The Four Spent the Day Together features individuals pursuing new beginnings, trying to break free from addictions or abusive marriages, only to see hope turn into conflict. Chris Kraus often employs the phrase "fresh start", making it intentionally weary through recurring use. Phrases such as "He aimed to start over" and "They chose to begin anew" appear throughout the story. At the same time, Kraus herself appears to be undertaking her individual reinvention, since this appears a different type of work – fact-based, genuinely novelistic. But then it proves to be packed with the familiar conflicts and styles as past novels.
From Accidental Writer to Cult Classic
The writer began as an artist who transitioned to writing unintentionally with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, made up of missives to a distant beloved, transforming intimate women's literature from self-debasement into assassination. She continued writing, but the next trio of engaging and challenging novels lacked the impact and rawness that the letter form imparted to the narrative voice of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her identity as a renegade artist who had evolved into a major property owner, so there was considerable focus on property transactions. It follows that she now wants to experiment with different types of content, turning outward to external narratives, at a period in which she claims that current political era makes confessional writing unnecessary.
Several Eras, Shared Inescapable History
The Four Spent the Day Together is structured in three parts, covering three generations – all unable to escape their pasts. There is the narrative about a couple named Emma and Jasper, versions of Kraus's parents, transitioning from the urban environment to rural Connecticut. Additionally the narrative of the author, in the persona of protagonist Catt Greene, confronting the late recognition of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her partner struggling with addiction a man named Paul. And there is the account of a killing of one troubled youth by another in a locality largely deserted by forward-thinking policies only 80 miles from Catt's cottage in rural Minnesota.
For this reader drawn to honed writing of the sort Kraus tends to eschew, I was seduced by the literary tone of the initial segment.
Being a reader who appreciates precise prose of the style that Kraus herself often disregards, I was won over by the storytelling approach of the initial part. It exhibits a fresh level of observation that accommodates small details, like the bucket that the youthful Catt pries out of frozen water at the beginning of the narrative, helped by her adored dad. "I found an ice toy!" she declares; "a lovely toy", he responds, "the ambiguous meanings of language circulating in their speech like sweet treats". She tells Emma's narrative with inquiry and familiarity. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not precisely her dream."
Letdown and Fragmentation
I was bound to become frustrated when I expected this new voice could continue through the novel. Kraus says here that she resents the enjoyment audiences such as myself have taken from I Love Dick; she's devoted to fragmentation, to the untidy aesthetics she shares with her idol writer Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her previous novels comes back in the middle section. Catt is trying to renovate multiple decrepit residences in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while traveling between Minnesota and LA, unsuccessful in assisting Paul control his drinking. She feels helpless as Paul moves between poorly supported positions as an substance abuse counselor in a environment propelled by the rage and anxiety that drives an electoral success. Multiple pages are devoted about the protagonist facing cancellation on Twitter, her listed profession modified from "writer" to "real estate holder" on a reference site. Kraus still seems to care a little too much about this. At one point she remarks that she's investigating the murder so that before leaving Minnesota, "she might be able to learn something about an America that her Twitter detractors would fail to comprehend, would not even see".
The Homicide Account
Thus we arrive to the murder itself – and the referenced day passed by the victim with the perpetrator and his companions. Kraus utilizes great source material, and details moment by moment what transpired when the victim Brandon came to meet Brittney after connecting via an application where she marketed explicit images. He was hoping for sex but seems amiably to have occupied the day in the company of her associates, mooching around getting his car mended and paying for snacks and drugs, before being murdered by Brittney's partner Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has often been institutionalized for aggressive outbursts.
Obsession and Unfinished Business
The protagonist becomes fixated by the story, and I was intrigued by the way that the author's conflicting impulses towards ethical reporting and audacious rule-breaking tussle in this section. But I'd have liked her to delve deeper into her individual preoccupations here. The compelling persona is the character Brittney, who comes alive in part due to the protagonist's connection to her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman going off the rails in a difficult, overlooked locality. The author informs us that the protagonist communicates 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
