The Four Spent the Day Together centers on protagonists chasing after new beginnings, struggling to escape addictions or abusive marriages, only to see hope turn into violence. Kraus frequently uses the phrase "fresh start", making it intentionally weary through its repetitions. Sentences like "He aimed to start over" and "They chose to begin anew" are scattered across the story. At the same time, Kraus herself seems to be making her personal new beginning, because this presents as a novel form of writing – fact-based, truly literary. But then it proves to be laden with the recurring issues and styles as past novels.
From Chance Novelist to Renowned Book
Chris Kraus was originally an artist who became a writer unintentionally with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, which was composed of missives to a distant beloved, transforming intimate women's literature from abjection into assassination. She kept producing books, but the next trio of engaging and challenging novels did not possess the power and directness that the letter form imparted 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 much discussion on housing investments. It follows that she presently aims to experiment with new kinds of material, turning outward to the experiences of others, at a moment when she claims that Trumpian politics renders personal narrative unnecessary.
Several Eras, One Unescapable Past
The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, covering multiple eras – each trapped by their backgrounds. There is the story of a couple named Emma and Jasper, based on Kraus's parents, transitioning from the urban environment to a pastoral setting. There is the story of Kraus herself, in the guise of protagonist Catt Greene, reckoning with the delayed acclaim of I Love Dick, the rise of Trump, and her partner struggling with addiction a man named Paul. Finally the narrative of a homicide of one lost young man by another in a community mostly forsaken by liberal ideals only a brief drive from Catt's cottage in the Minnesota countryside.
As a reader drawn to polished prose of the kind Kraus often avoids, I was captivated by the literary tone of the opening part.
Being a reader who appreciates precise prose of the variety that the author usually avoids, I was seduced by the novelistic voice of the first section. It exhibits a new quality of attentiveness that accommodates trivial aspects, like the pail that the protagonist as a child dislodges from ice at the start of the story, assisted by her cherished parent. "I discovered a frozen plaything!" she declares; "a lovely toy", he responds, "the elliptical meanings of words tumbling in their mouths like sweet treats". She tells the tale of Emma with interest and closeness. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not entirely her own."
Disappointment and Disjunction
I was fated to feel let down when I wished this different style could persist to the end. The author states here that she is annoyed by the satisfaction audiences such as myself have taken from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to fragmentation, to the messy artistic approach she shares with her hero writer Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her previous novels comes back in the second segment. The protagonist is working on refurbishing three dozen dilapidated units in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while moving between the Midwest and the West Coast, unsuccessful in assisting Paul curb his addiction. She experiences powerlessness as Paul moves between low-resource employment as an substance abuse counselor in a world fueled by the anger and fear that powers Trump's victory. Multiple pages are devoted about Catt's social media ostracism on a platform, her occupation changed from "writer" to "real estate holder" on Wikipedia. She still gives the impression to be overly concerned about this. In a moment she states that she's investigating the murder so that before exiting the region, "she may grasp something about an America that her Twitter detractors would not understand, would not even see".
The Homicide Account
Then we reach to the murder itself – and the referenced day spent by the deceased with the murderer and his friends. The author possesses compelling foundational content, and reconstructs step by step what occurred as a man named 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, mooching around having his vehicle repaired and funding treats and narcotics, before being murdered by her romantic interest Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has frequently been hospitalised for fits of anger.
Fascination and Incompletion
The protagonist becomes fixated by the narrative, and I was fascinated by the way that the author's conflicting impulses towards responsible documentation 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 Brittney, who comes alive partially because of Catt seeing herself in her – another bright, bullied girl spiraling out of control in a difficult, overlooked locality. The author informs us that Catt converses with Brittney in detention, but she fails to enact these dialogues. The complete segment feels curiously unresolved, to the degree that her narrative ends almost mid-par
