The Four Spent the Day Together features protagonists chasing after fresh starts, trying to break free from drugs or abusive marriages, only to see hope turn into aggression. Kraus frequently uses the phrase "fresh start", rendering it deliberately jaded through its repetitions. Examples include "He could make a fresh start" and "They opted for a clean break" appear throughout the text. And yet, she is embarking on her individual reinvention, since this appears a novel form of writing – documentarian, authentically narrative. However it turns out to be filled with the recurring issues and styles as earlier books.
From Unplanned Author to Cult Classic
Chris Kraus started out as an artist who entered the literary world unintentionally with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, structured as epistles to an unresponsive love interest, elevating personal female narrative from humiliation into assassination. She continued writing, but the following three fascinating and rebarbative novels missed the impact and rawness that the letter form imparted to the voice of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her identity as a renegade artist who had become a extensive real estate holder, so there was much discussion on housing investments. It is logical that she now wants to explore new kinds of material, turning outward to the experiences of others, at a period in which she asserts that current political era makes confessional writing obsolete.
Several Eras, One Unescapable Past
The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, covering several time periods – each trapped by their histories. There is the story of characters Emma and Jasper, based on the author's parents, transitioning from the urban environment to the Connecticut countryside. Additionally the account of Kraus, in the guise of protagonist Catt Greene, grappling with the delayed acclaim of I Love Dick, the rise of Trump, and her substance-dependent spouse Paul. The third thread involves the story of the murder of one troubled youth by another in a locality largely deserted by forward-thinking policies only a short distance from Catt's cottage in rural Minnesota.
For this reader drawn to honed writing of the kind the author herself typically rejects, I was captivated by the narrative style of the opening part.
Being a reader who favors precise prose of the style that Kraus often disregards, I was won over by the novelistic voice of the first section. There is a novel degree of detail that accommodates minutiae, like the container that the protagonist as a child frees from the ice at the beginning of the narrative, helped by her beloved father. "I discovered a frozen plaything!" she exclaims; "a lovely toy", he responds, "the elliptical meanings of words circulating in their speech like sweet treats". The author narrates Emma's story with inquiry and familiarity. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not hers, exactly."
Disappointment and Disjunction
I was destined to be disappointed when I hoped this fresh tone could last out the book. Kraus notes here that she is annoyed by the pleasure those who appreciate polished prose have derived from I Love Dick; she's devoted to fragmentation, to the unpolished style she echoes from her inspiration writer Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her past books returns in the middle section. Catt is working on refurbishing multiple decrepit residences in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while shuttling between Minnesota and LA, unsuccessful in assisting her husband curb his addiction. She experiences powerlessness as Paul moves between underfunded jobs as an addiction therapist in a environment driven by the anger and fear that underpins an electoral success. There are several pages about Catt's social media ostracism on social media, her occupation changed from "writer" to "real estate holder" on Wikipedia. The author still appears to be overly concerned about this. On one occasion she states that she's looking into the killing so that before leaving Minnesota, "she could potentially understand something about an the nation that her social media opponents would not understand, would not even perceive".
The Murder Narrative
Then we reach to the murder itself – and the titular day experienced by the victim with the killer and his associates. Kraus utilizes compelling foundational content, and details moment by moment what occurred as the victim Brandon came to visit Brittney after encountering her on a platform where she sold sex pictures. He was hoping for sex but seems amiably to have occupied the day in the company of her associates, mooching around having his vehicle repaired and paying for snacks and drugs, before being shot by her romantic interest a man named Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has often been institutionalized for fits of anger.
Fascination and Incompletion
Catt gets obsessed by the account, and I was fascinated by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards responsible documentation and reckless transgression tussle in this section. However, I would have preferred her to delve deeper into her personal fixations here. The most interesting character is the character Brittney, who becomes vivid partly through the protagonist's connection to her – a similarly gifted, tormented individual derailing in a difficult, overlooked locality. Kraus notes that Catt converses with Brittney in detention, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. This entire part feels oddly unfinished, to the extent that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par
