The new book centers on individuals chasing after clean slates, attempting to leave behind addictions or toxic relationships, only to find hope curdling into aggression. The author repeatedly invokes the phrase "clean slate", making it intentionally weary through constant reiteration. Phrases such as "He could make a fresh start" and "They chose to begin anew" recur in the narrative. At the same time, Kraus herself seems to be making her own fresh start, as this presents as a novel form of writing – fact-based, truly literary. Yet it proves to be laden with the same dilemmas and approaches as past novels.
From Accidental Writer to Cult Classic
Kraus was originally an visual artist who transitioned to writing somewhat by chance with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, which was composed of missives to a distant beloved, elevating confessional female writing from abjection into defiance. She persisted as a writer, but the three subsequent fascinating and rebarbative novels lacked the impact and rawness that the letter form brought to the voice of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her identity as a renegade artist who had become a major property owner, so there was significant attention on property transactions. It is logical that she now wants to explore new kinds of material, directing her gaze to the experiences of others, at a moment when she claims that Trumpian politics turns intimate literature obsolete.
Multiple Generations, Shared Inescapable History
The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, covering three generations – each trapped by their pasts. There is the story of characters Emma and Jasper, based on Kraus's parents, transitioning from the New York borough to rural Connecticut. Additionally the account of Kraus, in the persona of a figure named Catt Greene, grappling with the late recognition of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her addict husband her husband Paul. And there is the account of a killing of one lost young man by another in a town largely deserted by liberal ideals only a brief drive from the protagonist's home in rural Minnesota.
As a reader drawn to honed writing of the type Kraus herself often avoids, I was captivated by the novelistic voice of the initial segment.
As a reader who favors honed writing of the kind that the author often disregards, I was captivated by the literary tone of the initial part. It possesses a novel degree of detail that accommodates minutiae, like the bucket that the protagonist as a child pries out of frozen water at the start of the story, aided by her adored dad. "Look, an ice toy!" she exclaims; "a great plaything", he responds, "the nuanced interpretations of terms rolling around in their mouths like piece candy". Kraus writes Emma's narrative with inquiry and familiarity. "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 fresh tone could persist to the end. Kraus notes here that she is annoyed by the enjoyment readers like me have taken from I Love Dick; she's devoted to disjunction, to the untidy aesthetics she shares with her idol author Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her past books returns in the middle section. Catt is working on refurbishing three dozen dilapidated units in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while shuttling between Minnesota and LA, unsuccessful in assisting her husband control his drinking. She feels helpless as her spouse moves between underfunded jobs as an addiction therapist in a society fueled by the rage and anxiety that drives a political win. There are several pages about Catt being cancelled on Twitter, her occupation changed from "novelist" to "landlord" on the online encyclopedia. Kraus still seems to invest excessive emotion about this. On one occasion she says that she's investigating the murder so that before departing the state, "she could potentially understand something about an America that her online critics would be unable to grasp, would not even perceive".
The Killing Story
Thus we arrive to the actual killing – and the referenced day passed by the victim with the perpetrator and his friends. Kraus has excellent raw material, and reconstructs step by step what occurred as a man named Brandon came to meet Brittney after encountering her on a platform where she marketed explicit images. He sought a sexual encounter but seems amiably to have occupied the day in the company of her associates, loitering fixing his automobile and paying for snacks and drugs, before being killed by gunfire by Brittney's boyfriend Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has often been institutionalized for fits of anger.
Preoccupation and Open Ends
Catt develops an obsession by the story, and I found myself captivated by the way that her twin drives towards ethical reporting and reckless transgression tussle in this section. Yet I wished her to delve deeper into her individual preoccupations here. The compelling persona is Brittney herself, who comes alive partly through the protagonist's connection to her – another bright, bullied girl derailing in a troubled, forgotten town. Kraus notes that the protagonist communicates with Brittney in detention, but she doesn't dramatise these conversations. The whole section feels curiously unresolved, to the point that her narrative ends almost mid-par
