The Four Spent the Day Together features individuals chasing after fresh starts, trying to break free from addictions or harmful partnerships, only to find hope curdling into violence. Chris Kraus frequently uses the phrase "clean slate", making it intentionally weary through constant reiteration. Sentences like "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They chose to begin anew" recur in the text. At the same time, she appears to be undertaking her personal new beginning, because this seems a new kind of book – documentarian, truly literary. Yet it reveals itself to be laden with the recurring issues and aesthetics as earlier books.
From Unplanned Author to Iconic Work
Chris Kraus began as an visual artist who became a writer somewhat by chance with her 1997 cult classic 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 next trio of engaging and challenging novels lacked the impact and rawness that the letter form brought to the narrative voice of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her identity as a maverick maker who had evolved into a large-scale low-rent landlord, so there was much discussion on housing investments. It is logical that she now wants to experiment with new kinds of material, directing her gaze to the experiences of others, at a period in which she states that Trumpian politics makes confessional writing unnecessary.
Multiple Generations, One Unescapable Past
The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, encompassing multiple eras – none able to break free from their backgrounds. There is the narrative about Emma and Jasper, versions of the author's parents, relocating from the urban environment to the Connecticut countryside. There is the narrative of the author, in the persona of protagonist Catt Greene, confronting the late recognition of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her addict husband a man named Paul. Finally the story of the murder of one directionless individual by another in a town mostly forsaken by progressive politics only 80 miles from Catt's rural residence in the Minnesota countryside.
As a reader fond of polished prose of the sort Kraus herself typically rejects, I was seduced by the novelistic voice of the initial segment.
As someone who reads drawn to crafted language of the variety that Kraus tends to eschew, I was captivated by the literary tone of the first section. It possesses a new quality of attentiveness that accommodates trivial aspects, like the container that the youthful Catt dislodges from ice at the opening of the book, aided by her adored dad. "I discovered a frozen plaything!" she says; "a nice toy", he responds, "the ambiguous meanings of language tumbling in their mouths like sweet treats". The author narrates Emma's narrative with inquiry and familiarity. "It seemed to Emma she had entered a dream – not hers, exactly."
Letdown and Fragmentation
I was fated to feel let down when I expected this fresh tone could continue through the novel. Kraus notes here that she resents the satisfaction readers like me have derived from I Love Dick; she's committed to disjunction, to the unpolished style she shares with her idol author Kathy Acker, and the emptiness and redundancy of her past books comes back in the second segment. Catt Greene is trying to renovate three dozen dilapidated units in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while shuttling between Minnesota and LA, failing to help Paul control his drinking. She experiences powerlessness as Paul transitions between low-resource employment as an recovery specialist in a society fueled by the rage and anxiety that drives Trump's victory. Multiple pages are devoted about the protagonist facing cancellation on social media, her listed profession modified from "writer" to "real estate holder" on the online encyclopedia. Kraus still seems to invest excessive emotion about this. In a moment she states that she's looking into the killing so that before leaving Minnesota, "she may grasp something about an the nation that her Twitter detractors would fail to comprehend, would overlook entirely".
The Homicide Account
So then we come to the murder itself – and the eponymous day experienced by the deceased with the killer and his friends. Kraus has excellent raw material, and details moment by moment what occurred as a man named Brandon came to visit Brittney after encountering her on a platform where she offered adult photos. He sought a sexual encounter but appears congenially to have passed the day in the company of her associates, wandering about fixing his automobile and covering the cost of food and substances, before being murdered by her romantic interest Micah – a individual with mental health challenges who has often been institutionalized for aggressive outbursts.
Obsession and Unfinished Business
Catt develops an obsession by the narrative, and I found myself captivated by the way that her twin drives towards accurate chronicling and reckless transgression tussle in this section. However, I would have preferred her to go further into her individual preoccupations here. The most interesting character is the character Brittney, who gains dimension partly through Catt seeing herself in her – another bright, bullied girl going off the rails in a struggling, neglected community. The author informs us that Catt converses with Brittney in detention, but she doesn't dramatise these conversations. The complete segment feels strangely incomplete, to the degree that her narrative ends almost mid-par
