The Four Spent the Day Together is populated with protagonists seeking fresh starts, trying to break free from drugs or toxic relationships, only to witness hope devolve into conflict. The author frequently uses the phrase "new beginning", making it willfully cynical through recurring use. Examples include "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They chose to begin anew" appear throughout the text. At the same time, Kraus herself appears to be undertaking her own fresh start, because this presents as a new kind of book – documentarian, authentically narrative. Yet it reveals itself to be packed with the recurring issues and styles as earlier books.
From Chance Novelist to Iconic Work
Chris Kraus began as an creative who entered the literary world somewhat by chance with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, made up of letters to an unreceptive lover, elevating confessional female writing from humiliation into defiance. She kept producing books, but the three subsequent engaging and challenging novels missed the impact and rawness that the epistolary style imparted to the tone of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her identity as a maverick maker who had turned into a major property owner, so there was much discussion on real estate deals. It is logical that she currently desires to experiment with new kinds of material, directing her gaze to external narratives, at a period in which she asserts that contemporary political climate makes confessional writing unnecessary.
Multiple Generations, Shared Inescapable History
The Four Spent the Day Together is structured in three parts, covering three generations – none able to break free from their histories. The book includes the story of characters Emma and Jasper, versions of Kraus's parents, relocating from the urban environment to a pastoral setting. There is the story of Kraus herself, in the character of Catt Greene, reckoning with the belated success of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her addict husband her husband Paul. Finally the account of a killing of one troubled youth by another in a community largely deserted by forward-thinking policies only a brief drive from the protagonist's home in rural Minnesota.
As a reader attracted to polished prose of the type Kraus herself often avoids, I was seduced by the literary tone of the first section.
As someone who reads drawn to crafted language of the style that Kraus often disregards, I was captivated by the novelistic voice of the first section. It possesses a new quality of attentiveness that allows space for small details, like the container that the protagonist as a child frees from the ice at the start of the story, assisted by her beloved father. "I discovered a frozen plaything!" she says; "a lovely toy", he responds, "the elliptical meanings of words rolling around in their mouths like piece candy". The author narrates Emma's story with inquiry and familiarity. "It seemed to Emma she had entered a dream – not entirely her own."
Letdown and Fragmentation
I was fated to feel let down when I hoped this new voice could last out the book. Kraus notes here that she is annoyed by the enjoyment readers like me have gotten from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to disjunction, to the messy artistic approach she shares with her hero writer Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her previous novels comes back in the central part. Catt is trying to renovate 36 run-down apartments in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while moving between Minnesota and LA, unsuccessful in assisting Paul curb his addiction. She feels helpless as her spouse cycles through low-resource employment as an recovery specialist in a society driven by the anger and fear that drives a political win. A significant portion discusses about Catt's social media ostracism on social media, her occupation changed from "author" to "landlord" on the online encyclopedia. She still gives the impression to care a little too much about this. At one point she says that she's investigating the murder so that before exiting the region, "she may grasp something about an America that her social media opponents 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 perpetrator and his companions. The author possesses great source material, and details moment by moment what happened when the victim Brandon came to meet Brittney after meeting her on an app where she offered adult photos. He sought a sexual encounter but seems amiably to have occupied the day with her companions, wandering about fixing his automobile and paying for snacks and drugs, before being shot by her romantic interest Micah – a individual with mental health challenges who has repeatedly received inpatient care for violent rage.
Preoccupation and Open Ends
Catt gets obsessed by the account, and I was fascinated by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards accurate chronicling and reckless transgression wrestle in this part. Yet I wished her to delve deeper into her personal fixations here. The compelling persona is Brittney herself, who gains dimension partially because of Catt's identification with her – another bright, bullied girl going off the rails in a struggling, neglected community. The author informs us that Catt converses with Brittney in detention, but she doesn't dramatise these conversations. The whole section feels curiously unresolved, to the degree that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par
