The new book features characters pursuing clean slates, struggling to escape drugs or harmful partnerships, only to find hope curdling into aggression. The author often employs the phrase "clean slate", transforming it into intentionally weary through its repetitions. Phrases such as "He could make a fresh start" and "They opted for a clean break" recur in the narrative. At the same time, Kraus herself appears to be undertaking her own fresh start, since this seems a new kind of book – observational, genuinely novelistic. But then it proves to be filled with the recurring issues and styles as past novels.
From Chance Novelist to Renowned Book
Kraus was originally an creative who transitioned to writing almost accidentally with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, which was composed of epistles to an unresponsive love interest, elevating personal female narrative from self-debasement into rebellion. She kept producing books, but the following three engaging and challenging novels missed the shock and immediacy that the letter form imparted to the tone of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her role as a nonconformist creator who had evolved into a extensive real estate holder, so there was significant attention on real estate deals. It follows that she presently aims to experiment with different types of content, looking outwards to external narratives, at a moment when she states that Trumpian politics turns intimate literature obsolete.
Multiple Generations, Shared Inescapable History
The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, encompassing multiple eras – none able to break free from their pasts. The book includes the narrative about a couple named Emma and Jasper, representations of her own mother and father, transitioning from the urban environment to the Connecticut countryside. There is the narrative of the author, in the character of a figure named Catt Greene, confronting the late recognition of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her addict husband Paul. And there is the story of the murder of one lost young man by another in a community largely deserted by liberal ideals only a brief drive from Catt's cottage in a remote part of Minnesota.
As a reader drawn to refined literature of the kind Kraus tends to eschew, I was captivated by the literary tone of the first section.
As someone who reads who favors crafted language of the kind that Kraus often disregards, I was won over by the novelistic voice of the opening segment. It possesses a fresh level of observation that accommodates trivial aspects, like the container that the young Catt pries out of frozen water at the opening of the book, aided by her beloved father. "I found an ice toy!" she exclaims; "a nice toy", he replies, "the elliptical meanings of words rolling around in their mouths like hard candy". She tells Emma's story with inquiry and familiarity. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not precisely her dream."
Frustration and Disruption
I was bound to become frustrated when I hoped this fresh tone could last out the book. Kraus says here that she is annoyed by the enjoyment audiences such as myself have taken from I Love Dick; she's committed to fragmentation, to the messy artistic approach she has in common with her hero Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her past books reasserts itself in the second segment. The protagonist is attempting to do up three dozen dilapidated units in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while traveling between two different states, failing to help Paul manage his alcohol use. She experiences powerlessness as Paul moves between low-resource employment as an recovery specialist in a environment propelled by the anger and fear that underpins an electoral success. A significant portion discusses about Catt being cancelled on Twitter, her listed profession modified from "writer" to "real estate holder" on the online encyclopedia. She still gives the impression to be overly concerned about this. At one point she states that she's investigating the murder so that before departing the state, "she could potentially understand something about an the United States that her online critics would be unable to grasp, would not even see".
The Murder Narrative
Then we reach to the homicide in question – and the titular day passed by the victim with the killer and his friends. Kraus has compelling foundational content, and details moment by moment what occurred as the victim Brandon came to visit Brittney after encountering her on a platform where she marketed explicit images. He was hoping for sex but appears congenially to have passed the day alongside her friends, loitering having his vehicle repaired and funding treats and narcotics, before being shot by Brittney's boyfriend Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has often been institutionalized for aggressive outbursts.
Fascination and Incompletion
Catt develops an obsession by the account, and I was intrigued by the way that her twin drives towards accurate chronicling and audacious rule-breaking wrestle in this part. However, I would have preferred her to go further into her personal fixations here. The standout figure is the character Brittney, who comes alive in part due to Catt seeing herself in 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 detention, but she fails to enact these dialogues. This entire part feels oddly unfinished, to the extent that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par
