The Four Spent the Day Together is populated with protagonists seeking fresh starts, trying to break free from substance abuse or harmful partnerships, only to find hope curdling into aggression. Kraus frequently uses the phrase "fresh start", transforming it into deliberately jaded through recurring use. Phrases such as "He could make a fresh start" and "They opted for a clean break" appear throughout the text. And yet, she is embarking on her own fresh start, as this seems a different type of work – observational, truly literary. However it proves to be filled with the recurring issues and aesthetics as her previous works.
From Accidental Writer to Iconic Work
Kraus started out as an artist who became a writer almost accidentally with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, which was composed of missives to a distant beloved, elevating intimate women's literature from abjection into assassination. She continued writing, but the next trio of compelling and abrasive novels did not possess the impact and rawness that the epistolary style brought to the narrative voice of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her identity as a nonconformist creator who had turned into a extensive real estate holder, so there was considerable focus on housing investments. It follows that she presently aims to explore different types of content, directing her gaze to other people's stories, at a period in which she asserts that Trumpian politics turns intimate literature obsolete.
Several Eras, One Unescapable Past
The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, covering several time periods – none able to break free from their pasts. The book includes the story of characters Emma and Jasper, based on the author's parents, relocating from the Bronx to the Connecticut countryside. There is the account of Kraus, in the persona of protagonist Catt Greene, reckoning with the delayed acclaim of I Love Dick, the rise of Trump, and her substance-dependent spouse Paul. And there is the account of a killing of one lost young man by another in a locality mostly forsaken by forward-thinking policies only a short distance from Catt's cottage in rural Minnesota.
As a reader drawn to polished prose of the kind Kraus often avoids, I was enchanted by the narrative style of the first section.
Being a reader who favors crafted language of the kind that the author often disregards, I was seduced by the storytelling approach of the opening segment. It exhibits a fresh level of observation that accommodates small details, like the bucket that the youthful Catt frees from the ice at the opening of the book, aided by her beloved father. "I found an ice toy!" she declares; "a nice toy", he replies, "the nuanced interpretations of terms rolling around in their mouths like sweet treats". Kraus writes Emma's story with curiosity and intimacy. "Emma felt like she'd stepped into a dream – not hers, exactly."
Disappointment and Disjunction
I was fated to feel let down when I hoped this new voice could persist to the end. Kraus notes here that she is annoyed by the pleasure those who appreciate polished prose have gotten from I Love Dick; she's devoted to fragmentation, to the messy artistic approach she has in common with her inspiration Kathy Acker, and the emptiness and redundancy of her earlier works comes back in the second segment. The protagonist is working on refurbishing multiple decrepit residences in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while shuttling between Minnesota and LA, unsuccessful in assisting her husband curb his addiction. She experiences powerlessness as Paul cycles through low-resource employment as an substance abuse counselor in a environment propelled by the anger and fear that drives a political win. A significant portion discusses about the protagonist facing cancellation on a platform, her professional designation altered from "writer" to "landlord" on Wikipedia. The author still appears to be overly concerned about this. At one point she says that she's researching the homicide so that before exiting the region, "she could potentially understand something about an America that her social media opponents would be unable to grasp, would not even see".
The Homicide Account
So then we come to the murder itself – and the titular day experienced by the murdered individual with the perpetrator and his associates. Kraus has compelling foundational content, and knows hour by hour what transpired when a man named Brandon came to see Brittney after encountering her on a platform where she sold sex pictures. He sought a sexual encounter but appears congenially to have passed the day alongside her friends, wandering about getting his car mended and covering the cost of food and substances, before being shot by Brittney's boyfriend Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has frequently been hospitalised for violent rage.
Fascination and Incompletion
Catt develops an obsession by the story, and I found myself captivated by the way that the author's conflicting impulses towards ethical reporting and daring boundary-pushing clash in this segment. However, I would have preferred her to explore more thoroughly her own obsessions here. The most interesting character is Brittney herself, who comes alive in part due to the protagonist's connection to her – another bright, bullied girl derailing in a difficult, overlooked locality. Kraus notes that Catt converses with Brittney in jail, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. This entire part feels curiously unresolved, to the extent that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par
