The Four Spent the Day Together centers on protagonists pursuing new beginnings, struggling to escape substance abuse or abusive marriages, only to witness hope devolve into violence. Kraus frequently uses the phrase "clean slate", transforming it into willfully cynical through its repetitions. Examples include "He could make a fresh start" and "They opted for a clean break" appear throughout the text. And yet, the author herself seems to be making her personal new beginning, as this appears a novel form of writing – observational, authentically narrative. However it turns out to be packed with the familiar conflicts and styles as past novels.
From Accidental Writer to Renowned Book
Chris Kraus started out as an creative who entered the literary world almost accidentally with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, made up of epistles to an unresponsive love interest, elevating personal female narrative from humiliation into assassination. She kept producing books, but the following three fascinating and rebarbative novels missed the impact and rawness that the correspondence format brought to the voice of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her identity as a maverick maker who had turned into a large-scale low-rent landlord, so there was much discussion on property transactions. It is logical that she presently aims to experiment with fresh narrative sources, turning outward to the experiences of others, at a moment when she claims that contemporary political climate renders personal narrative obsolete.
Several Eras, Shared Inescapable History
The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, covering several time periods – none able to break free from their backgrounds. The book includes the tale of a couple named Emma and Jasper, based on her own mother and father, moving from the Bronx to a pastoral setting. Additionally the narrative of the author, in the character of Catt Greene, confronting the late recognition of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her substance-dependent spouse her husband Paul. And there is the account of a killing of one lost young man by another in a community long abandoned by forward-thinking policies only 80 miles from the protagonist's home in rural Minnesota.
From my perspective as a reader attracted to refined literature of the sort Kraus typically rejects, I was seduced by the literary tone of the first section.
Being a reader who appreciates crafted language of the kind that Kraus usually avoids, I was won over by the storytelling approach of the first section. It possesses a fresh level of observation that allows space for small details, like the bucket that the youthful Catt pries out of frozen water at the beginning of the narrative, assisted by her cherished parent. "Look, an ice toy!" she says; "a great plaything", he answers, "the nuanced interpretations of terms rolling around in their mouths like sweet treats". The author narrates the tale of Emma with inquiry and familiarity. "It seemed to Emma she had entered a dream – not entirely her own."
Disappointment and Disjunction
I was fated to feel let down when I wished this new voice could continue through the novel. The author states here that she is annoyed by the enjoyment readers like me have taken from I Love Dick; she's devoted to disruption, to the messy artistic approach she shares with her hero writer Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her previous novels reasserts itself in the central part. Catt Greene is working on refurbishing multiple decrepit residences in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while traveling between two different states, unsuccessful in assisting Paul manage his alcohol use. She experiences powerlessness as Paul moves between low-resource employment as an substance abuse counselor in a world driven by the rage and anxiety that drives Trump's victory. Multiple pages are devoted about Catt's social media ostracism on social media, her professional designation altered from "novelist" to "property owner" on the online encyclopedia. She still gives the impression to be overly concerned about this. In a moment she says that she's looking into the killing so that before departing the state, "she may grasp something about an the nation that her social media opponents would fail to comprehend, would overlook entirely".
The Homicide Account
So then we come to the actual killing – and the eponymous day passed by the victim with the perpetrator and his companions. The author possesses excellent raw material, and reconstructs step by step what occurred as a man named Brandon came to visit Brittney after meeting her on an app where she sold sex pictures. He was hoping for sex but appears congenially to have passed the day with her companions, wandering about fixing his automobile and funding treats and narcotics, before being killed by gunfire by Brittney's partner Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has repeatedly received inpatient care for aggressive outbursts.
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 responsible documentation and daring boundary-pushing wrestle in this part. Yet I wished her to explore more thoroughly her own obsessions here. The most interesting character is the character Brittney, who comes alive partly through Catt seeing herself in her – another bright, bullied girl derailing in a struggling, neglected community. Kraus notes that Catt converses with Brittney in detention, but she doesn't dramatise these conversations. This entire part feels oddly unfinished, to the degree that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par
