The new book centers on characters chasing after new beginnings, attempting to leave behind drugs or harmful partnerships, only to see hope turn into conflict. Kraus frequently uses the phrase "clean slate", making it intentionally weary through constant reiteration. Examples include "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They chose to begin anew" are scattered across the narrative. And yet, she seems to be making her individual reinvention, as this presents as a novel form of writing – observational, truly literary. However it turns out to be laden with the same dilemmas and styles as past novels.
From Unplanned Author to Iconic Work
The writer was originally an visual artist who entered the literary world unintentionally with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, which was composed of letters to an unreceptive lover, converting confessional female writing from self-debasement into rebellion. She kept producing books, but the following three fascinating and rebarbative novels lacked the power and directness that the epistolary style imparted to the tone of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her role as a nonconformist creator who had evolved into a extensive real estate holder, so there was much discussion on property transactions. It follows that she presently aims to experiment with fresh narrative sources, turning outward to external narratives, 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 organized into a trio of segments, spanning multiple eras – none able to break free from their backgrounds. The book includes the tale of a couple named Emma and Jasper, based on the author's parents, moving from the urban environment to a pastoral setting. Then there is the account of Kraus, in the guise of protagonist Catt Greene, reckoning with the delayed acclaim of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her substance-dependent spouse her husband Paul. Finally the narrative of a homicide of one directionless individual by another in a locality long abandoned by liberal ideals only a short distance from the protagonist's home in rural Minnesota.
As a reader attracted to refined literature of the sort the author herself tends to eschew, I was seduced by the literary tone of the initial segment.
As someone who reads who appreciates precise prose of the kind that the author often disregards, I was captivated by the literary tone of the opening segment. It possesses a fresh level of observation that makes room for trivial aspects, like the container that the youthful Catt frees from the ice at the beginning of the narrative, helped by her adored dad. "I found an ice toy!" she says; "a lovely toy", he answers, "the ambiguous meanings of language tumbling in their mouths like sweet treats". She tells the tale of Emma with interest and closeness. "Emma felt like she'd stepped into a dream – not hers, exactly."
Disappointment and Disjunction
I was destined to be disappointed when I expected this new voice could continue through the novel. Kraus notes here that she resents the satisfaction those who appreciate polished prose have derived from I Love Dick; she's devoted to fragmentation, to the untidy aesthetics she echoes from her idol writer Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her past books reasserts itself in the central part. Catt is working on refurbishing multiple decrepit residences in the city's most challenging districts while traveling between two different states, unable to aid her husband curb his addiction. She is overwhelmed as her spouse transitions between poorly supported positions as an substance abuse counselor in a society propelled by the hostility and dread that powers an electoral success. There are several pages about Catt being cancelled on a platform, her occupation changed from "novelist" to "landlord" on Wikipedia. She still gives the impression 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 might be able to learn something about an America that her social media opponents would fail to comprehend, would not even perceive".
The Homicide Account
Thus we arrive to the actual killing – and the eponymous day spent by the deceased with the killer and his associates. Kraus has great source material, and details moment by moment what happened when a man named Brandon came to visit Brittney after encountering her on a platform where she marketed explicit images. He sought a sexual encounter but seems amiably to have occupied the day alongside her friends, loitering fixing his automobile and covering the cost of food and substances, before being murdered by Brittney's boyfriend a man named Micah – a individual with mental health challenges who has often been institutionalized for violent rage.
Obsession and Unfinished Business
Catt develops an obsession by the narrative, and I was intrigued by the way that the author's conflicting impulses towards ethical reporting and audacious rule-breaking wrestle in this part. However, I would have preferred her to explore more thoroughly her individual preoccupations here. The standout figure is Brittney, who becomes vivid partially because of Catt's identification with her – another bright, bullied girl derailing in a difficult, overlooked locality. Kraus notes that Catt speaks to Brittney in jail, but she fails to enact these dialogues. The whole section feels strangely incomplete, to the extent that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par
