The Four Spent the Day Together centers on individuals chasing after new beginnings, attempting to leave behind substance abuse or toxic relationships, only to witness hope devolve into violence. Kraus often employs the phrase "clean slate", transforming it into deliberately jaded through constant reiteration. Phrases such as "He aimed to start over" and "They opted for a clean break" recur in the narrative. At the same time, Kraus herself is embarking on her own fresh start, since this seems a novel form of writing – observational, authentically narrative. Yet it reveals itself to be packed with the recurring issues and aesthetics as her previous works.
From Accidental Writer to Iconic Work
Chris Kraus started out as an creative who became a writer somewhat by chance with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, structured as epistles to an unresponsive love interest, converting personal female narrative from abjection into defiance. She kept producing books, but the following three compelling and abrasive novels missed the shock and immediacy that the correspondence format infused into the tone of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her position as a maverick maker who had evolved into a extensive real estate holder, so there was significant attention on real estate deals. It follows that she currently desires to experiment with fresh narrative sources, directing her gaze to other people's stories, at a period in which she claims that Trumpian politics turns intimate literature unnecessary.
Multiple Generations, Shared Inescapable History
The Four Spent the Day Together is structured in three parts, spanning three generations – each trapped by their pasts. We encounter the tale of a couple named Emma and Jasper, representations of Kraus's parents, transitioning from the New York borough to a pastoral setting. Additionally the account of Kraus, in the guise of Catt Greene, grappling with the late recognition of I Love Dick, the rise of Trump, and her addict husband a man named Paul. And there is the account of a killing of one lost young man by another in a town largely deserted by liberal ideals only 80 miles from the protagonist's home in the Minnesota countryside.
From my perspective as a reader attracted to honed writing of the sort Kraus tends to eschew, I was seduced by the novelistic voice of the opening part.
As a reader drawn to precise prose of the variety that the author tends to eschew, I was won over by the storytelling approach of the first section. It exhibits a novel degree of detail that makes room for small details, like the container that the youthful Catt pries out of frozen water at the beginning of the narrative, helped by her adored dad. "I discovered a frozen plaything!" she exclaims; "a lovely toy", he answers, "the nuanced interpretations of terms tumbling in their mouths like sweet treats". Kraus writes the tale of Emma with inquiry and familiarity. "It seemed to Emma she had entered a dream – not entirely her own."
Disappointment and Disjunction
I was bound to become frustrated when I hoped this new voice 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 disjunction, to the messy artistic approach she has in common with her idol author Kathy Acker, and the emptiness and redundancy of her earlier works reasserts itself in the middle section. Catt is attempting to do up three dozen dilapidated units in the city's most challenging districts while moving between Minnesota and LA, unable to aid her husband manage his alcohol use. She is overwhelmed as Paul moves between underfunded jobs as an addiction therapist in a world propelled by the anger and fear that drives an electoral success. Multiple pages are devoted about Catt being cancelled on social media, her listed profession modified from "novelist" to "real estate holder" on a reference site. She still gives the impression to be overly concerned about this. In a moment she remarks that she's investigating the murder so that before exiting the region, "she may grasp something about an America that her online critics would not understand, would overlook entirely".
The Murder Narrative
So then we come to the murder itself – and the titular day spent by the deceased with the murderer and his companions. Kraus utilizes excellent raw material, and details moment by moment what happened when a man named Brandon came to meet Brittney after connecting via an application where she marketed explicit images. He sought a sexual encounter but appears congenially to have passed the day with her companions, mooching around having his vehicle repaired and covering the cost of food and substances, before being killed by gunfire by her romantic interest Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has repeatedly received inpatient care for fits of anger.
Preoccupation and Open Ends
The protagonist becomes fixated by the account, and I was fascinated by the way that her twin drives towards ethical reporting and daring boundary-pushing wrestle in this part. Yet I wished her to explore more thoroughly her own obsessions here. The most interesting character is Brittney herself, who comes alive partially because of Catt's identification with her – another bright, bullied girl going off the rails in a struggling, neglected community. Kraus notes that the protagonist communicates with Brittney in jail, but she fails to enact these dialogues. This entire part feels oddly unfinished, to the degree that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par
