The new book centers on characters pursuing clean slates, struggling to escape addictions or abusive marriages, only to witness hope devolve into violence. Kraus repeatedly invokes the phrase "clean slate", making it willfully cynical through its repetitions. Examples include "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They chose to begin anew" appear throughout the text. At the same time, she seems to be making her personal new beginning, since this appears a different type of work – observational, truly literary. But then it turns out to be packed with the familiar conflicts and aesthetics as earlier books.
From Chance Novelist to Renowned Book
Kraus began as an visual artist who became a writer unintentionally with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, structured as missives to a distant beloved, transforming intimate women's literature from humiliation into defiance. She kept producing books, but the next trio of compelling and abrasive novels missed the power and directness that the correspondence format infused into the tone of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her role as a nonconformist creator who had turned into a extensive real estate holder, so there was much discussion on property transactions. It makes sense that she presently aims to try out new kinds of material, turning outward to the experiences of others, at a time when she asserts that current political era turns intimate literature obsolete.
Several Eras, Collective Unavoidable Background
The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, spanning several time periods – each trapped by their pasts. There is the tale of characters Emma and Jasper, versions of her own mother and father, transitioning from the New York borough to rural Connecticut. Additionally the story of Kraus herself, in the character of protagonist Catt Greene, confronting the delayed acclaim of I Love Dick, the rise of Trump, and her addict husband her husband Paul. Finally the account of a killing of one lost young man by another in a town mostly forsaken by liberal ideals only a brief drive from Catt's cottage in the Minnesota countryside.
As a reader attracted to refined literature of the kind the author herself often avoids, I was enchanted by the novelistic voice of the first section.
As a reader who appreciates precise prose of the style that Kraus often disregards, I was won over by the novelistic voice of the initial part. It exhibits a fresh level of observation that accommodates trivial aspects, like the pail that the youthful Catt pries out of frozen water at the opening of the book, aided by her beloved father. "I discovered a frozen plaything!" she declares; "a great plaything", he responds, "the ambiguous meanings of language tumbling in their mouths like piece candy". Kraus writes Emma's narrative with curiosity and intimacy. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not precisely her dream."
Disappointment and Disjunction
I was bound to become frustrated when I wished this new voice could persist to the end. Kraus notes here that she resents the enjoyment those who appreciate polished prose have taken from I Love Dick; she's devoted to disjunction, to the untidy aesthetics she shares with her hero author Kathy Acker, and the emptiness and redundancy of her previous novels comes back in the central part. Catt Greene is working on refurbishing 36 run-down apartments in the city's most challenging districts while traveling between two different states, failing to help Paul manage his alcohol use. She is overwhelmed as her spouse moves between poorly supported positions as an substance abuse counselor in a environment fueled by the anger and fear that powers Trump's victory. There are several pages about the protagonist facing cancellation on social media, her listed profession modified from "writer" to "property owner" on the online encyclopedia. She still gives the impression to be overly concerned about this. On one occasion she remarks that she's looking into the killing so that before departing the state, "she might be able to learn something about an the nation that her social media opponents would not understand, would not even perceive".
The Homicide Account
So then we come to the homicide in question – and the titular day experienced by the deceased with the perpetrator and his companions. Kraus has compelling foundational content, and details moment by moment what transpired when the victim Brandon came to meet Brittney after meeting her on an app where she sold sex pictures. He sought a sexual encounter but seems affably to have spent the day with her companions, loitering having his vehicle repaired and paying for snacks and drugs, before being murdered by Brittney's boyfriend Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has often been institutionalized for aggressive outbursts.
Obsession and Unfinished Business
Catt gets obsessed by the account, and I was intrigued by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards ethical reporting and audacious rule-breaking wrestle in this part. However, I would have preferred her to explore more thoroughly her own obsessions here. The standout figure is the character Brittney, who comes alive partly through the protagonist's connection to her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman going off the rails in a difficult, overlooked locality. Kraus notes that Catt converses with Brittney in prison, but she fails to enact these dialogues. The complete segment feels strangely incomplete, to the point that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par
