This latest work centers on individuals pursuing fresh starts, attempting to leave behind drugs or toxic relationships, only to find hope curdling into violence. The author frequently uses the phrase "clean slate", rendering it deliberately jaded through its repetitions. Phrases such as "He could make a fresh start" and "They decided to make a fresh start" recur in the story. And yet, Kraus herself appears to be undertaking her personal new beginning, since this seems a new kind of book – fact-based, truly literary. However it proves to be laden with the same dilemmas and styles as her previous works.
From Accidental Writer to Cult Classic
Kraus was originally an artist who entered the literary world somewhat by chance with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, made up of missives to a distant beloved, elevating personal female narrative from humiliation into rebellion. She continued writing, but the next trio of engaging and challenging novels did not possess the impact and rawness that the letter form infused into the tone of I Love Dick. It didn't help was her role as a nonconformist creator who had become a extensive real estate holder, so there was considerable focus on property transactions. It follows that she now wants to experiment with different types of content, directing her gaze to external narratives, at a moment when she claims that Trumpian politics makes confessional writing redundant.
Several Eras, Shared Inescapable History
The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, spanning multiple eras – none able to break free from their pasts. There is the narrative about Emma and Jasper, representations of Kraus's parents, transitioning from the urban environment to rural Connecticut. There is the story of Kraus herself, in the character of a figure named Catt Greene, grappling with the delayed acclaim of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her partner struggling with addiction a man named Paul. Finally the account of a killing of one directionless individual by another in a town mostly forsaken by progressive politics only 80 miles from Catt's cottage in rural Minnesota.
From my perspective as a reader fond of honed writing of the kind the author herself typically rejects, I was enchanted by the novelistic voice of the initial segment.
Being a reader who favors crafted language of the kind that the author tends to eschew, I was captivated by the novelistic voice of the first section. It exhibits a new quality of attentiveness that makes room for small details, like the bucket that the youthful Catt frees from the ice at the start of the story, helped by her adored dad. "Look, an ice toy!" she says; "a great plaything", he answers, "the ambiguous meanings of language rolling around in their mouths like hard candy". The author narrates Emma's narrative with interest and closeness. "Emma felt like she'd stepped into a dream – not precisely her dream."
Letdown and Fragmentation
I was fated to feel let down when I expected this new voice could continue through the novel. The author states here that she dislikes the satisfaction readers like me have taken from I Love Dick; she's devoted to fragmentation, to the messy artistic approach she echoes from her inspiration Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her earlier works returns in the middle section. Catt is attempting to do up multiple decrepit residences in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while traveling between the Midwest and the West Coast, unable to aid Paul manage his alcohol use. She is overwhelmed as Paul cycles through underfunded jobs as an recovery specialist in a society propelled by the hostility and dread that underpins an electoral success. Multiple pages are devoted about the protagonist facing cancellation on a platform, her listed profession modified from "novelist" to "property owner" on the online encyclopedia. The author still appears to invest excessive emotion about this. On one occasion she remarks that she's investigating the murder so that before departing the state, "she could potentially understand something about an the nation that her social media opponents would not understand, would not even perceive".
The Homicide Account
Thus we arrive to the homicide in question – and the eponymous day experienced by the victim with the perpetrator and his friends. The author possesses compelling foundational content, and details moment by moment what occurred as a man named Brandon came to visit Brittney after encountering her on a platform where she sold sex pictures. He was hoping for sex but appears congenially to have passed the day with her companions, loitering having his vehicle repaired and covering the cost of food and substances, before being shot by Brittney's boyfriend Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has repeatedly received inpatient care for aggressive outbursts.
Obsession and Unfinished Business
Catt develops an obsession by the story, and I found myself captivated by the way that the author's conflicting impulses towards accurate chronicling and reckless transgression wrestle in this part. But I'd have liked her to explore more thoroughly her individual preoccupations here. The compelling persona is Brittney herself, who gains dimension in part due to Catt's identification with her – another bright, bullied girl going off the rails in a troubled, forgotten town. Kraus tells us that Catt speaks to Brittney in prison, but she doesn't dramatise these conversations. This entire part feels curiously unresolved, to the point that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par
