The Four Spent the Day Together centers on characters seeking fresh starts, trying to break free from drugs or abusive marriages, only to find hope curdling into violence. Chris Kraus often employs the phrase "new beginning", transforming it into willfully cynical through constant reiteration. Phrases such as "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They decided to make a fresh start" recur in the story. At the same time, she seems to be making her personal new beginning, because this appears a novel form of writing – observational, authentically narrative. Yet it turns out to be laden with the recurring issues and approaches as earlier books.
From Chance Novelist to Cult Classic
The writer was originally an visual artist who transitioned to writing almost accidentally with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, which was composed of letters to an unreceptive lover, converting personal female narrative from self-debasement into rebellion. She continued writing, but the next trio of fascinating and rebarbative novels lacked the impact and rawness that the letter form brought to the narrative voice of I Love Dick. It didn't help was her role as a maverick maker who had evolved into a extensive real estate holder, so there was considerable focus on property transactions. It is logical that she now wants to explore new kinds of material, turning outward to the experiences of others, at a time when she asserts that current political era turns intimate literature redundant.
Multiple Generations, One Unescapable Past
The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, covering several time periods – none able to break free from their pasts. There is the tale of a couple named Emma and Jasper, versions of her own mother and father, transitioning from the Bronx to the Connecticut countryside. There is the account of Kraus, in the persona of a figure named Catt Greene, grappling with the belated success of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her addict husband a man named Paul. Finally the story of the murder of one lost young man by another in a locality largely deserted by liberal ideals only a short distance from Catt's cottage in a remote part of Minnesota.
From my perspective as a reader drawn to honed writing of the type the author herself typically rejects, I was enchanted by the literary tone of the first section.
As someone who reads who favors crafted language of the style that Kraus tends to eschew, I was seduced by the storytelling approach of the initial part. It exhibits a novel degree of detail that accommodates trivial aspects, like the bucket that the youthful Catt pries out of frozen water at the opening of the book, assisted by her cherished parent. "Look, an ice toy!" she says; "a great plaything", he replies, "the elliptical meanings of words circulating in their speech like piece candy". She tells Emma's story with curiosity and intimacy. "Emma felt like she'd stepped into a dream – not entirely her own."
Letdown and Fragmentation
I was destined to be disappointed when I hoped this fresh tone could continue through the novel. Kraus notes here that she is annoyed by the pleasure those who appreciate polished prose have derived from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to fragmentation, to the messy artistic approach she shares with her idol Kathy Acker, and the emptiness and redundancy of her earlier works comes back in the second segment. The protagonist is attempting to do up 36 run-down apartments in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while shuttling between two different states, unable to aid her husband control his drinking. She is overwhelmed as her spouse cycles through poorly supported positions as an recovery specialist in a world propelled by the rage and anxiety that powers an electoral success. A significant portion discusses about Catt being cancelled on social media, her occupation changed from "author" to "real estate holder" on a reference site. She still gives the impression to invest excessive emotion about this. At one point she says that she's looking into the killing so that before departing the state, "she could potentially understand something about an the United States that her online critics would not understand, would not even see".
The Murder Narrative
Thus we arrive to the actual killing – and the eponymous day spent by the deceased with the perpetrator and his friends. Kraus has compelling foundational content, and reconstructs step by step what happened when a man named Brandon came to meet Brittney after encountering her on a platform where she offered adult photos. He was hoping for sex but seems amiably to have occupied the day alongside her friends, mooching around having his vehicle repaired and funding treats and narcotics, before being killed by gunfire by her romantic interest Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has repeatedly received inpatient care for violent rage.
Obsession and Unfinished Business
The protagonist becomes fixated by the account, and I was intrigued by the way that the author's conflicting impulses towards responsible documentation 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 spiraling out of control in a troubled, forgotten town. Kraus notes that the protagonist communicates with Brittney in detention, but she doesn't dramatise these conversations. The complete segment feels curiously unresolved, to the extent that her narrative ends almost mid-par
