The Four Spent the Day Together centers on characters chasing after clean slates, trying to break free from substance abuse or abusive marriages, only to witness hope devolve into conflict. Chris Kraus frequently uses the phrase "fresh start", rendering it intentionally weary through its repetitions. Phrases such as "He could make a fresh start" and "They opted for a clean break" recur in the narrative. And yet, the author herself appears to be undertaking her personal new beginning, because this presents as a new kind of book – documentarian, truly literary. Yet it proves to be packed with the recurring issues and aesthetics as her previous works.
From Unplanned Author to Cult Classic
Chris Kraus was originally an creative who transitioned to writing almost accidentally with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, which was composed of epistles to an unresponsive love interest, transforming intimate women's literature from humiliation into defiance. She kept producing books, but the three subsequent compelling and abrasive novels did not possess the shock and immediacy that the letter form imparted to the tone of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her role as a renegade artist who had turned into a major property owner, so there was considerable focus on real estate deals. It is logical that she currently desires to try out fresh narrative sources, looking outwards to external narratives, at a period in which she claims that current political era turns intimate literature unnecessary.
Multiple Generations, Shared Inescapable History
The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, covering three generations – all unable to escape their histories. There is the story of Emma and Jasper, versions of her own mother and father, moving from the New York borough to rural Connecticut. Additionally the account of Kraus, in the guise of protagonist Catt Greene, confronting the belated success of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her addict husband Paul. And there is the account of a killing of one lost young man by another in a locality largely deserted by progressive politics only a short distance from Catt's rural residence in the Minnesota countryside.
From my perspective as a reader fond of polished prose of the type Kraus herself often avoids, I was captivated by the novelistic voice of the first section.
As someone who reads who favors honed writing of the kind that Kraus herself often disregards, I was captivated by the novelistic voice of the first section. It possesses a new quality of attentiveness that makes room for trivial aspects, like the bucket that the youthful Catt dislodges from ice at the start of the story, aided by her adored dad. "I discovered a frozen plaything!" she says; "a nice toy", he responds, "the elliptical meanings of words tumbling in their mouths like sweet treats". The author narrates Emma's narrative with inquiry and familiarity. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not entirely her own."
Disappointment and Disjunction
I was destined to be disappointed when I expected this different style could last out the book. Kraus says here that she dislikes the enjoyment readers like me have gotten from I Love Dick; she's devoted to disruption, to the untidy aesthetics she shares with her idol author Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her earlier works reasserts itself in the second segment. Catt Greene is working on refurbishing three dozen dilapidated units in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while shuttling between two different states, unsuccessful in assisting Paul curb his addiction. She feels helpless as her spouse moves between poorly supported positions as an substance abuse counselor in a world propelled by the rage and anxiety that powers a political win. A significant portion discusses about the protagonist facing cancellation on Twitter, her listed profession modified from "author" to "property owner" on a reference site. Kraus still seems to be overly concerned about this. On one occasion she remarks that she's investigating the murder so that before leaving Minnesota, "she could potentially understand something about an the nation that her Twitter detractors would be unable to grasp, would not even perceive".
The Murder Narrative
So then we come to the murder itself – and the referenced day passed by the deceased with the perpetrator and his friends. The author possesses compelling foundational content, and details moment by moment what happened when the victim Brandon came to see Brittney after encountering her on a platform where she sold sex pictures. He was hoping for sex but seems affably to have spent the day alongside her friends, wandering about having his vehicle repaired and funding treats and narcotics, before being murdered by Brittney's boyfriend a man named Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has repeatedly received inpatient care for violent rage.
Fascination and Incompletion
Catt gets obsessed by the account, and I found myself captivated by the way that her twin drives towards ethical reporting and audacious rule-breaking tussle in this section. However, I would have preferred her to delve deeper into her own obsessions here. The compelling persona is the character Brittney, who gains dimension partly through the protagonist's connection to her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman derailing in a struggling, neglected community. Kraus notes that Catt converses with Brittney in detention, but she fails to enact these dialogues. This entire part feels oddly unfinished, to the extent that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par
