The Four Spent the Day Together features protagonists pursuing clean slates, attempting to leave behind addictions or toxic relationships, only to see hope turn into violence. Chris Kraus repeatedly invokes the phrase "fresh start", rendering it deliberately jaded through constant reiteration. Examples include "He could make a fresh start" and "They chose to begin anew" recur in the story. Meanwhile, the author herself appears to be undertaking her individual reinvention, as this presents as a different type of work – fact-based, authentically narrative. But then it reveals itself to be packed with the recurring issues and aesthetics as her previous works.
From Unplanned Author to Renowned Book
Kraus started out as an artist who entered the literary world almost accidentally with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, structured as missives to a distant beloved, transforming confessional female writing from abjection into rebellion. She persisted as a writer, but the three subsequent compelling and abrasive novels did not possess the shock and immediacy that the correspondence format brought to the narrative voice of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her role as a renegade artist who had turned into a extensive real estate holder, so there was considerable focus on housing investments. It is logical that she now wants to experiment with different types of content, looking outwards to external narratives, at a time when she states that current political era renders personal narrative unnecessary.
Several Eras, Shared Inescapable History
The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, spanning three generations – each trapped by their pasts. The book includes the story of a couple named Emma and Jasper, based on the author's parents, moving from the New York borough to a pastoral setting. Then there is the story of Kraus herself, in the guise of Catt Greene, confronting the late recognition of I Love Dick, the rise of Trump, and her addict husband Paul. The third thread involves the story of the murder of one directionless individual by another in a locality mostly forsaken by progressive politics only 80 miles from the protagonist's home in the Minnesota countryside.
From my perspective as a reader drawn to refined literature of the kind the author herself often avoids, I was enchanted by the narrative style of the first section.
Being 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. It exhibits a new quality of attentiveness that allows space for minutiae, like the pail that the young Catt dislodges from ice at the start of the story, assisted by her adored dad. "Look, an ice toy!" she says; "a nice toy", he replies, "the elliptical meanings of words rolling around in their mouths like sweet treats". She tells Emma's story with interest and closeness. "Emma felt like she'd stepped into a dream – not precisely her dream."
Frustration and Disruption
I was bound to become frustrated when I wished this different style could continue through the novel. The author states here that she dislikes the pleasure readers like me have taken from I Love Dick; she's devoted to disjunction, to the unpolished style she has in common with her inspiration Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her past books returns in the middle section. Catt is working on refurbishing 36 run-down apartments in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while traveling between two different states, unable to aid Paul manage his alcohol use. She feels helpless as Paul transitions between low-resource employment as an addiction therapist in a society propelled by the hostility and dread that drives a political win. There are several pages about Catt's social media ostracism on social media, her occupation changed from "writer" to "property owner" on the online encyclopedia. The author still appears to invest excessive emotion about this. On one occasion she remarks that she's researching the homicide so that before departing the state, "she may grasp something about an the United States that her social media opponents would fail to comprehend, would not even perceive".
The Killing Story
So then we come to the actual killing – and the titular day experienced by the murdered individual with the killer and his friends. The author possesses excellent raw material, and knows hour by hour what occurred as Brandon came to see Brittney after encountering her on a platform where she marketed explicit images. He anticipated intimacy but seems amiably to have occupied the day alongside her friends, wandering about fixing his automobile and paying for snacks and drugs, before being shot by Brittney's boyfriend Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has frequently been hospitalised for violent rage.
Obsession and Unfinished Business
Catt develops an obsession by the account, and I was intrigued by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards responsible documentation and daring boundary-pushing clash in this segment. However, I would have preferred her to delve deeper into her individual preoccupations here. The compelling persona is Brittney herself, who becomes vivid in part due to Catt seeing herself in her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman spiraling out of control in a struggling, neglected community. Kraus notes that the protagonist communicates with Brittney in detention, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. The complete segment feels strangely incomplete, to the extent that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par