The Four Spent the Day Together is populated with individuals pursuing fresh starts, trying to break free from drugs or toxic relationships, only to see hope turn into aggression. The author repeatedly invokes the phrase "clean slate", rendering it intentionally weary through constant reiteration. Phrases such as "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They opted for a clean break" appear throughout the narrative. And yet, Kraus herself seems to be making her personal new beginning, as this presents as a new kind of book – observational, genuinely novelistic. However it proves to be laden with the familiar conflicts and approaches as earlier books.
From Unplanned Author to Renowned Book
Chris Kraus was originally an artist who transitioned to writing almost accidentally with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, made up of epistles to an unresponsive love interest, converting intimate women's literature from self-debasement into rebellion. She kept producing books, but the next trio of compelling and abrasive novels lacked the power and directness 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 much discussion on housing investments. It follows that she presently aims to experiment with new kinds of material, directing her gaze to the experiences of others, at a period in which she claims that contemporary political climate turns intimate literature redundant.
Several Eras, One Unescapable Past
The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, encompassing several time periods – each trapped by their backgrounds. We encounter the tale of characters Emma and Jasper, based on her own mother and father, relocating from the Bronx to rural Connecticut. There is the story of Kraus herself, in the guise of a figure named Catt Greene, reckoning with the belated success of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her partner struggling with addiction her husband Paul. Finally the account of a killing of one troubled youth by another in a town mostly forsaken by liberal ideals only a brief drive from the protagonist's home in a remote part of Minnesota.
From my perspective as a reader attracted to refined literature of the sort the author herself typically rejects, I was enchanted by the narrative style of the first section.
Being a reader who favors crafted language of the kind that Kraus often disregards, I was won over by the novelistic voice of the first section. It exhibits a novel degree of detail that accommodates trivial aspects, like the container that the youthful Catt frees from the ice at the opening of the book, aided by her adored dad. "I discovered a frozen plaything!" she says; "a great plaything", he replies, "the ambiguous meanings of language tumbling in their mouths like piece candy". The author narrates the tale of Emma with curiosity and intimacy. "Emma felt like she'd stepped into a dream – not entirely her own."
Disappointment and Disjunction
I was bound to become frustrated when I hoped this new voice could persist to the end. The author states here that she dislikes the satisfaction readers like me have taken from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to disjunction, to the untidy aesthetics she echoes from her idol author Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her past books comes back in the middle section. Catt is trying to renovate multiple decrepit residences in the city's most challenging districts while moving between Minnesota and LA, unable to aid Paul manage his alcohol use. She is overwhelmed as Paul transitions between underfunded jobs as an substance abuse counselor in a society driven by the anger and fear that powers an electoral success. There are several pages about Catt being cancelled on social media, her professional designation altered from "author" to "property owner" on Wikipedia. Kraus still seems to be overly concerned about this. On one occasion she says that she's investigating the murder so that before departing the state, "she may grasp something about an America that her social media opponents would fail to comprehend, would not even see".
The Murder Narrative
Thus we arrive to the homicide in question – and the referenced day experienced by the victim with the murderer and his associates. The author possesses excellent raw material, and knows hour by hour what happened when Brandon came to meet Brittney after meeting her on an app where she sold sex pictures. He was hoping for sex 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 shot by Brittney's partner a man named Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has often been institutionalized for aggressive outbursts.
Fascination and Incompletion
Catt gets obsessed by the story, and I was intrigued by the way that her twin drives towards responsible documentation and audacious rule-breaking clash in this segment. Yet I wished her to delve deeper into her personal fixations here. The compelling persona is the character Brittney, who gains dimension in part due to the protagonist's connection to her – a similarly gifted, tormented individual spiraling out of control in a troubled, forgotten town. The author informs us that Catt converses with Brittney in jail, but she fails to enact these dialogues. The whole section feels strangely incomplete, to the extent that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par
