🔗 Share this article

The Four Spent the Day Together features individuals seeking fresh starts, attempting to leave behind addictions or harmful partnerships, only to witness hope devolve into aggression. Kraus repeatedly invokes the phrase "clean slate", making it willfully cynical through constant reiteration. Sentences like "He aimed to start over" and "They chose to begin anew" recur in the text. Meanwhile, Kraus herself appears to be undertaking her own fresh start, because this presents as a new kind of book – observational, truly literary. But then it turns out to be laden with the same dilemmas and styles as past novels.

From Accidental Writer to Iconic Work

Kraus was originally an creative who transitioned to writing somewhat by chance with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, which was composed of missives to a distant beloved, transforming intimate women's literature from self-debasement into rebellion. She kept producing books, but the three subsequent engaging and challenging novels missed the impact and rawness that the letter form infused into the narrative voice of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her identity as a nonconformist creator who had become a major property owner, so there was considerable focus on housing investments. It follows that she presently aims to experiment with fresh narrative sources, directing her gaze to external narratives, at a period in which she states that Trumpian politics makes confessional writing obsolete.

Several Eras, One Unescapable Past

The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, covering several time periods – each trapped by their pasts. The book includes the narrative about characters Emma and Jasper, versions of Kraus's parents, moving from the New York borough to the Connecticut countryside. There is the narrative of the author, in the character of Catt Greene, reckoning with the delayed acclaim of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her substance-dependent spouse a man named Paul. The third thread involves the story of the murder of one lost young man by another in a locality mostly forsaken by liberal ideals only 80 miles from Catt's rural residence in the Minnesota countryside.

For this reader attracted to polished prose of the type Kraus typically rejects, I was seduced by the literary tone of the opening part.

As a reader who appreciates crafted language of the variety that the author often disregards, I was won over by the novelistic voice of the initial part. It possesses a new quality of attentiveness that allows space for small details, like the container that the youthful Catt dislodges from ice at the opening of the book, helped by her cherished parent. "I discovered a frozen plaything!" she exclaims; "a nice toy", he answers, "the nuanced interpretations of terms circulating in their speech like piece candy". The author narrates the tale of Emma with interest and closeness. "It seemed to Emma she had entered a dream – not entirely her own."

Letdown and Fragmentation

I was destined to be disappointed when I expected this new voice could continue through the novel. Kraus notes here that she dislikes the satisfaction readers like me have taken from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to fragmentation, to the unpolished style she echoes from her idol author Kathy Acker, and the emptiness and redundancy of her earlier works returns in the central part. The protagonist is working on refurbishing multiple decrepit residences in the city's most challenging districts while shuttling between two different states, unable to aid her husband manage his alcohol use. She experiences powerlessness as her spouse moves between underfunded jobs as an substance abuse counselor in a environment fueled by the hostility and dread that powers an electoral success. A significant portion discusses about Catt's social media ostracism on a platform, her occupation changed from "writer" to "property owner" 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 might be able to learn something about an the United States that her Twitter detractors would fail to comprehend, would not even perceive".

The Killing Story

Then we reach to the actual killing – and the eponymous day experienced by the murdered individual with the murderer and his friends. Kraus has compelling foundational content, and details moment by moment what happened when Brandon came to see Brittney after encountering her on a platform where she offered adult photos. He sought a sexual encounter but seems amiably to have occupied the day in the company of her associates, loitering having his vehicle repaired and paying for snacks and drugs, before being murdered by Brittney's partner Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has frequently been hospitalised for fits of anger.

Obsession and Unfinished Business

Catt gets obsessed by the account, and I was intrigued by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards accurate chronicling and audacious rule-breaking tussle in this section. However, I would have preferred her to go further into her individual preoccupations here. The most interesting character is Brittney, who comes alive partially because of Catt seeing herself in her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman derailing in a difficult, overlooked locality. 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 degree that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par