The Four Spent the Day Together centers on characters chasing after new beginnings, trying to break free from drugs or harmful partnerships, only to find hope curdling into aggression. The author often employs the phrase "fresh start", transforming it into deliberately jaded through constant reiteration. Sentences like "He aimed to start over" and "They opted for a clean break" recur in the text. And yet, Kraus herself appears to be undertaking her personal new beginning, because this presents as a new kind of book – observational, genuinely novelistic. But then it reveals itself to be laden with the recurring issues and aesthetics as earlier books.
From Unplanned Author to Renowned Book
Chris Kraus began as an creative who transitioned to writing somewhat by chance with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, structured as letters to an unreceptive lover, elevating intimate women's literature from abjection into rebellion. She continued writing, but the following three fascinating and rebarbative novels lacked the shock and immediacy that the correspondence format infused into the tone of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her identity as a maverick maker who had evolved into a extensive real estate holder, so there was much discussion on property transactions. It makes sense that she presently aims to explore different types of content, turning outward to external narratives, at a moment when she claims that current political era turns intimate literature redundant.
Several Eras, One Unescapable Past
The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, encompassing three generations – none able to break free from their histories. We encounter the story of Emma and Jasper, based on Kraus's parents, transitioning from the New York borough to a pastoral setting. There is the story of Kraus herself, in the character of protagonist Catt Greene, grappling with the late recognition of I Love Dick, the rise of Trump, and her partner struggling with addiction a man named Paul. And there is the account of a killing of one directionless individual by another in a locality long abandoned by progressive politics only a short distance from the protagonist's home in rural Minnesota.
As a reader drawn to polished prose of the kind Kraus herself typically rejects, I was seduced by the narrative style of the initial segment.
As a reader who favors honed writing of the style that Kraus herself usually avoids, I was captivated by the storytelling approach of the opening segment. It possesses a new quality of attentiveness that makes room for small details, like the container that the protagonist as a child pries out of frozen water at the beginning of the narrative, helped by her cherished parent. "Look, an ice toy!" she declares; "a great plaything", he replies, "the elliptical meanings of words circulating in their speech like piece candy". The author narrates Emma's story with inquiry and familiarity. "Emma felt like she'd stepped into a dream – not entirely her own."
Frustration and Disruption
I was destined to be disappointed when I hoped this different style could continue through the novel. Kraus notes here that she dislikes the satisfaction those who appreciate polished prose have taken from I Love Dick; she's committed to fragmentation, to the messy artistic approach she has in common with her inspiration Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her previous novels reasserts itself in the second segment. Catt Greene is trying to renovate three dozen dilapidated units in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while traveling between two different states, unsuccessful in assisting Paul control his drinking. She is overwhelmed as Paul transitions between low-resource employment as an substance abuse counselor in a society propelled by the hostility and dread that drives an electoral success. Multiple pages are devoted about Catt being cancelled on social media, her listed profession modified from "writer" to "real estate holder" on the online encyclopedia. Kraus still seems to care a little too much about this. At one point she states that she's looking into the killing so that before departing the state, "she might be able to learn something about an the nation that her Twitter detractors would fail to comprehend, would not even perceive".
The Killing Story
So then we come to the actual killing – and the titular day experienced by the murdered individual with the killer and his friends. Kraus utilizes great source material, and reconstructs step by step what occurred as a man named Brandon came to visit Brittney after meeting her on an app where she sold sex pictures. He anticipated intimacy but appears congenially to have passed the day in the company of her associates, loitering having his vehicle repaired and funding treats and narcotics, before being shot by her romantic interest Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has repeatedly received inpatient care for fits of anger.
Obsession and Unfinished Business
Catt gets obsessed by the narrative, and I was intrigued by the way that her twin drives towards responsible documentation and audacious rule-breaking tussle in this section. Yet I wished her to delve deeper into her personal fixations here. The most interesting character is the character Brittney, who comes alive partially because of Catt's identification with her – a similarly gifted, tormented individual going off the rails in a struggling, neglected community. The author informs us that Catt speaks to Brittney in jail, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. This entire part feels oddly unfinished, to the point that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par
