🔗 Share this article

The new book centers on individuals pursuing fresh starts, struggling to escape substance abuse or harmful partnerships, only to find hope curdling into violence. The author repeatedly invokes the phrase "clean slate", making it deliberately jaded through constant reiteration. Sentences like "He aimed to start over" and "They chose to begin anew" appear throughout the narrative. Meanwhile, Kraus herself appears to be undertaking her personal new beginning, as this presents as a novel form of writing – observational, authentically narrative. Yet it reveals itself to be laden with the familiar conflicts and approaches as her previous works.

From Chance Novelist to Renowned Book

Kraus was originally an artist who entered the literary world almost accidentally with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, structured as missives to a distant beloved, converting confessional female writing from humiliation into rebellion. She kept producing books, but the next trio of fascinating and rebarbative novels lacked the power and directness that the correspondence format imparted to the tone of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her position as a renegade artist who had evolved into a extensive real estate holder, so there was much discussion on property transactions. It is logical that she now wants to experiment with different types of content, directing her gaze to other people's stories, at a period in which she claims that contemporary political climate makes confessional writing unnecessary.

Several Eras, Collective Unavoidable Background

The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, spanning several time periods – all unable to escape their histories. We encounter the tale of a couple named Emma and Jasper, versions of the author's parents, relocating from the New York borough to the Connecticut countryside. Then there is the story of Kraus herself, in the guise of protagonist Catt Greene, grappling with the belated success of I Love Dick, the rise of Trump, and her addict husband a man named Paul. Finally the story of the murder of one troubled youth by another in a town mostly forsaken by liberal ideals only a brief drive from the protagonist's home in a remote part of Minnesota.

As a reader drawn to honed writing of the sort Kraus often avoids, I was captivated by the literary tone of the first section.

Being a reader who favors crafted language of the kind that Kraus often disregards, I was captivated by the storytelling approach of the initial part. There is a new quality of attentiveness that accommodates trivial aspects, like the bucket that the young Catt frees from the ice at the opening of the book, assisted by her adored dad. "I found an ice toy!" she exclaims; "a lovely toy", he replies, "the elliptical meanings of words rolling around in their mouths like sweet treats". She tells Emma's story with inquiry and familiarity. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not precisely her dream."

Letdown and Fragmentation

I was bound to become frustrated when I wished this new voice could continue through the novel. Kraus notes here that she dislikes the satisfaction audiences such as myself have gotten from I Love Dick; she's devoted to fragmentation, to the unpolished style she shares with her hero author Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her past books returns in the middle section. The protagonist is attempting to do up multiple decrepit residences in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while traveling between the Midwest and the West Coast, failing to help Paul curb his addiction. She feels helpless as Paul transitions between poorly supported positions as an recovery specialist in a world driven by the rage and anxiety that powers Trump's victory. A significant portion discusses about Catt's social media ostracism on Twitter, her professional designation altered from "novelist" to "landlord" on the online encyclopedia. Kraus still seems to invest excessive emotion about this. In a moment she says 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 fail to comprehend, would not even see".

The Killing Story

Then we reach to the actual killing – and the titular day passed by the victim with the murderer and his companions. Kraus utilizes excellent raw material, and details moment by moment what happened when Brandon came to meet Brittney after connecting via an application where she sold sex pictures. He was hoping for sex but appears congenially to have passed the day in the company of her associates, mooching around getting his car mended and funding treats and narcotics, before being murdered by Brittney's boyfriend Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has repeatedly received inpatient care for violent rage.

Fascination and Incompletion

Catt gets obsessed by the narrative, and I found myself captivated by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards responsible documentation and audacious rule-breaking clash in this segment. But I'd have liked her to explore more thoroughly her individual preoccupations here. The standout figure is Brittney, who comes alive partially because of the protagonist's connection to her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman derailing in a struggling, neglected community. Kraus tells us that Catt converses with Brittney in jail, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. The whole section feels oddly unfinished, to the point that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par