The new book features individuals pursuing clean slates, struggling to escape substance abuse or harmful partnerships, only to witness hope devolve into violence. Kraus frequently uses the phrase "clean slate", making it willfully cynical through constant reiteration. Sentences like "He could make a fresh start" and "They chose to begin anew" recur in the text. Meanwhile, she appears to be undertaking her individual reinvention, since this presents as a novel form of writing – observational, truly literary. But then it proves to be packed with the familiar conflicts and aesthetics as past novels.
From Accidental Writer to Iconic Work
The writer began as an visual artist who became a writer somewhat by chance with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, which was composed of missives to a distant beloved, elevating intimate women's literature from self-debasement into rebellion. She kept producing books, but the next trio of engaging and challenging novels lacked the impact and rawness that the letter form brought to the narrative voice of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her identity as a maverick maker who had become a extensive real estate holder, so there was much discussion on property transactions. It makes sense that she presently aims to experiment with new kinds of material, directing her gaze to external narratives, at a time when she asserts that current political era makes confessional writing obsolete.
Multiple Generations, Shared Inescapable History
The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, encompassing three generations – all unable to escape their pasts. There is the tale of characters Emma and Jasper, versions of the author's parents, relocating from the urban environment to a pastoral setting. There is the narrative of the author, in the character of a figure named Catt Greene, grappling with the delayed acclaim of I Love Dick, the rise of Trump, and her partner struggling with addiction her husband Paul. And there is the story of the murder of one directionless individual by another in a town long abandoned by liberal ideals only a brief drive from Catt's rural residence in rural Minnesota.
As a reader drawn to honed writing of the kind Kraus herself tends to eschew, I was enchanted by the literary tone of the opening part.
Being a reader who favors crafted language of the style that Kraus tends to eschew, I was won over by the novelistic voice of the first section. It exhibits a new quality of attentiveness that accommodates trivial aspects, like the bucket that the young Catt frees from the ice at the start of the story, helped by her beloved father. "Look, an ice toy!" she says; "a nice toy", he responds, "the elliptical meanings of words circulating in their speech like hard candy". The author narrates Emma's story with inquiry and familiarity. "Emma felt like she'd stepped into a dream – not hers, exactly."
Letdown and Fragmentation
I was fated to feel let down when I hoped this new voice could persist to the end. The author states here that she resents the satisfaction those who appreciate polished prose have gotten from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to fragmentation, to the untidy aesthetics she has in common with her inspiration writer Kathy Acker, and the emptiness and redundancy of her earlier works returns in the central part. Catt Greene is trying to renovate three dozen dilapidated units in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while traveling between two different states, failing to help Paul curb his addiction. She is overwhelmed as her spouse transitions between underfunded jobs as an addiction therapist in a world propelled by the rage and anxiety that powers a political win. A significant portion discusses about Catt's social media ostracism on social media, her occupation changed from "novelist" to "property owner" on Wikipedia. Kraus still seems to care a little too much about this. At one point she remarks that she's looking into the killing so that before departing the state, "she may grasp something about an the nation that her online critics would be unable to grasp, would not even see".
The Murder Narrative
So then we come to the homicide in question – and the referenced day passed by the deceased with the murderer and his associates. Kraus has excellent raw material, and details moment by moment what happened when Brandon came to see Brittney after encountering her on a platform where she offered adult photos. He anticipated intimacy but appears congenially to have passed the day in the company of her associates, wandering about having his vehicle repaired and covering the cost of food and substances, before being murdered by Brittney's partner Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has often been institutionalized for aggressive outbursts.
Preoccupation and Open Ends
Catt develops an obsession by the narrative, and I was intrigued by the way that her twin drives towards accurate chronicling and audacious rule-breaking clash in this segment. But I'd have liked her to explore more thoroughly her individual preoccupations here. The most interesting character is the character Brittney, who becomes vivid partially because of the protagonist's connection to her – a similarly gifted, tormented individual derailing in a troubled, forgotten town. Kraus notes that Catt converses with Brittney in prison, but she fails to enact these dialogues. The complete segment feels oddly unfinished, to the degree that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par
