The Four Spent the Day Together centers on characters seeking clean slates, attempting to leave behind substance abuse or abusive marriages, only to see hope turn into conflict. The author frequently uses the phrase "new beginning", transforming it into intentionally weary through recurring use. Examples include "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They decided to make a fresh start" are scattered across the text. Meanwhile, she appears to be undertaking her personal new beginning, since this seems a novel form of writing – documentarian, genuinely novelistic. However it reveals itself to be laden with the same dilemmas and aesthetics as her previous works.
From Chance Novelist to Iconic Work
Chris Kraus started out as an artist who entered the literary world somewhat by chance with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, structured as missives to a distant beloved, converting intimate women's literature from self-debasement into defiance. She kept producing books, but the next trio of compelling and abrasive novels lacked the power and directness that the letter form brought to the narrative voice of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her role as a maverick maker who had evolved into a major property owner, so there was considerable focus on real estate deals. It is logical that she currently desires to experiment with different types of content, looking outwards to other people's stories, at a moment when she claims that contemporary political climate turns intimate literature redundant.
Multiple Generations, One Unescapable Past
The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, covering three generations – each trapped by their backgrounds. The book includes the story of characters Emma and Jasper, representations of the author's parents, moving from the New York borough to the Connecticut countryside. There is the story of Kraus herself, in the guise of Catt Greene, reckoning with the late recognition of I Love Dick, the rise of Trump, and her substance-dependent spouse Paul. And there is the story of the murder of one lost young man by another in a town mostly forsaken by liberal ideals only a brief drive from the protagonist's home in a remote part of Minnesota.
From my perspective as a reader attracted to refined literature of the sort Kraus tends to eschew, I was enchanted by the literary tone of the first section.
As someone who reads who appreciates honed writing of the style that the author usually avoids, I was seduced by the novelistic voice of the opening segment. It possesses a fresh level of observation that allows space for minutiae, like the pail that the youthful Catt pries out of frozen water at the opening of the book, helped by her beloved father. "I found an ice toy!" she says; "a lovely toy", he replies, "the ambiguous meanings of language tumbling in their mouths like hard candy". She tells the tale of Emma with curiosity and intimacy. "Emma felt like she'd stepped into a dream – not precisely her dream."
Frustration and Disruption
I was destined to be disappointed when I expected this different style could last out the book. Kraus says here that she is annoyed by the pleasure audiences such as myself have derived from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to disjunction, to the messy artistic approach she echoes from her inspiration writer Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her past books returns in the central part. Catt Greene is working on refurbishing 36 run-down apartments in the city's most challenging districts while traveling between two different states, unsuccessful in assisting Paul control his drinking. She feels helpless as Paul cycles through underfunded jobs as an recovery specialist in a environment fueled by the hostility and dread that drives an electoral success. There are several pages about the protagonist facing cancellation on a platform, her listed profession modified from "novelist" to "property owner" on the online encyclopedia. She still gives the impression to be overly concerned about this. On one occasion she remarks that she's investigating the murder so that before leaving Minnesota, "she might be able to learn something about an America that her social media opponents would fail to comprehend, would not even see".
The Killing Story
So then we come to the homicide in question – and the eponymous day experienced by the deceased with the perpetrator and his associates. Kraus has compelling foundational content, and details moment by moment what happened when the victim Brandon came to meet Brittney after encountering her on a platform where she sold sex pictures. He was hoping for sex but seems amiably to have occupied the day in the company of her associates, mooching around having his vehicle repaired and funding treats and narcotics, before being shot by Brittney's boyfriend Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has repeatedly received inpatient care for violent rage.
Obsession and Unfinished Business
Catt develops an obsession by the story, and I was intrigued by the way that the author's conflicting impulses towards ethical reporting and reckless transgression clash in this segment. However, I would have preferred her to go further into her own obsessions here. The standout figure is Brittney herself, who becomes vivid in part due to Catt's identification with her – another bright, bullied girl derailing in a difficult, overlooked locality. Kraus notes that Catt converses with Brittney in detention, but she fails to enact these dialogues. This entire part feels curiously unresolved, to the degree that her narrative ends almost mid-par
