The Four Spent the Day Together centers on protagonists chasing after new beginnings, attempting to leave behind addictions or abusive marriages, only to witness hope devolve into violence. Chris Kraus repeatedly invokes the phrase "new beginning", rendering it willfully cynical through its repetitions. Examples include "He aimed to start over" and "They opted for a clean break" appear throughout the story. Meanwhile, Kraus herself seems to be making her own fresh start, since this presents as a new kind of book – fact-based, authentically narrative. Yet it proves to be packed with the same dilemmas and aesthetics as past novels.
From Unplanned Author to Iconic Work
The writer started out as an visual artist who entered the literary world almost accidentally with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, made up of missives to a distant beloved, converting intimate women's literature from abjection into defiance. She continued writing, but the three subsequent compelling and abrasive novels missed the shock and immediacy that the letter form imparted to the voice of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her position as a maverick maker who had become a extensive real estate holder, so there was considerable focus on property transactions. It makes sense that she currently desires to try out different types of content, looking outwards to the experiences of others, at a time when she asserts that contemporary political climate renders personal narrative unnecessary.
Several Eras, One Unescapable Past
The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, encompassing three generations – each trapped by their pasts. The book includes the tale of Emma and Jasper, representations of her own mother and father, moving from the urban environment to a pastoral setting. Additionally the story of Kraus herself, in the guise of Catt Greene, reckoning with the late recognition of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her addict husband a man named Paul. And there is the account of a killing of one directionless individual by another in a community largely deserted by progressive politics only 80 miles from the protagonist's home in the Minnesota countryside.
For this reader fond of honed writing of the kind Kraus typically rejects, I was enchanted by the novelistic voice of the first section.
Being a reader who favors honed writing of the style that Kraus herself often disregards, I was captivated by the literary tone of the first section. It exhibits a novel degree of detail that allows space for small details, like the bucket that the young Catt pries out of frozen water at the beginning of the narrative, helped by her adored dad. "I discovered a frozen plaything!" she says; "a great plaything", he answers, "the ambiguous meanings of language tumbling in their mouths like hard candy". The author narrates the tale of Emma with interest and closeness. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not entirely her own."
Frustration and Disruption
I was destined to be disappointed when I expected this different style could last out the book. Kraus notes here that she resents the satisfaction audiences such as myself have taken from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to fragmentation, to the untidy aesthetics she has in common with her idol Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her past books returns in the central part. The protagonist is attempting to do up 36 run-down apartments in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while shuttling between Minnesota and LA, unable to aid her husband control his drinking. She is overwhelmed as Paul cycles through low-resource employment as an substance abuse counselor in a environment driven by the anger and fear that underpins a political win. A significant portion discusses about the protagonist facing cancellation on Twitter, her occupation changed from "novelist" to "real estate holder" on a reference site. The author still appears to care a little too much about this. At one point she remarks that she's researching the homicide so that before leaving Minnesota, "she may grasp something about an the nation that her Twitter detractors would fail to comprehend, would not even see".
The Murder Narrative
Then we reach to the murder itself – and the eponymous day spent by the victim with the murderer and his associates. The author possesses compelling foundational content, and knows hour by hour what happened when the victim Brandon came to visit Brittney after meeting her on an app where she offered adult photos. He was hoping for sex but seems affably to have spent the day alongside her friends, loitering fixing his automobile and paying for snacks and drugs, before being killed by gunfire by Brittney's partner Micah – a individual with mental health challenges who has frequently been hospitalised for aggressive outbursts.
Obsession and Unfinished Business
The protagonist becomes fixated by the story, and I found myself captivated by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards responsible documentation and audacious rule-breaking clash in this segment. However, I would have preferred her to explore more thoroughly her personal fixations here. The most interesting character is Brittney herself, who comes alive partly through Catt's identification with her – a similarly gifted, tormented individual spiraling out of control in a troubled, forgotten town. Kraus notes that Catt speaks to Brittney in detention, but she fails to enact these dialogues. The whole section feels curiously unresolved, to the degree that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par
