The new book centers on protagonists seeking fresh starts, trying to break free from substance abuse or toxic relationships, only to see hope turn into violence. The author repeatedly invokes the phrase "clean slate", rendering it willfully cynical through its repetitions. Sentences like "He could make a fresh start" and "They decided to make a fresh start" appear throughout the narrative. At the same time, the author herself seems to be making her own fresh start, as this appears a novel form of writing – observational, truly literary. But then it proves to be laden with the same dilemmas and approaches as earlier books.
From Chance Novelist to Iconic Work
Kraus started out as an creative who became a writer almost accidentally with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, which was composed of epistles to an unresponsive love interest, converting personal female narrative from self-debasement into rebellion. She kept producing books, but the following three engaging and challenging novels lacked the shock and immediacy that the letter form brought to the tone of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her role as a nonconformist creator who had turned into a large-scale low-rent landlord, so there was much discussion on property transactions. It makes sense that she presently aims to try out different types of content, directing her gaze to the experiences of others, at a moment when she asserts that contemporary political climate turns intimate literature obsolete.
Multiple Generations, Shared Inescapable History
The Four Spent the Day Together is structured in three parts, spanning multiple eras – none able to break free from their histories. We encounter the story of a couple named Emma and Jasper, versions of Kraus's parents, relocating from the New York borough to a pastoral setting. There is the narrative of the author, in the persona of protagonist Catt Greene, reckoning with the late recognition of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her addict husband Paul. Finally the story of the murder of one troubled youth by another in a town largely deserted by forward-thinking policies only a brief drive 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 seduced by the literary tone of the first section.
As a reader who favors honed writing of the variety that Kraus often disregards, I was won over by the literary tone of the opening segment. It exhibits a new quality of attentiveness that makes room for minutiae, like the pail that the young Catt dislodges from ice at the start of the story, helped by her beloved father. "Look, an ice toy!" she says; "a great plaything", he replies, "the elliptical meanings of words tumbling in their mouths like hard candy". Kraus writes Emma's narrative with inquiry and familiarity. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not entirely her own."
Letdown and Fragmentation
I was bound to become frustrated when I wished this different style could continue through the novel. Kraus notes here that she resents the satisfaction readers like me have gotten from I Love Dick; she's committed to fragmentation, to the messy artistic approach she shares with her inspiration author Kathy Acker, and the emptiness and redundancy of her earlier works comes back in the second segment. The protagonist is trying to renovate multiple decrepit residences in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while traveling between two different states, failing to help her husband control his drinking. She is overwhelmed as Paul moves between poorly supported positions as an substance abuse counselor in a environment propelled by the rage and anxiety that underpins Trump's victory. There are several pages about the protagonist facing cancellation on social media, her professional designation altered from "novelist" to "property owner" on a reference site. She still gives the impression to care a little too much about this. At one point she states that she's investigating the murder so that before departing the state, "she might be able to learn something about an the United States that her social media opponents would not understand, would not even see".
The Homicide Account
Then we reach to the murder itself – and the titular day spent by the victim with the murderer and his associates. Kraus has excellent raw material, and reconstructs step by step what happened when Brandon came to see Brittney after connecting via an application where she offered adult photos. He sought a sexual encounter but seems amiably to have occupied the day with her companions, wandering about fixing his automobile and funding treats and narcotics, before being shot by her romantic interest Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has repeatedly received inpatient care for aggressive outbursts.
Obsession and Unfinished Business
The protagonist becomes fixated by the account, and I was fascinated by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards ethical reporting and reckless transgression tussle in this section. But I'd have liked her to go further into her own obsessions here. The standout figure is the character Brittney, who gains dimension partly through Catt's identification with her – another bright, bullied girl spiraling out of control in a difficult, overlooked locality. Kraus notes that the protagonist communicates with Brittney in jail, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. This entire part feels curiously unresolved, to the extent that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par
