails in a struggling, neglected community. Kraus tells us that Catt converses with Brittney in detention, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. The complete segment feels curiously unresolved, to the extent that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par
