🔗 Share this article

This latest work features characters pursuing fresh starts, attempting to leave behind drugs or toxic relationships, only to find hope curdling into violence. Kraus frequently uses the phrase "new beginning", transforming it into intentionally weary through its repetitions. Phrases such as "He aimed to start over" and "They opted for a clean break" appear throughout the narrative. And yet, Kraus herself appears to be undertaking her personal new beginning, because this appears a novel form of writing – fact-based, authentically narrative. But then it reveals itself to be filled with the recurring issues and approaches as her previous works.

From Accidental Writer to Cult Classic

Kraus began as an artist who transitioned to writing almost accidentally with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, structured as letters to an unreceptive lover, transforming confessional female writing from self-debasement into assassination. She continued writing, but the following three engaging and challenging novels missed the shock and immediacy that the letter form imparted to the narrative voice of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her position as a maverick maker who had become a major property owner, so there was considerable focus on property transactions. It is logical that she now wants to try out fresh narrative sources, directing her gaze to external narratives, at a time when she asserts that current political era turns intimate literature redundant.

Multiple Generations, Collective Unavoidable Background

The Four Spent the Day Together is structured in three parts, covering three generations – none able to break free from their histories. The book includes the story of characters Emma and Jasper, representations of Kraus's parents, moving from the New York borough to a pastoral setting. Additionally the account of Kraus, in the persona of Catt Greene, confronting the late recognition of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her substance-dependent spouse a man named Paul. And there is the story of the murder of one directionless individual by another in a community long abandoned by forward-thinking policies only 80 miles from Catt's cottage in a remote part of Minnesota.

As a reader drawn to refined literature of the type Kraus typically rejects, I was enchanted by the literary tone of the opening part.

Being a reader who favors honed writing of the style that Kraus herself usually avoids, I was captivated by the literary tone of the first section. There is a fresh level of observation that accommodates minutiae, like the pail that the protagonist as a child frees from the ice at the opening of the book, aided by her cherished parent. "I discovered a frozen plaything!" she says; "a nice toy", he answers, "the elliptical meanings of words circulating in their speech like hard candy". She tells Emma's narrative with interest and closeness. "It seemed to Emma she had entered a dream – not hers, exactly."

Disappointment and Disjunction

I was fated to feel let down when I expected this new voice could persist to the end. Kraus says here that she dislikes the pleasure readers like me have gotten from I Love Dick; she's committed to fragmentation, to the untidy aesthetics she echoes from her inspiration Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her past books reasserts itself in the second segment. The protagonist is attempting to do up multiple decrepit residences in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while moving between the Midwest and the West Coast, unsuccessful in assisting her husband manage his alcohol use. She is overwhelmed as Paul moves between poorly supported positions as an addiction therapist in a world driven by the anger and fear that drives Trump's victory. 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 looking into the killing so that before exiting the region, "she might be able to learn something about an America that her online critics would fail to comprehend, would overlook entirely".

The Homicide Account

So then we come to the actual killing – and the titular day experienced by the deceased with the perpetrator and his companions. Kraus utilizes compelling foundational content, and knows hour by hour what occurred as Brandon came to see Brittney after connecting via an application where she marketed explicit images. He was hoping for sex but seems amiably to have occupied the day with her companions, wandering about having his vehicle repaired and funding treats and narcotics, before being killed by gunfire by her romantic interest a man named Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has often been institutionalized for aggressive outbursts.

Fascination and Incompletion

The protagonist becomes fixated by the story, and I was fascinated by the way that her twin drives towards accurate chronicling and audacious rule-breaking wrestle in this part. But I'd have liked her to delve deeper into her personal fixations here. The most interesting character is Brittney herself, who gains dimension in part due to the protagonist's connection to her – another bright, bullied girl spiraling out of control in a difficult, overlooked locality. Kraus tells us that the protagonist communicates with Brittney in detention, but she fails to enact these dialogues. This entire part feels strangely incomplete, to the extent that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par