This latest work is populated with individuals chasing after fresh starts, struggling to escape drugs or harmful partnerships, only to find hope curdling into violence. The author often employs the phrase "new beginning", rendering it deliberately jaded through recurring use. Examples include "He could make a fresh start" and "They decided to make a fresh start" are scattered across the story. Meanwhile, Kraus herself appears to be undertaking her personal new beginning, as this appears a novel form of writing – fact-based, truly literary. But then it proves to be filled with the recurring issues and approaches as past novels.
From Chance Novelist to Renowned Book
Kraus began as an visual artist who became a writer somewhat by chance with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, which was composed of missives to a distant beloved, transforming confessional female writing from humiliation into rebellion. She persisted as a writer, but the following three compelling and abrasive novels did not possess the shock and immediacy that the epistolary style imparted to the voice of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her role as a renegade artist who had evolved into a large-scale low-rent landlord, so there was much discussion on real estate deals. It is logical that she currently desires to experiment with new kinds of material, directing her gaze to external narratives, at a time when she states that current political era turns intimate literature unnecessary.
Three Generations, Collective Unavoidable Background
The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, covering three generations – all unable to escape their backgrounds. We encounter the story of Emma and Jasper, versions of Kraus's parents, relocating from the urban environment to a pastoral setting. There is the narrative of the author, in the persona of Catt Greene, grappling with the late recognition of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her partner struggling with addiction Paul. And there is the story of the murder of one directionless individual by another in a community mostly forsaken by progressive politics only a brief drive from Catt's cottage in the Minnesota countryside.
From my perspective as a reader fond of honed writing of the kind Kraus herself tends to eschew, I was captivated by the literary tone of the opening part.
As someone who reads who favors honed writing of the variety that Kraus herself often disregards, I was captivated by the storytelling approach of the initial part. There is a new quality of attentiveness that accommodates trivial aspects, like the container that the youthful Catt pries out of frozen water at the opening of the book, helped by her cherished parent. "I found an ice toy!" she says; "a lovely toy", he answers, "the ambiguous meanings of language circulating in their speech like piece candy". She tells Emma's story with inquiry and familiarity. "It seemed to Emma she had entered a dream – not entirely her own."
Letdown and Fragmentation
I was bound to become frustrated when I hoped this fresh tone could persist to the end. Kraus notes here that she is annoyed by the pleasure those who appreciate polished prose have taken from I Love Dick; she's devoted to fragmentation, to the unpolished style she echoes from her hero Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her earlier works returns in the middle section. The protagonist is trying to renovate three dozen dilapidated units in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while shuttling between two different states, failing to help Paul control his drinking. She feels helpless as her spouse cycles through poorly supported positions as an addiction therapist in a society propelled by the anger and fear that underpins an electoral success. There are several pages about Catt's social media ostracism on a platform, her occupation changed from "author" to "real estate holder" on the online encyclopedia. The author still appears to be overly concerned about this. On one occasion she says that she's looking into the killing so that before leaving Minnesota, "she could potentially understand something about an America that her social media opponents would be unable to grasp, would not even perceive".
The Homicide Account
Then we reach to the homicide in question – and the titular day passed by the deceased with the perpetrator and his friends. Kraus has compelling foundational content, and details moment by moment what transpired when the victim Brandon came to meet Brittney after encountering her on a platform where she sold sex pictures. He anticipated intimacy but appears congenially to have passed the day alongside her friends, mooching around fixing his automobile and covering the cost of food and substances, before being shot by Brittney's boyfriend Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has repeatedly received inpatient care for aggressive outbursts.
Preoccupation and Open Ends
The protagonist becomes fixated by the story, and I found myself captivated by the way that her twin drives towards ethical reporting and reckless transgression tussle in this section. However, I would have preferred her to go further into her personal fixations here. The most interesting character is the character Brittney, who comes alive in part due to the protagonist's connection to her – a similarly gifted, tormented individual derailing in a difficult, overlooked locality. Kraus tells us that Catt speaks to Brittney in prison, but she fails to enact these dialogues. This entire part feels oddly unfinished, to the point that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par
