The Four Spent the Day Together is populated with protagonists seeking fresh starts, struggling to escape addictions or toxic relationships, only to see hope turn into violence. Chris Kraus frequently uses the phrase "new beginning", making it willfully cynical through constant reiteration. Phrases such as "He aimed to start over" and "They decided to make a fresh start" appear throughout the narrative. At the same time, Kraus herself seems to be making her personal new beginning, since this presents as a new kind of book – observational, genuinely novelistic. However it proves to be laden with the familiar conflicts and approaches as her previous works.
From Chance Novelist to Iconic Work
Kraus was originally an creative who transitioned to writing almost accidentally with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, which was composed of letters to an unreceptive lover, converting personal female narrative from humiliation into rebellion. She continued writing, but the next trio of compelling and abrasive novels did not possess the impact and rawness that the letter form infused into the tone of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her identity as a nonconformist creator who had become a extensive real estate holder, so there was considerable focus on property transactions. It follows that she now wants to try out fresh narrative sources, directing her gaze to other people's stories, at a time when she claims that Trumpian politics turns intimate literature unnecessary.
Multiple Generations, Collective Unavoidable Background
The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, spanning multiple eras – each trapped by their backgrounds. There is the narrative about a couple named Emma and Jasper, based on Kraus's parents, moving from the Bronx to a pastoral setting. Additionally the account of Kraus, in the persona of Catt Greene, reckoning with the delayed acclaim of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her substance-dependent spouse Paul. The third thread involves the story of the murder of one troubled youth by another in a community long abandoned by progressive politics only 80 miles from Catt's rural residence in rural Minnesota.
As a reader fond of honed writing of the sort the author herself typically rejects, I was captivated by the novelistic voice of the first section.
As someone who reads who appreciates precise prose of the variety that Kraus herself often disregards, I was captivated by the storytelling approach of the initial part. There is a novel degree of detail that makes room for minutiae, like the pail that the youthful Catt frees from the ice at the opening of the book, assisted by her cherished parent. "Look, an ice toy!" she exclaims; "a great plaything", he responds, "the ambiguous meanings of language rolling around in their mouths like sweet treats". Kraus writes the tale of Emma with curiosity and intimacy. "Emma felt like she'd stepped into a dream – not precisely her dream."
Letdown and Fragmentation
I was destined to be disappointed when I expected this different style could last out the book. Kraus notes here that she dislikes the pleasure audiences such as myself have derived from I Love Dick; she's devoted to fragmentation, to the unpolished style she echoes from her idol writer Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her earlier works reasserts itself in the middle section. The protagonist is trying to renovate 36 run-down apartments in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while shuttling between two different states, unsuccessful in assisting Paul control his drinking. She experiences powerlessness as Paul cycles through poorly supported positions as an substance abuse counselor in a environment driven by the anger and fear that drives an electoral success. There are several pages about Catt's social media ostracism on Twitter, her professional designation altered from "writer" to "real estate holder" on the online encyclopedia. Kraus still seems to care a little too much about this. At one point she says that she's researching the homicide so that before leaving Minnesota, "she may grasp something about an the United States that her social media opponents would fail to comprehend, would not even perceive".
The Homicide Account
So then we come to the homicide in question – and the referenced day experienced by the victim with the perpetrator and his companions. Kraus utilizes compelling foundational content, and reconstructs step by step what transpired when Brandon came to meet Brittney after connecting via an application where she offered adult photos. He anticipated intimacy but appears congenially to have passed the day with her companions, mooching around fixing his automobile and paying for snacks and drugs, before being shot by Brittney's boyfriend Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has repeatedly received inpatient care for aggressive outbursts.
Fascination and Incompletion
Catt develops an obsession by the narrative, and I was fascinated by the way that her twin drives towards ethical reporting and daring boundary-pushing tussle in this section. However, I would have preferred her to delve deeper into her personal fixations here. The standout figure is Brittney, who comes alive in part due to Catt's identification with her – another bright, bullied girl spiraling out of control in a difficult, overlooked locality. Kraus notes that Catt speaks to Brittney in jail, but she fails to enact these dialogues. The complete segment feels oddly unfinished, to the degree that her narrative ends almost mid-par
