The Four Spent the Day Together is populated with characters pursuing fresh starts, trying to break free from substance abuse or toxic relationships, only to find hope curdling into aggression. Chris Kraus often employs the phrase "new beginning", rendering it willfully cynical through constant reiteration. Examples include "He could make a fresh start" and "They chose to begin anew" recur in the narrative. At the same time, Kraus herself appears to be undertaking her individual reinvention, since this seems a new kind of book – documentarian, authentically narrative. Yet it proves to be laden with the recurring issues and approaches as her previous works.
From Chance Novelist to Cult Classic
Kraus started out as an creative who became a writer somewhat by chance with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, made up of missives to a distant beloved, elevating personal female narrative from abjection into defiance. She continued writing, but the following three engaging and challenging novels did not possess the shock and immediacy that the letter form brought to the voice of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her identity as a renegade artist who had evolved into a major property owner, so there was significant attention on real estate deals. It follows that she presently aims to try out fresh narrative sources, turning outward to other people's stories, at a moment when she asserts that Trumpian politics renders personal narrative obsolete.
Multiple Generations, Shared Inescapable History
The Four Spent the Day Together is structured in three parts, covering three generations – each trapped by their backgrounds. We encounter the tale of a couple named Emma and Jasper, based on Kraus's parents, transitioning from the New York borough to the Connecticut countryside. Then there is the narrative of the author, in the guise of protagonist Catt Greene, grappling with the belated success of I Love Dick, the rise of Trump, and her addict husband Paul. And there is the story of the murder of one lost young man by another in a town largely deserted by liberal ideals only 80 miles from Catt's cottage in the Minnesota countryside.
For this reader fond of honed writing of the sort Kraus typically rejects, I was captivated by the literary tone of the initial segment.
As a reader who favors honed writing of the style that Kraus herself tends to eschew, I was seduced by the novelistic voice of the initial part. There is a novel degree of detail that makes room for trivial aspects, like the bucket that the youthful Catt frees from the ice at the opening of the book, assisted by her adored dad. "I discovered a frozen plaything!" she declares; "a great plaything", he replies, "the elliptical meanings of words circulating in their speech like hard candy". Kraus writes Emma's narrative with inquiry and familiarity. "Emma felt like she'd stepped into a dream – not precisely her dream."
Letdown and Fragmentation
I was bound to become frustrated when I wished this new voice could last out the book. Kraus notes here that she dislikes the pleasure those who appreciate polished prose have taken from I Love Dick; she's committed to disruption, to the messy artistic approach she has in common with her idol author Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her past books returns in the second segment. Catt is trying to renovate 36 run-down apartments in the city's most challenging districts while shuttling between the Midwest and the West Coast, unsuccessful in assisting her husband manage his alcohol use. She feels helpless as her spouse cycles through underfunded jobs as an substance abuse counselor in a environment fueled by the anger and fear that powers an electoral success. There are several pages about the protagonist facing cancellation on social media, her occupation changed from "author" to "property owner" on the online encyclopedia. Kraus still seems to be overly concerned about this. In a moment she remarks that she's investigating the murder so that before departing the state, "she could potentially understand something about an America that her Twitter detractors would fail to comprehend, would not even perceive".
The Killing Story
Thus we arrive to the homicide in question – and the eponymous day experienced by the murdered individual with the murderer and his associates. Kraus has excellent raw material, and reconstructs step by step what happened when Brandon came to visit Brittney after connecting via an application where she offered adult photos. He sought a sexual encounter but appears congenially to have passed the day with her companions, loitering getting his car mended and funding treats and narcotics, before being shot by Brittney's boyfriend Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has often been institutionalized for fits of anger.
Fascination and Incompletion
Catt gets obsessed by the story, and I was intrigued by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards accurate chronicling and audacious rule-breaking tussle in this section. Yet I wished her to go further into her own obsessions here. The compelling persona is the character Brittney, who gains dimension in part due to the protagonist's connection to her – another bright, bullied girl derailing in a troubled, forgotten town. The author informs us that Catt speaks to Brittney in prison, but she doesn't dramatise these conversations. The whole section feels strangely incomplete, to the degree that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par
