This latest work features individuals pursuing clean slates, struggling to escape substance abuse or harmful partnerships, only to see hope turn into aggression. Kraus frequently uses the phrase "clean slate", rendering it willfully cynical through recurring use. Sentences like "He could make a fresh start" and "They chose to begin anew" appear throughout the story. And yet, the author herself seems to be making her own fresh start, since this appears a new kind of book – fact-based, authentically narrative. However it turns out to be laden with the familiar conflicts and aesthetics as earlier books.
From Accidental Writer to Iconic Work
The writer was originally an artist who entered the literary world somewhat by chance with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, made up of missives to a distant beloved, elevating intimate women's literature from abjection into assassination. She kept producing books, but the three subsequent fascinating and rebarbative novels did not possess the impact and rawness that the epistolary style brought to the voice of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her position as a nonconformist creator who had become a extensive real estate holder, so there was considerable focus on real estate deals. It is logical that she currently desires to try out new kinds of material, looking outwards to the experiences of others, at a moment when she states that contemporary political climate turns intimate literature unnecessary.
Several Eras, One Unescapable Past
The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, spanning multiple eras – all unable to escape their backgrounds. The book includes the story of Emma and Jasper, versions of her own mother and father, moving from the urban environment to a pastoral setting. Additionally the account of Kraus, in the guise of a figure named Catt Greene, reckoning with the late recognition of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her addict husband her husband Paul. Finally the narrative of a homicide of one directionless individual by another in a town largely deserted by progressive politics only a short distance from Catt's cottage in the Minnesota countryside.
As a reader drawn to honed writing of the kind Kraus herself often avoids, I was captivated by the novelistic voice of the opening part.
As someone who reads who appreciates honed writing of the kind that the author tends to eschew, I was seduced by the novelistic voice of the initial part. It possesses a fresh level of observation that accommodates minutiae, like the container that the youthful Catt dislodges from ice at the opening of the book, helped by her adored dad. "Look, an ice toy!" she declares; "a lovely toy", he answers, "the nuanced interpretations of terms rolling around in their mouths like sweet treats". She tells the tale of Emma with curiosity and intimacy. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not entirely her own."
Disappointment and Disjunction
I was bound to become frustrated when I hoped this different style could last out the book. Kraus notes here that she dislikes the satisfaction readers like me have gotten from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to disjunction, to the untidy aesthetics she echoes from her inspiration author Kathy Acker, and the emptiness and redundancy of her past books comes back in the central part. Catt is trying to renovate 36 run-down apartments in the city's most challenging districts while moving between the Midwest and the West Coast, unable to aid Paul curb his addiction. She experiences powerlessness as Paul transitions between low-resource employment as an substance abuse counselor in a environment driven by the rage and anxiety that drives a political win. There are several pages about Catt being cancelled on Twitter, her occupation changed from "author" to "real estate holder" on Wikipedia. She still gives the impression to be overly concerned about this. In a moment she says that she's investigating the murder so that before exiting the region, "she could potentially understand something about an the nation that her social media opponents would fail to comprehend, would overlook entirely".
The Killing Story
Then we reach to the actual killing – and the referenced day experienced by the deceased with the murderer and his companions. Kraus has great source material, and knows hour by hour what happened when a man named Brandon came to meet Brittney after connecting via an application where she offered adult photos. He sought a sexual encounter but appears congenially to have passed the day in the company of her associates, wandering about fixing his automobile and covering the cost of food and substances, before being shot by her romantic interest Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has often been institutionalized for aggressive outbursts.
Fascination and Incompletion
Catt develops an obsession by the story, and I was fascinated by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards responsible documentation and daring boundary-pushing clash in this segment. However, I would have preferred her to delve deeper into her individual preoccupations here. The standout figure is Brittney, who becomes vivid partly through Catt's identification with her – a similarly gifted, tormented individual spiraling out of control in a troubled, forgotten town. Kraus tells us that the protagonist communicates with Brittney in detention, but she doesn't dramatise these conversations. This entire part feels strangely incomplete, to the degree that her narrative ends almost mid-par
