The Four Spent the Day Together features protagonists pursuing new beginnings, trying to break free from substance abuse or abusive marriages, only to see hope turn into conflict. Kraus often employs the phrase "clean slate", rendering it intentionally weary through constant reiteration. Sentences like "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They decided to make a fresh start" recur in the text. And yet, she is embarking on her individual reinvention, since this appears a different type of work – observational, genuinely novelistic. However it turns out to be laden with the familiar conflicts and aesthetics as past novels.
From Chance Novelist to Iconic Work
Chris Kraus began as an visual artist who became a writer somewhat by chance with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, structured as missives to a distant beloved, transforming personal female narrative from self-debasement into assassination. She persisted as a writer, but the three subsequent engaging and challenging novels did not possess the impact and rawness that the letter form brought to the tone of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her position as a nonconformist creator who had become a large-scale low-rent landlord, so there was significant attention on property transactions. It is logical that she now wants to experiment with new kinds of material, directing her gaze to other people's stories, at a time when she states that Trumpian politics turns intimate literature unnecessary.
Three Generations, Collective Unavoidable Background
The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, encompassing multiple eras – none able to break free from their backgrounds. The book includes the tale of characters Emma and Jasper, representations of her own mother and father, moving from the urban environment to a pastoral setting. Then there is the account of Kraus, in the guise of a figure named Catt Greene, reckoning with the delayed acclaim 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 troubled youth by another in a locality long abandoned by progressive politics only a brief drive from Catt's cottage in a remote part of Minnesota.
As a reader fond of polished prose of the sort Kraus herself often avoids, I was seduced by the narrative style of the opening part.
As someone who reads who favors crafted language of the style that the author usually avoids, I was seduced by the literary tone of the opening segment. It possesses a novel degree of detail that makes room for trivial aspects, like the bucket that the youthful Catt frees from the ice at the start of the story, aided by her cherished parent. "I found an ice toy!" she declares; "a lovely toy", he responds, "the nuanced interpretations of terms rolling around in their mouths like piece candy". The author narrates Emma's story with interest and closeness. "It seemed to Emma she had entered a dream – not hers, exactly."
Letdown and Fragmentation
I was destined to be disappointed when I hoped this different style could last out the book. The author states here that she is annoyed by the satisfaction readers like me have gotten from I Love Dick; she's committed to fragmentation, to the messy artistic approach she shares with her inspiration author Kathy Acker, and the emptiness and redundancy of her past books returns in the middle section. Catt is working on refurbishing three dozen dilapidated units in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while moving between Minnesota and LA, unable to aid Paul control his drinking. She experiences powerlessness as Paul moves between low-resource employment as an substance abuse counselor in a world propelled by the rage and anxiety that powers Trump's victory. There are several pages about Catt being cancelled on Twitter, her occupation changed from "author" to "real estate holder" on the online encyclopedia. The author still appears to care a little too much about this. In a moment she states that she's investigating the murder so that before exiting the region, "she might be able to learn something about an America that her social media opponents would fail to comprehend, would not even perceive".
The Homicide Account
So then we come to the actual killing – and the eponymous day spent by the murdered individual with the killer and his friends. Kraus utilizes compelling foundational content, and details moment by moment what occurred as Brandon came to meet Brittney after encountering her on a platform where she sold sex pictures. He sought a sexual encounter but seems amiably to have occupied the day alongside her friends, wandering about having his vehicle repaired and paying for snacks and drugs, before being killed by gunfire by Brittney's partner Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has frequently been hospitalised for aggressive outbursts.
Obsession and Unfinished Business
Catt gets obsessed by the account, and I was intrigued by the way that the author's conflicting impulses towards ethical reporting and reckless transgression tussle in this section. But I'd have liked her to explore more thoroughly her personal fixations here. The most interesting character is Brittney herself, who comes alive in part due to Catt's identification with her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman going off the rails in a difficult, overlooked locality. The author informs us that Catt converses with Brittney in detention, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. The complete segment feels curiously unresolved, to the point that her narrative ends almost mid-par
