The Four Spent the Day Together features individuals chasing after new beginnings, trying to break free from drugs or harmful partnerships, only to witness hope devolve into violence. Kraus repeatedly invokes the phrase "fresh start", transforming it into deliberately jaded through constant reiteration. Phrases such as "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They decided to make a fresh start" recur in the text. And yet, she appears to be undertaking her personal new beginning, since this appears a different type of work – documentarian, authentically narrative. Yet it reveals itself to be filled with the recurring issues and aesthetics as past novels.
From Chance Novelist to Cult Classic
The writer started out as an artist who became a writer almost accidentally with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, structured as missives to a distant beloved, converting intimate women's literature from abjection into assassination. She persisted as a writer, but the next trio of engaging and challenging novels missed the shock and immediacy that the letter form brought to the voice of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her role as a maverick maker who had turned into a large-scale low-rent landlord, so there was significant attention on housing investments. It is logical that she presently aims to try out new kinds of material, looking outwards to other people's stories, at a moment when she asserts that contemporary political climate renders personal narrative redundant.
Several Eras, One Unescapable Past
The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, encompassing several time periods – all unable to escape their pasts. The book includes the story of a couple named Emma and Jasper, representations of her own mother and father, relocating from the urban environment to the Connecticut countryside. Then there is the narrative of the author, in the character of Catt Greene, reckoning with the late recognition of I Love Dick, the rise of Trump, and her substance-dependent spouse Paul. Finally the narrative of a homicide of one directionless individual by another in a town mostly forsaken by forward-thinking policies only a brief drive from Catt's rural residence in a remote part of Minnesota.
From my perspective as a reader attracted to polished prose of the type Kraus herself often avoids, I was captivated by the novelistic voice of the first section.
As someone who reads who appreciates crafted language of the variety that Kraus tends to eschew, I was seduced by the literary tone of the first section. There is a novel degree of detail that allows space 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. "Look, an ice toy!" she declares; "a lovely toy", he answers, "the nuanced interpretations of terms circulating in their speech like sweet treats". Kraus writes Emma's story with interest and closeness. "It seemed to Emma she had entered a dream – not precisely her dream."
Disappointment and Disjunction
I was fated to feel let down when I hoped this new voice could last out the book. Kraus notes here that she resents the pleasure those who appreciate polished prose have derived from I Love Dick; she's committed to disruption, to the unpolished style she echoes from her hero author Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her previous novels reasserts itself in the second segment. Catt is trying to renovate multiple decrepit residences in the city's most challenging districts while traveling between two different states, unsuccessful in assisting her husband curb his addiction. She is overwhelmed as Paul transitions between poorly supported positions as an substance abuse counselor in a society propelled by the anger and fear that drives a political win. There are several pages about Catt being cancelled on social media, her professional designation altered from "novelist" to "property owner" on the online encyclopedia. The author still appears to invest excessive emotion about this. In a moment she states that she's looking into the killing so that before departing the state, "she could potentially understand something about an America that her online critics would not understand, would not even perceive".
The Killing Story
So then we come to the murder itself – and the titular day passed by the murdered individual with the perpetrator and his companions. The author possesses great source material, and details moment by moment what happened when the victim Brandon came to meet Brittney after connecting via an application where she sold sex pictures. He sought a sexual encounter but seems amiably to have occupied the day with her companions, loitering getting his car mended and funding treats and narcotics, before being shot by her romantic interest Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has frequently been hospitalised for violent rage.
Obsession and Unfinished Business
Catt develops an obsession by the account, and I was intrigued by the way that her twin drives towards responsible documentation and reckless transgression clash in this segment. But I'd have liked her to explore more thoroughly her own obsessions here. The most interesting character is the character Brittney, who comes alive partly through the protagonist's connection to her – another bright, bullied girl derailing in a troubled, forgotten town. The author informs us that the protagonist communicates with Brittney in prison, but she fails to enact these dialogues. The whole section feels strangely incomplete, to the point that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par
