The Four Spent the Day Together centers on protagonists pursuing fresh starts, attempting to leave behind drugs or abusive marriages, only to witness hope devolve into aggression. The author often employs the phrase "new beginning", transforming it into intentionally weary through constant reiteration. Sentences like "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They opted for a clean break" appear throughout the story. And yet, she appears to be undertaking her personal new beginning, as this seems a novel form of writing – documentarian, authentically narrative. But then it reveals itself to be filled with the familiar conflicts and styles as earlier books.
From Unplanned Author to Iconic Work
Chris Kraus was originally an visual artist who transitioned to writing somewhat by chance with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, which was composed of missives to a distant beloved, transforming confessional female writing from self-debasement into assassination. She continued writing, but the next trio of compelling and abrasive novels missed the power and directness that the epistolary style infused into the tone of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her position as a nonconformist creator who had evolved into a major property owner, so there was significant attention on housing investments. It makes sense that she now wants to experiment with fresh narrative sources, directing her gaze to other people's stories, at a moment when she claims that current political era turns intimate literature obsolete.
Several Eras, Shared Inescapable History
The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, spanning multiple eras – all unable to escape their backgrounds. The book includes the tale of Emma and Jasper, versions of her own mother and father, transitioning from the Bronx to the Connecticut countryside. Then there is the story of Kraus herself, in the character of Catt Greene, grappling with the belated success of I Love Dick, the rise of Trump, and her addict husband a man named Paul. And there is the narrative of a homicide of one lost young man by another in a locality long abandoned by liberal ideals only a brief drive from Catt's cottage in the Minnesota countryside.
From my perspective as a reader attracted to polished prose of the sort Kraus often avoids, I was seduced by the literary tone of the initial segment.
Being a reader who favors crafted language of the kind that Kraus herself tends to eschew, I was seduced by the novelistic voice of the opening segment. There is a new quality of attentiveness that makes room for minutiae, like the pail that the protagonist as a child pries out of frozen water at the start of the story, assisted by her beloved father. "I discovered a frozen plaything!" she says; "a great plaything", he answers, "the elliptical meanings of words tumbling in their mouths like sweet treats". Kraus writes the tale of Emma with interest and closeness. "It seemed to Emma she had entered a dream – not hers, exactly."
Frustration and Disruption
I was destined to be disappointed when I wished this new voice could last out the book. Kraus says here that she resents the pleasure those who appreciate polished prose have taken from I Love Dick; she's devoted to disruption, to the untidy aesthetics she echoes from her inspiration Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her earlier works comes back in the second segment. Catt Greene is working on refurbishing three dozen dilapidated units in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while moving between the Midwest and the West Coast, unsuccessful in assisting Paul curb his addiction. She is overwhelmed as Paul moves between underfunded jobs as an recovery specialist in a world propelled by the rage and anxiety that underpins a political win. There are several pages about Catt being cancelled on a platform, her occupation changed from "writer" to "landlord" on Wikipedia. Kraus still seems to invest excessive emotion about this. In a moment she states that she's looking into the killing so that before leaving Minnesota, "she might be able to learn something about an America that her Twitter detractors would be unable to grasp, would overlook entirely".
The Homicide Account
So then we come to the actual killing – and the titular day passed by the victim with the murderer and his friends. Kraus utilizes great source material, and knows hour by hour what happened when Brandon came to see Brittney after meeting her on an app where she sold sex pictures. He sought a sexual encounter but appears congenially to have passed the day with her companions, loitering getting his car mended and funding treats and narcotics, before being shot by Brittney's partner Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has often been institutionalized for aggressive outbursts.
Obsession and Unfinished Business
Catt gets obsessed by the story, and I was intrigued by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards accurate chronicling and reckless transgression clash in this segment. Yet I wished her to explore more thoroughly her own obsessions here. The most interesting character is Brittney, who gains dimension partially because of Catt's identification with her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman derailing in a struggling, neglected community. Kraus notes that Catt converses with Brittney in detention, but she doesn't dramatise these conversations. The whole section feels oddly unfinished, to the point that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par
