The Four Spent the Day Together features protagonists chasing after fresh starts, struggling to escape drugs or toxic relationships, only to see hope turn into aggression. The author frequently uses the phrase "clean slate", making it intentionally weary through its repetitions. Examples include "He could make a fresh start" and "They opted for a clean break" recur in the text. Meanwhile, the author herself seems to be making her individual reinvention, as this presents as a novel form of writing – fact-based, authentically narrative. But then it reveals itself to be filled with the familiar conflicts and aesthetics as past novels.
From Chance Novelist to Renowned Book
Chris Kraus was originally an artist who became a writer somewhat by chance with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, structured as letters to an unreceptive lover, transforming confessional female writing from self-debasement into defiance. She kept producing books, but the following three engaging and challenging novels did not possess the impact and rawness that the epistolary style infused into the narrative voice of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her role as a renegade artist who had evolved into a large-scale low-rent landlord, so there was significant attention on property transactions. It makes sense that she presently aims to experiment with new kinds of material, looking outwards to the experiences of others, at a time when she states that Trumpian politics renders personal narrative redundant.
Several Eras, Shared Inescapable History
The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, covering several time periods – all unable to escape their backgrounds. There is the narrative about a couple named Emma and Jasper, versions of Kraus's parents, transitioning from the New York borough to rural Connecticut. Then there is the story of Kraus herself, in the character of a figure named Catt Greene, confronting the late recognition of I Love Dick, the rise of Trump, and her partner struggling with addiction Paul. Finally the story of the murder of one directionless individual by another in a locality mostly forsaken by liberal ideals only a short distance from Catt's cottage in a remote part of Minnesota.
As a reader drawn to honed writing of the sort the author herself often avoids, I was seduced by the narrative style of the initial segment.
As someone who reads who appreciates crafted language of the variety that the author usually avoids, I was seduced by the literary tone of the first section. It exhibits a fresh level of observation that allows space for trivial aspects, like the container that the protagonist as a child pries out of frozen water at the beginning of the narrative, helped by her adored dad. "Look, an ice toy!" she declares; "a lovely toy", he responds, "the nuanced interpretations of terms tumbling in their mouths like piece candy". Kraus writes the tale of Emma with inquiry and familiarity. "Emma felt like she'd stepped into a dream – not hers, exactly."
Letdown and Fragmentation
I was fated to feel let down when I hoped this different style could last out the book. The author states here that she dislikes the enjoyment readers like me have derived 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 previous novels comes back in the second segment. The protagonist is attempting to do up 36 run-down apartments in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while shuttling between Minnesota and LA, unsuccessful in assisting Paul control his drinking. She is overwhelmed as Paul cycles through low-resource employment as an recovery specialist in a society fueled by the hostility and dread that drives an electoral success. Multiple pages are devoted about the protagonist facing cancellation on social media, her occupation changed from "writer" to "landlord" on the online encyclopedia. Kraus still seems to be overly concerned about this. In a moment she says that she's looking into the killing so that before exiting the region, "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 murder itself – and the eponymous day spent by the deceased with the perpetrator and his companions. Kraus utilizes excellent raw material, and details moment by moment what occurred as a man named Brandon came to visit Brittney after connecting via an application where she offered adult photos. He was hoping for sex but appears congenially to have passed the day with her companions, wandering about having his vehicle repaired and covering the cost of food and substances, before being killed by gunfire by Brittney's boyfriend Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has often been institutionalized for violent rage.
Preoccupation and Open Ends
Catt gets obsessed by the narrative, and I was fascinated by the way that the author's conflicting impulses towards responsible documentation and daring boundary-pushing clash in this segment. But I'd have liked her to explore more thoroughly her personal fixations here. The standout figure is the character Brittney, who gains dimension in part due to Catt's identification with her – another bright, bullied girl going off the rails in a struggling, neglected community. Kraus tells us that the protagonist communicates with Brittney in prison, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. The complete segment feels strangely incomplete, to the point that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par
