The Four Spent the Day Together centers on individuals chasing after clean slates, struggling to escape addictions or toxic relationships, only to witness hope devolve into violence. Kraus frequently uses the phrase "clean slate", transforming it into deliberately jaded through constant reiteration. Sentences like "He could make a fresh start" and "They chose to begin anew" appear throughout the story. Meanwhile, the author herself appears to be undertaking her individual reinvention, as this appears a novel form of writing – documentarian, truly literary. However it turns out to be laden with the recurring issues and styles as her previous works.
From Accidental Writer to Iconic Work
The writer began as an creative who became a writer somewhat by chance with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, structured as missives to a distant beloved, elevating personal female narrative from abjection into assassination. She persisted as a writer, but the next trio of compelling and abrasive novels missed the shock and immediacy that the letter form infused into the voice of I Love Dick. It didn't help was her position as a maverick maker who had evolved into a large-scale low-rent landlord, so there was significant attention on housing investments. It follows that she currently desires to explore new kinds of material, directing her gaze to other people's stories, at a time when she claims that current political era makes confessional writing unnecessary.
Three Generations, Shared Inescapable History
The Four Spent the Day Together is structured in three parts, encompassing three generations – none able to break free from their backgrounds. We encounter the narrative about characters Emma and Jasper, representations of her own mother and father, moving from the Bronx to a pastoral setting. There is the story of Kraus herself, in the character of a figure named Catt Greene, grappling with the late recognition of I Love Dick, the rise of Trump, and her partner struggling with addiction Paul. The third thread involves the narrative of a homicide of one lost young man by another in a locality long abandoned by liberal ideals only a brief drive from the protagonist's home in rural Minnesota.
As a reader fond of refined literature of the type Kraus tends to eschew, I was captivated by the narrative style of the opening part.
As a reader who favors precise prose of the kind that Kraus usually avoids, I was won over by the literary tone of the opening segment. It exhibits a new quality of attentiveness that allows space for trivial aspects, like the pail that the young Catt dislodges from ice at the opening of the book, aided by her cherished parent. "I discovered a frozen plaything!" she says; "a nice toy", he responds, "the ambiguous meanings of language rolling around in their mouths like hard candy". She tells Emma's narrative with curiosity and intimacy. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not hers, exactly."
Disappointment and Disjunction
I was fated to feel let down when I hoped this new voice could continue through the novel. Kraus says here that she resents the satisfaction those who appreciate polished prose have gotten from I Love Dick; she's devoted to disruption, to the messy artistic approach she shares with her hero author Kathy Acker, and the emptiness and redundancy of her earlier works returns in the central part. Catt is working on refurbishing three dozen dilapidated units in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while traveling between two different states, unable to aid Paul manage his alcohol use. She experiences powerlessness as her spouse transitions between poorly supported positions as an substance abuse counselor in a world fueled by the hostility and dread that drives a political win. There are several pages about the protagonist facing cancellation on Twitter, her occupation changed from "writer" to "property owner" on Wikipedia. The author still appears to care a little too much about this. On one occasion she remarks that she's investigating the murder so that before exiting the region, "she could potentially understand something about an the nation that her Twitter detractors would fail to comprehend, would not even perceive".
The Killing Story
Thus we arrive to the homicide in question – and the referenced day experienced by the murdered individual with the murderer and his friends. The author possesses great source material, and knows hour by hour what transpired when a man named Brandon came to see Brittney after encountering her on a platform where she sold sex pictures. He anticipated intimacy but seems amiably to have occupied the day in the company of her associates, wandering about having his vehicle repaired 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 frequently been hospitalised for aggressive outbursts.
Fascination and Incompletion
Catt develops an obsession by the narrative, and I was fascinated by the way that the author's conflicting impulses towards ethical reporting and audacious rule-breaking wrestle in this part. But I'd have liked her to delve deeper into her own obsessions here. The standout figure is Brittney, who becomes vivid partly through Catt's identification with her – another bright, bullied girl going off the rails in a troubled, forgotten town. The author informs us that Catt speaks to Brittney in prison, but she fails to enact these dialogues. This entire part feels oddly unfinished, to the degree that her narrative ends almost mid-par
