The Four Spent the Day Together centers on characters pursuing clean slates, trying to break free from addictions or toxic relationships, only to witness hope devolve into aggression. Chris Kraus frequently uses the phrase "new beginning", transforming it into willfully cynical through recurring use. Phrases such as "He aimed to start over" and "They chose to begin anew" recur in the narrative. Meanwhile, she appears to be undertaking her personal new beginning, since this appears a new kind of book – documentarian, truly literary. But then it proves to be filled with the recurring issues and aesthetics as earlier books.
From Chance Novelist to Renowned Book
The writer began as an visual artist who entered the literary world 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 defiance. She continued writing, but the following three engaging and challenging novels did not possess the power and directness that the correspondence format brought to the narrative voice of I Love Dick. It didn't help was her position as a maverick maker who had evolved into a large-scale low-rent landlord, so there was considerable focus on housing investments. It follows that she presently aims to try out fresh narrative sources, looking outwards to external narratives, at a moment when she asserts that Trumpian politics turns intimate literature unnecessary.
Multiple Generations, Shared Inescapable History
The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, covering multiple eras – none able to break free from their backgrounds. The book includes the story of a couple named Emma and Jasper, representations of Kraus's parents, moving from the Bronx to a pastoral setting. There is the story of Kraus herself, in the guise of Catt Greene, reckoning with the late recognition of I Love Dick, the rise of Trump, and her substance-dependent spouse a man named Paul. Finally the story of the murder of one directionless individual by another in a town largely deserted by progressive politics only a short distance from the protagonist's home in rural Minnesota.
For this reader fond of polished prose of the kind Kraus often avoids, I was captivated by the narrative style of the initial segment.
Being a reader who favors crafted language of the style that Kraus herself usually avoids, I was won over by the literary tone of the opening segment. There is a novel degree of detail that makes room for trivial aspects, like the container that the youthful Catt frees from the ice at the beginning of the narrative, aided by her beloved father. "Look, an ice toy!" she says; "a great plaything", he replies, "the ambiguous meanings of language tumbling in their mouths like sweet treats". She tells the tale of Emma with inquiry and familiarity. "Emma felt like she'd stepped into a dream – not precisely her dream."
Letdown and Fragmentation
I was destined to be disappointed when I hoped this different style could last out the book. The author states here that she dislikes the satisfaction audiences such as myself have derived from I Love Dick; she's devoted to fragmentation, to the messy artistic approach she echoes from her inspiration author Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her earlier works reasserts itself in the second segment. The protagonist is trying to renovate three dozen dilapidated units in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while shuttling between two different states, failing to help her husband control his drinking. She is overwhelmed as Paul transitions between underfunded jobs as an recovery specialist in a world propelled by the rage and anxiety that underpins a political win. Multiple pages are devoted about Catt being cancelled on Twitter, her professional designation altered from "author" to "property owner" on a reference site. She still gives the impression to invest excessive emotion about this. At one point she says that she's investigating the murder so that before departing the state, "she could potentially understand something about an America that her social media opponents would fail to comprehend, would not even see".
The Homicide Account
So then we come to the actual killing – and the eponymous day passed by the victim with the murderer and his associates. The author possesses great source material, and reconstructs step by step what occurred as Brandon came to see Brittney after meeting her on an app where she marketed explicit images. He sought a sexual encounter but seems amiably to have occupied the day alongside her friends, wandering about having his vehicle repaired and paying for snacks and drugs, before being murdered by her romantic interest a man named Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has repeatedly received inpatient care for violent rage.
Preoccupation and Open Ends
Catt develops an obsession by the narrative, and I found myself captivated by the way that her twin drives towards accurate chronicling and daring boundary-pushing tussle in this section. However, I would have preferred her to go further into her personal fixations here. The compelling persona is the character Brittney, who comes alive in part due to the protagonist's connection to her – another bright, bullied girl spiraling out of control in a difficult, overlooked locality. The author informs us that the protagonist communicates with Brittney in prison, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. The complete segment feels curiously unresolved, to the degree that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par
