The Four Spent the Day Together is populated with individuals seeking fresh starts, trying to break free from drugs or harmful partnerships, only to witness hope devolve into conflict. Kraus often employs the phrase "clean slate", making it deliberately jaded through constant reiteration. Phrases such as "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, because this presents as a new kind of book – observational, genuinely novelistic. Yet it proves to be filled with the same dilemmas and aesthetics as her previous works.
From Chance Novelist to Iconic Work
Chris Kraus began as an artist who became a writer somewhat by chance with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, which was composed of letters to an unreceptive lover, transforming personal female narrative from self-debasement into rebellion. She continued writing, but the three subsequent fascinating and rebarbative novels lacked the impact and rawness that the epistolary style brought to the voice of I Love Dick. It didn't help was her identity as a renegade artist who had become a major property owner, so there was much discussion on housing investments. It makes sense that she presently aims to try out new kinds of material, directing her gaze to the experiences of others, at a moment when she asserts that Trumpian politics turns intimate literature redundant.
Several Eras, One Unescapable Past
The Four Spent the Day Together is structured in three parts, encompassing several time periods – none able to break free from their histories. The book includes the narrative about a couple named Emma and Jasper, representations of her own mother and father, moving from the urban environment to the Connecticut countryside. There is the story of Kraus herself, in the guise of protagonist Catt Greene, grappling with the belated success of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her partner struggling with addiction her husband Paul. The third thread involves the account of a killing of one troubled youth by another in a locality largely deserted by liberal ideals only a short distance from Catt's rural residence in rural Minnesota.
From my perspective as a reader fond of honed writing of the sort Kraus herself typically rejects, I was seduced by the literary tone of the initial segment.
As a reader drawn to precise prose of the style that Kraus herself tends to eschew, I was captivated by the novelistic voice of the opening segment. There is a fresh level of observation that makes room for minutiae, like the container that the protagonist as a child pries out of frozen water at the start of the story, helped by her adored dad. "I discovered a frozen plaything!" she says; "a nice toy", he replies, "the elliptical meanings of words circulating in their speech like piece candy". The author narrates the tale of Emma with inquiry and familiarity. "It seemed to Emma she had entered a dream – not precisely her dream."
Frustration and Disruption
I was bound to become frustrated when I wished this different style could continue through the novel. Kraus notes here that she resents the enjoyment those who appreciate polished prose have gotten from I Love Dick; she's devoted to fragmentation, to the unpolished style she echoes from her hero writer Kathy Acker, and the emptiness and redundancy of her earlier works reasserts itself in the second segment. Catt is working on refurbishing three dozen dilapidated units in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while traveling between Minnesota and LA, unable to aid Paul curb his addiction. She is overwhelmed as Paul moves between underfunded jobs as an addiction therapist in a world propelled by the anger and fear that underpins a political win. A significant portion discusses about the protagonist facing cancellation on Twitter, her listed profession modified from "writer" to "property owner" on the online encyclopedia. The author still appears to care a little too much about this. On one occasion she says that she's researching the homicide so that before exiting the region, "she could potentially understand something about an the United States that her Twitter detractors would not understand, would not even perceive".
The Murder Narrative
So then we come to the homicide in question – and the eponymous day spent by the deceased with the perpetrator and his companions. Kraus utilizes great source material, and details moment by moment what transpired when Brandon came to meet Brittney after encountering her on a platform where she sold sex pictures. He anticipated intimacy but appears congenially to have passed the day in the company of her associates, mooching around having his vehicle repaired and funding treats and narcotics, before being murdered by Brittney's boyfriend Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has frequently been hospitalised for aggressive outbursts.
Obsession and Unfinished Business
Catt gets obsessed by the account, and I was intrigued by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards accurate chronicling and daring boundary-pushing tussle in this section. However, I would have preferred her to explore more thoroughly her individual preoccupations here. The standout figure is Brittney herself, who becomes vivid partially because of the protagonist's connection to her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman derailing in a struggling, neglected community. The author informs us that the protagonist communicates with Brittney in jail, but she doesn't dramatise these conversations. The complete segment feels curiously unresolved, to the extent that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par
