This latest work is populated with protagonists pursuing clean slates, attempting to leave behind addictions or abusive marriages, only to witness hope devolve into aggression. Kraus repeatedly invokes the phrase "fresh start", rendering it intentionally weary through constant reiteration. Sentences like "He could make a fresh start" and "They opted for a clean break" appear throughout the narrative. At the same time, Kraus herself appears to be undertaking her own fresh start, because this seems a different type of work – documentarian, genuinely novelistic. Yet it turns out to be filled with the familiar conflicts and styles as her previous works.
From Unplanned Author to Cult Classic
Kraus started out as an creative who entered the literary world almost accidentally with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, structured as missives to a distant beloved, elevating confessional female writing from humiliation into defiance. She kept producing books, but the following three fascinating and rebarbative novels missed the shock and immediacy that the letter form infused into the tone of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her identity as a maverick maker who had become a large-scale low-rent landlord, so there was considerable focus on real estate deals. It follows that she now wants to experiment with different types of content, directing her gaze to other people's stories, at a period in which she claims that contemporary political climate makes confessional writing unnecessary.
Three Generations, Shared Inescapable History
The Four Spent the Day Together is structured in three parts, covering several time periods – all unable to escape their pasts. The book includes the story of Emma and Jasper, based on Kraus's parents, relocating from the Bronx to a pastoral setting. Then there is the account of Kraus, in the persona of a figure named Catt Greene, confronting the belated success of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her partner struggling with addiction Paul. Finally the story of the murder of one troubled youth by another in a town long abandoned by liberal ideals only 80 miles from Catt's rural residence in rural Minnesota.
For this reader drawn to refined literature of the type Kraus tends to eschew, I was enchanted by the novelistic voice of the initial segment.
Being a reader who appreciates crafted language of the style that Kraus usually avoids, I was seduced by the literary tone of the opening segment. It exhibits a new quality of attentiveness that makes room for minutiae, like the bucket that the youthful Catt dislodges from ice at the start of the story, aided by her adored dad. "Look, an ice toy!" she exclaims; "a great plaything", he answers, "the elliptical meanings of words tumbling in their mouths like sweet treats". She tells the tale of Emma with curiosity and intimacy. "Emma felt like she'd stepped into a dream – not hers, exactly."
Disappointment and Disjunction
I was bound to become frustrated when I wished this different style could persist to the end. The author states here that she dislikes the pleasure audiences such as myself have gotten from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to disruption, to the messy artistic approach she has in common with her inspiration writer Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her past books comes back in the central part. Catt Greene is working on refurbishing three dozen dilapidated units in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while traveling between Minnesota and LA, unable to aid Paul curb his addiction. She experiences powerlessness as her spouse cycles through low-resource employment as an addiction therapist in a world propelled by the hostility and dread that drives Trump's victory. Multiple pages are devoted about the protagonist facing cancellation on social media, her professional designation altered from "novelist" to "property owner" on a reference site. The author still appears to be overly concerned about this. On one occasion she remarks that she's investigating the murder so that before departing the state, "she may grasp something about an the nation that her social media opponents would not understand, would not even see".
The Murder Narrative
Thus we arrive to the homicide in question – and the referenced day spent by the deceased with the murderer and his companions. Kraus utilizes great source material, and knows hour by hour what happened when Brandon came to meet Brittney after meeting her on an app where she sold sex pictures. He sought a sexual encounter but seems affably to have spent the day in the company of her associates, loitering having his vehicle repaired and funding treats and narcotics, before being murdered by Brittney's boyfriend a man named 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 the author's conflicting impulses towards ethical reporting and reckless transgression wrestle in this part. But I'd have liked her to delve deeper into her own obsessions here. The most interesting character is the character Brittney, who comes alive partly through the protagonist's connection to her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman spiraling out of control in a struggling, neglected community. Kraus tells us that Catt speaks to Brittney in prison, but she fails to enact these dialogues. The complete segment feels strangely incomplete, to the extent that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par
