The Four Spent the Day Together centers on protagonists chasing after clean slates, trying to break free from substance abuse or harmful partnerships, only to find hope curdling into conflict. The author repeatedly invokes the phrase "clean slate", making it deliberately jaded through constant reiteration. Phrases such as "He aimed to start over" and "They decided to make a fresh start" appear throughout the text. And yet, the author herself appears to be undertaking her own fresh start, since this appears a new kind of book – fact-based, authentically narrative. However it reveals itself to be filled with the recurring issues and aesthetics as past novels.
From Accidental Writer to Iconic Work
Chris Kraus began as an artist who transitioned to writing almost accidentally with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, structured as missives to a distant beloved, elevating confessional female writing from abjection into assassination. She kept producing books, but the three subsequent fascinating and rebarbative novels lacked the power and directness that the correspondence format imparted to the tone of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her identity as a maverick maker who had evolved into a major property owner, so there was significant attention on housing investments. It makes sense that she currently desires to explore fresh narrative sources, looking outwards to the experiences of others, at a time when she asserts that contemporary political climate makes confessional writing unnecessary.
Several Eras, Shared Inescapable History
The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, spanning several time periods – each trapped by their backgrounds. We encounter the tale of characters Emma and Jasper, representations of her own mother and father, transitioning from the urban environment to the Connecticut countryside. Then there is the account of Kraus, in the persona of protagonist Catt Greene, reckoning with the belated success of I Love Dick, the rise of Trump, and her addict husband a man named Paul. Finally the story of the murder of one directionless individual by another in a locality largely deserted by liberal ideals only a brief drive from Catt's rural residence in rural Minnesota.
From my perspective as a reader drawn to honed writing of the type the author herself often avoids, I was seduced by the narrative style of the initial segment.
Being a reader who appreciates honed writing of the kind that Kraus herself often disregards, I was captivated by the storytelling approach of the initial part. There is a novel degree of detail that accommodates small details, like the container that the youthful Catt pries out of frozen water at the start of the story, assisted by her adored dad. "Look, an ice toy!" she says; "a nice toy", he responds, "the elliptical meanings of words rolling around in their mouths like hard candy". Kraus writes the tale of Emma with inquiry and familiarity. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not hers, exactly."
Letdown and Fragmentation
I was bound to become frustrated when I hoped this new voice could continue through the novel. Kraus notes here that she resents the satisfaction those who appreciate polished prose have taken from I Love Dick; she's committed to disruption, to the messy artistic approach she shares with her inspiration writer Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her earlier works reasserts itself in the second segment. Catt is working on refurbishing 36 run-down apartments in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while moving between the Midwest and the West Coast, unsuccessful in assisting her husband manage his alcohol use. She is overwhelmed as Paul cycles through poorly supported positions as an substance abuse counselor in a world fueled by the hostility and dread that powers a political win. There are several pages about Catt's social media ostracism on a platform, her professional designation altered from "writer" to "property owner" on a reference site. Kraus still seems to invest excessive emotion about this. In a moment she says that she's looking into the killing so that before leaving Minnesota, "she might be able to learn something about an the United States that her social media opponents would fail to comprehend, would overlook entirely".
The Murder Narrative
Then we reach to the homicide in question – and the eponymous day spent by the victim with the killer and his associates. Kraus has compelling foundational content, and reconstructs step by step what occurred as the victim Brandon came to meet Brittney after encountering her on a platform where she sold sex pictures. He sought a sexual encounter but appears congenially to have passed the day in the company of her associates, mooching around fixing his automobile and paying for snacks and drugs, before being killed by gunfire by Brittney's partner Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has repeatedly received inpatient care for aggressive outbursts.
Fascination and Incompletion
The protagonist becomes fixated by the story, and I found myself captivated by the way that her twin drives towards ethical reporting and reckless transgression wrestle in this part. However, I would have preferred her to explore more thoroughly her personal fixations here. The most interesting character is the character Brittney, who gains dimension partially because of Catt seeing herself in her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman derailing in a struggling, neglected community. The author informs us that Catt speaks to Brittney in prison, but she doesn't dramatise these conversations. The whole section feels curiously unresolved, to the degree that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par
