The new book centers on individuals chasing after clean slates, struggling to escape drugs or toxic relationships, only to see hope turn into conflict. Kraus often employs the phrase "clean slate", rendering it intentionally weary through constant reiteration. Sentences like "He could make a fresh start" and "They decided to make a fresh start" recur in the story. At the same time, the author herself seems to be making her own fresh start, because this appears a new kind of book – observational, authentically narrative. But then it reveals itself to be laden with the familiar conflicts and aesthetics as earlier books.
From Accidental Writer to Cult Classic
The writer began as an visual artist who became a writer somewhat by chance with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, which was composed of epistles to an unresponsive love interest, converting intimate women's literature from self-debasement into rebellion. She persisted as a writer, but the three subsequent compelling and abrasive novels did not possess the impact and rawness that the correspondence format infused into the tone of I Love Dick. It didn't help was her position as a maverick maker who had evolved into a major property owner, so there was much discussion on housing investments. It is logical that she currently desires to explore new kinds of material, looking outwards to the experiences of others, at a time when she asserts that current political era renders personal narrative obsolete.
Three Generations, One Unescapable Past
The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, encompassing multiple eras – all unable to escape their backgrounds. There is the tale of a couple named Emma and Jasper, representations of Kraus's parents, moving from the Bronx to the Connecticut countryside. Additionally the narrative of the author, in the guise of Catt Greene, reckoning with the late recognition of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her addict husband a man named Paul. Finally the story of the murder of one lost young man by another in a locality mostly forsaken by progressive politics only 80 miles from Catt's rural residence in the Minnesota countryside.
As a reader drawn to honed writing of the type the author herself tends to eschew, I was seduced by the novelistic voice of the initial segment.
As someone who reads drawn to crafted language of the kind that Kraus usually avoids, I was seduced by the literary tone of the initial part. It possesses a new quality of attentiveness that accommodates minutiae, like the pail that the youthful Catt dislodges from ice at the opening of the book, helped by her adored dad. "I found an ice toy!" she exclaims; "a nice toy", he replies, "the nuanced interpretations of terms tumbling in their mouths like piece candy". She tells the tale of Emma with interest and closeness. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not entirely her own."
Letdown and Fragmentation
I was fated to feel let down when I hoped this new voice could continue through the novel. Kraus notes here that she dislikes the enjoyment audiences such as myself have derived from I Love Dick; she's committed to disruption, to the untidy aesthetics she shares with her inspiration Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her previous novels comes back in the second segment. The protagonist is attempting to do up three dozen dilapidated units in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while moving between Minnesota and LA, unsuccessful in assisting her husband curb his addiction. She feels helpless as her spouse transitions between underfunded jobs as an substance abuse counselor in a society propelled by the hostility and dread that drives Trump's victory. There are several pages about the protagonist facing cancellation on a platform, her occupation changed from "novelist" to "real estate holder" on a reference site. Kraus still seems to invest excessive emotion about this. At one point she remarks that she's investigating the murder so that before departing the state, "she may grasp something about an the nation that her Twitter detractors would be unable to grasp, would not even perceive".
The Homicide Account
So then we come to the homicide in question – and the referenced day experienced by the deceased with the perpetrator and his companions. The author possesses great source material, and reconstructs step by step what transpired when the victim Brandon came to see Brittney after encountering her on a platform where she sold sex pictures. He anticipated intimacy but seems amiably to have occupied the day in the company of her associates, mooching around fixing his automobile and paying for snacks and drugs, before being killed by gunfire by Brittney's partner Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has repeatedly received inpatient care for fits of anger.
Fascination and Incompletion
Catt develops an obsession by the account, and I was fascinated by the way that her twin drives towards accurate chronicling and audacious rule-breaking clash in this segment. However, I would have preferred her to delve deeper into her individual preoccupations here. The standout figure is Brittney herself, who comes alive partially because of Catt's identification with her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman going off the rails in a struggling, neglected community. The author informs us that Catt speaks to Brittney in jail, but she fails to enact these dialogues. This entire part feels oddly unfinished, to the extent that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par
