Like every woman of a certain ilk, my copy of I Love Dick was, by the end of a second or eighth read, so underlined and circled and covered in NBs as to be practically illegible. In writing it, Kraus gave women permission not only to embrace their natural tendencies towards deep and often irrational obsession, but also to convert it into vibrant, astounding art. It was genuinely revolutionary.
The Four Spent The Day Together shows traces of Kraus’s earlier work and purposefully diverges from it: ostensibly, the book isn’t primarily about her (although, of course, it is). This step away from herself as direct subject was already apparent in her study of Cathy Acker in 2017. Here, though, the decision to focus on such a serious and solemn topic (meth addiction and its concordant violence in America’s ex-mining communities, specifically one that happened in Minnesota not far from where Kraus was part-time living), may have come out of her hideous-sounding cancellation. This occurred in that especially hysterical moment in the American left, post-Trump’s first election. Its details (vile tweets et al), are recounted within the novel, before she moves on to the murder. Nothing like a bit of perspective to put the haters in their place.
Supposed subject aside, the strongest part of Four is the opening childhood section. Focusing on “Catt’s” semi-impoverished upbringing in New York’s outermost commuter belt, it recounts her parents’ painfully earnest attempts to foster a better life (Catt’s father Jasper affects a British accent and reads The Oxford Book of English Verse while her mother rots, Betty Friedan-style). In part two, we meet Catt in midlife, coping with being cancelled and an alcoholic husband. While still excellent, this suffers from being somewhat familiar, and less intriguing than her childhood. The third and final section, where we finally delve into the Minnesota murder, is compelling, but also the weakest. Reading, one gets the impression that Kraus, after all that time and research (and no doubt grant proposals), wanted desperately for this to be the Grand Subject of her novel, found it wasn’t, then shoehorned it in anyway.
Regardless, Four is riveting throughout. Besides, I for one enjoy ambitiously imperfect books – as in this case, they’re often the most interesting.
