The Four Spent the Day Together centers on characters pursuing fresh starts, struggling to escape addictions or harmful partnerships, only to witness hope devolve into aggression. Kraus frequently uses the phrase "clean slate", making it intentionally weary through constant reiteration. Examples include "He could make a fresh start" and "They decided to make a fresh start" appear throughout the narrative. Meanwhile, the author herself seems to be making her personal new beginning, as this presents as a new kind of book – documentarian, authentically narrative. But then it proves to be laden with the familiar conflicts and styles as past novels.
From Unplanned Author to Renowned Book
Chris Kraus was originally an creative who became a writer unintentionally with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, made up of missives to a distant beloved, elevating intimate women's literature from humiliation into assassination. She persisted as a writer, but the next trio of fascinating and rebarbative novels lacked the shock and immediacy that the epistolary style imparted to the narrative voice of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her role as a maverick maker who had become a major property owner, so there was significant attention on property transactions. It makes sense that she presently aims to experiment with new kinds of material, turning outward to external narratives, at a moment when she claims that Trumpian politics renders personal narrative redundant.
Multiple Generations, Collective Unavoidable Background
The Four Spent the Day Together is structured in three parts, encompassing multiple eras – all unable to escape their pasts. The book includes the narrative about Emma and Jasper, versions of the author's parents, moving from the New York borough to rural Connecticut. Then there is the account of Kraus, in the character of Catt Greene, reckoning with the delayed acclaim of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her partner struggling with addiction her husband Paul. And there is the account of a killing of one lost young man by another in a community largely deserted by progressive politics only a short distance from Catt's rural residence in a remote part of Minnesota.
From my perspective as a reader fond of honed writing of the sort the author herself tends to eschew, I was enchanted by the novelistic voice of the initial segment.
As a reader who favors honed writing of the style that Kraus herself often disregards, I was won over by the literary tone of the initial part. It exhibits a fresh level of observation that makes room for small details, like the bucket that the youthful Catt dislodges from ice at the opening of the book, aided by her beloved father. "I discovered a frozen plaything!" she says; "a nice toy", he answers, "the ambiguous meanings of language tumbling in their mouths like sweet treats". Kraus writes Emma's narrative with interest and closeness. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not entirely her own."
Letdown and Fragmentation
I was destined to be disappointed when I wished this new voice could continue through the novel. Kraus says here that she is annoyed by the enjoyment those who appreciate polished prose have derived from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to disjunction, to the untidy aesthetics she shares with her inspiration writer Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her earlier works returns in the central part. Catt Greene is trying to renovate multiple decrepit residences in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while moving between Minnesota and LA, unable to aid Paul manage his alcohol use. She feels helpless as Paul moves between low-resource employment as an substance abuse counselor in a environment fueled by the rage and anxiety that underpins a political win. Multiple pages are devoted about Catt being cancelled on social media, her occupation changed from "novelist" to "property owner" on a reference site. Kraus still seems to invest excessive emotion about this. At one point she says that she's researching the homicide so that before departing the state, "she could potentially understand something about an the United States that her social media opponents would fail to comprehend, would not even see".
The Murder Narrative
So then we come to the actual killing – and the titular day spent by the murdered individual with the perpetrator and his companions. The author possesses great source material, and details moment by moment what happened when a man named Brandon came to meet 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, loitering having his vehicle repaired and paying for snacks and drugs, before being killed by gunfire by Brittney's boyfriend Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has often been institutionalized for aggressive outbursts.
Preoccupation and Open Ends
Catt develops an obsession by the account, and I found myself captivated by the way that the author's conflicting impulses towards ethical reporting and audacious rule-breaking clash in this segment. Yet I wished her to delve deeper into her individual preoccupations here. The standout figure is Brittney, who gains dimension in part due to Catt's identification with her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman spiraling out of control in a difficult, overlooked locality. Kraus tells us that Catt converses with Brittney in detention, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. The complete segment feels curiously unresolved, to the extent that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par
