The Four Spent the Day Together centers on individuals pursuing clean slates, struggling to escape substance abuse or toxic relationships, only to witness hope devolve into aggression. Chris Kraus frequently uses the phrase "fresh start", making it intentionally weary through its repetitions. Examples include "He aimed to start over" and "They opted for a clean break" recur in the narrative. And yet, the author herself is embarking on her individual reinvention, as this seems a novel form of writing – documentarian, genuinely novelistic. But then it proves to be packed with the familiar conflicts and styles as past novels.
From Chance Novelist to Renowned Book
Chris Kraus was originally an creative who became a writer somewhat by chance with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, structured as missives to a distant beloved, converting confessional female writing from abjection into rebellion. She continued writing, but the following three fascinating and rebarbative novels did not possess the shock and immediacy that the epistolary style imparted to the voice of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her position as a maverick maker who had turned into a major property owner, so there was considerable focus on real estate deals. It is logical that she now wants to explore different types of content, directing her gaze to external narratives, at a moment when she states that current political era renders personal narrative redundant.
Several Eras, Shared Inescapable History
The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, spanning multiple eras – each trapped by their backgrounds. The book includes the story of characters Emma and Jasper, representations of the author's parents, relocating from the Bronx to a pastoral setting. There is the narrative of the author, in the character of protagonist Catt Greene, grappling with the delayed acclaim of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her substance-dependent spouse a man named Paul. Finally the narrative of a homicide of one directionless individual by another in a town largely deserted by progressive politics only a short distance from Catt's cottage in the Minnesota countryside.
As a reader attracted to polished prose of the sort Kraus typically rejects, I was enchanted by the novelistic voice of the initial segment.
As a reader who appreciates crafted language of the kind that Kraus herself usually avoids, I was captivated by the storytelling approach of the initial part. It exhibits a novel degree of detail that makes room for minutiae, like the bucket that the protagonist as a child pries out of frozen water at the beginning of the narrative, helped by her beloved father. "Look, an ice toy!" she says; "a great plaything", he answers, "the nuanced interpretations of terms tumbling in their mouths like hard candy". She tells the tale of Emma with inquiry and familiarity. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not precisely her dream."
Disappointment and Disjunction
I was destined to be disappointed when I expected this fresh tone could last out the book. Kraus says here that she is annoyed by the pleasure readers like me have taken from I Love Dick; she's committed to fragmentation, to the unpolished style she shares with her idol Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her earlier works returns in the middle section. Catt is trying to renovate multiple decrepit residences in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while moving between the Midwest and the West Coast, failing to help Paul curb his addiction. She feels helpless as her spouse moves between low-resource employment as an substance abuse counselor in a environment fueled by the rage and anxiety that drives an electoral success. A significant portion discusses about Catt being cancelled on a platform, her professional designation altered from "writer" to "property owner" on Wikipedia. Kraus still seems to care a little too much about this. In a moment she remarks that she's looking into the killing so that before exiting the region, "she could potentially understand something about an the nation that her social media opponents would not understand, would overlook entirely".
The Murder Narrative
Then we reach to the homicide in question – and the eponymous day passed by the murdered individual with the killer and his friends. Kraus has compelling foundational content, and details moment by moment what transpired when a man named Brandon came to meet 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, mooching around having his vehicle repaired and paying for snacks and drugs, before being murdered by her romantic interest Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has frequently been hospitalised for aggressive outbursts.
Fascination and Incompletion
Catt develops an obsession by the narrative, and I was intrigued by the way that her twin drives towards responsible documentation and reckless transgression clash in this segment. Yet I wished her to explore more thoroughly her individual preoccupations here. The standout figure is Brittney, who becomes vivid partially because of Catt's identification with her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman spiraling out of control in a struggling, neglected community. Kraus notes that Catt converses with Brittney in prison, but she doesn't dramatise these conversations. This entire part feels curiously unresolved, to the point that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par
