The Four Spent the Day Together centers on individuals chasing after fresh starts, trying to break free from substance abuse or harmful partnerships, only to see hope turn into conflict. Chris Kraus often employs the phrase "fresh start", transforming it into deliberately jaded through recurring use. Phrases such as "He could make a fresh start" and "They decided to make a fresh start" appear throughout the text. Meanwhile, Kraus herself is embarking on her individual reinvention, because this seems a new kind of book – observational, authentically narrative. Yet it proves to be laden with the same dilemmas and styles as her previous works.
From Unplanned Author to Renowned Book
The writer was originally an visual artist who became a writer somewhat by chance with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, which was composed of letters to an unreceptive lover, elevating intimate women's literature from abjection into rebellion. She kept producing books, but the following three fascinating and rebarbative novels did not possess the power and directness that the epistolary style infused into the tone of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her role as a renegade artist who had evolved into a major property owner, so there was considerable focus on housing investments. It makes sense that she now wants to experiment with new kinds of material, looking outwards to other people's stories, at a moment when she asserts that Trumpian politics renders personal narrative unnecessary.
Three Generations, Shared Inescapable History
The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, encompassing several time periods – each trapped by their pasts. We encounter the tale of a couple named Emma and Jasper, based on Kraus's parents, moving from the New York borough to rural Connecticut. Then there is the story of Kraus herself, in the persona of a figure named Catt Greene, reckoning with the belated success of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her substance-dependent spouse a man named Paul. Finally the account of a killing of one directionless individual by another in a town long abandoned by liberal ideals only a short distance from the protagonist's home in rural Minnesota.
From my perspective as a reader attracted to honed writing of the sort the author herself typically rejects, I was seduced by the literary tone of the first section.
As a reader who favors precise prose of the variety that the author often disregards, I was captivated by the literary tone of the first section. There is a fresh level of observation that accommodates small details, like the container that the protagonist as a child dislodges from ice at the opening of the book, assisted by her adored dad. "Look, an ice toy!" she says; "a nice toy", he responds, "the ambiguous meanings of language rolling around in their mouths like piece candy". The author narrates the tale of Emma with curiosity and intimacy. "It seemed to Emma she had entered a dream – not hers, exactly."
Letdown and Fragmentation
I was destined to be disappointed when I expected this new voice could last out the book. Kraus notes here that she dislikes the pleasure audiences such as myself have derived from I Love Dick; she's devoted to disruption, to the messy artistic approach she echoes from her hero Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her earlier works reasserts itself in the middle section. The protagonist is working on refurbishing multiple decrepit residences in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while moving between Minnesota and LA, unsuccessful in assisting Paul control his drinking. She feels helpless as her spouse moves between poorly supported positions as an recovery specialist in a world propelled by the hostility and dread that drives Trump's victory. There are several pages about Catt being cancelled on Twitter, her professional designation altered from "author" to "landlord" on Wikipedia. Kraus still seems to be overly concerned about this. At one point she says that she's looking into the killing so that before leaving Minnesota, "she might be able to learn something about an the United States that her social media opponents would not understand, would overlook entirely".
The Killing Story
Then we reach to the homicide in question – and the eponymous day experienced by the victim with the killer and his associates. Kraus utilizes excellent raw material, and reconstructs step by step what occurred as Brandon came to meet Brittney after connecting via an application where she offered adult photos. He sought a sexual encounter but appears congenially to have passed the day with her companions, wandering about fixing his automobile and covering the cost of food and substances, before being shot by Brittney's boyfriend a man named Micah – a individual with mental health challenges who has often been institutionalized for aggressive outbursts.
Fascination and Incompletion
Catt develops an obsession by the narrative, and I was fascinated by the way that the author's conflicting impulses towards responsible documentation and audacious rule-breaking wrestle in this part. Yet I wished her to go further into her personal fixations here. The compelling persona is Brittney, who becomes vivid partly through Catt seeing herself in her – another bright, bullied girl spiraling out of control in a troubled, forgotten town. Kraus notes that Catt speaks to Brittney in jail, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. The complete segment feels curiously unresolved, to the degree that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par
