The Four Spent the Day Together centers on individuals seeking clean slates, attempting to leave behind addictions or toxic relationships, only to see hope turn into aggression. Chris Kraus often employs the phrase "fresh start", rendering it willfully cynical through recurring use. Examples include "He could make a fresh start" and "They opted for a clean break" appear throughout the narrative. And yet, the author herself is embarking on her personal new beginning, since this presents as a different type of work – fact-based, truly literary. However it turns out to be laden with the recurring issues and approaches as her previous works.
From Chance Novelist to Cult Classic
Kraus started out as an visual artist who transitioned to writing almost accidentally with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, structured as epistles to an unresponsive love interest, transforming intimate women's literature from self-debasement into assassination. She continued writing, but the three subsequent compelling and abrasive novels did not possess the impact and rawness that the letter form imparted to the narrative voice of I Love Dick. It didn't help was her identity as a nonconformist creator who had turned into a major property owner, so there was significant attention on housing investments. It follows that she presently aims to explore new kinds of material, turning outward to the experiences of others, at a moment when she asserts that current political era turns intimate literature unnecessary.
Three Generations, One Unescapable Past
The Four Spent the Day Together is structured in three parts, spanning multiple eras – each trapped by their pasts. The book includes the tale of Emma and Jasper, representations of the author's parents, transitioning from the urban environment to rural Connecticut. There is the story of Kraus herself, in the guise of Catt Greene, grappling with the delayed acclaim of I Love Dick, the rise of Trump, and her addict husband Paul. And there is the story of the murder of one troubled youth by another in a locality largely deserted by liberal ideals only a brief drive from Catt's cottage in the Minnesota countryside.
From my perspective as a reader drawn to refined literature of the type the author herself often avoids, I was enchanted by the literary tone of the initial segment.
Being a reader drawn to honed writing of the style that Kraus herself tends to eschew, I was won over by the storytelling approach of the opening segment. It possesses a fresh level of observation that makes room for small details, like the bucket that the protagonist as a child dislodges from ice at the opening of the book, assisted by her cherished parent. "I discovered a frozen plaything!" she exclaims; "a great plaything", he answers, "the elliptical meanings of words tumbling in their mouths like piece candy". Kraus writes the tale of Emma with interest and closeness. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not precisely her dream."
Frustration and Disruption
I was bound to become frustrated when I hoped this different style could last out the book. Kraus notes here that she is annoyed by the pleasure readers like me have taken from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to disjunction, to the untidy aesthetics she shares with her inspiration author Kathy Acker, and the emptiness and redundancy of her previous novels comes back in the middle section. Catt is trying to renovate three dozen dilapidated units in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while shuttling between two different states, unsuccessful in assisting Paul manage his alcohol use. She is overwhelmed as her spouse transitions between poorly supported positions as an addiction therapist in a environment driven by the rage and anxiety that underpins an electoral success. Multiple pages are devoted about the protagonist facing cancellation on Twitter, her listed profession modified from "novelist" to "landlord" on a reference site. She still gives the impression to care a little too much about this. At one point 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 not even perceive".
The Killing Story
So then we come to the homicide in question – and the titular day passed by the deceased with the killer and his companions. The author possesses great source material, and details moment by moment what occurred as Brandon came to see Brittney after meeting her on an app where she offered adult photos. He anticipated intimacy but appears congenially to have passed the day in the company of her associates, loitering fixing his automobile and covering the cost of food and substances, before being shot by Brittney's partner a man named Micah – a individual with mental health challenges who has frequently been hospitalised for fits of anger.
Preoccupation and Open Ends
The protagonist becomes fixated by the story, and I was fascinated by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards ethical reporting and reckless transgression clash in this segment. But I'd have liked her to go further into her own obsessions here. The most interesting character is Brittney, who gains dimension partially because of the protagonist's connection to her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman derailing in a difficult, overlooked locality. The author informs us that Catt speaks to Brittney in detention, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. This entire part feels strangely incomplete, to the extent that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par
