The Four Spent the Day Together centers on individuals chasing after fresh starts, struggling to escape drugs or toxic relationships, only to find hope curdling into violence. The author frequently uses the phrase "new beginning", transforming it into willfully cynical through recurring use. Phrases such as "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They chose to begin anew" appear throughout the story. And yet, Kraus herself appears to be undertaking her individual reinvention, as this seems a different type of work – fact-based, truly literary. Yet it reveals itself to be filled with the familiar conflicts and approaches as past novels.
From Chance Novelist to Cult Classic
Chris Kraus began as an creative who transitioned to writing almost accidentally with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, made up of letters to an unreceptive lover, elevating confessional female writing from humiliation into defiance. She kept producing books, but the next trio of fascinating and rebarbative novels missed the shock and immediacy that the letter form infused into the tone of I Love Dick. It didn't help was her identity as a renegade artist who had turned into a large-scale low-rent landlord, so there was considerable focus on real estate deals. It makes sense that she now wants to experiment with different types of content, directing her gaze to other people's stories, at a moment when she asserts that current political era turns intimate literature obsolete.
Three Generations, Shared Inescapable History
The Four Spent the Day Together is structured in three parts, covering three generations – none able to break free from their backgrounds. We encounter the narrative about Emma and Jasper, based on Kraus's parents, transitioning from the urban environment to rural Connecticut. There is the story of Kraus herself, in the persona of a figure named Catt Greene, confronting the late recognition of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her substance-dependent spouse Paul. Finally the story of the murder of one directionless individual by another in a community largely deserted by liberal ideals only a short distance from Catt's rural residence in a remote part of Minnesota.
From my perspective as a reader fond of refined literature of the sort Kraus herself tends to eschew, I was enchanted by the literary tone of the initial segment.
As someone who reads drawn to crafted language of the style that Kraus tends to eschew, I was captivated by the literary tone of the first section. It possesses a fresh level of observation that makes room for trivial aspects, like the pail that the young Catt pries out of frozen water at the opening of the book, aided by her adored dad. "I found an ice toy!" she says; "a lovely toy", he replies, "the ambiguous meanings of language circulating in their speech like sweet treats". The author narrates the tale of Emma with inquiry and familiarity. "It seemed to Emma she had entered a dream – not hers, exactly."
Disappointment and Disjunction
I was bound to become frustrated when I wished this different style could continue through the novel. Kraus notes here that she resents the satisfaction those who appreciate polished prose have derived from I Love Dick; she's devoted to fragmentation, to the messy artistic approach she echoes from her inspiration Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her previous novels comes back in the middle section. The protagonist is attempting to do up three dozen dilapidated units in the city's most challenging districts while moving between the Midwest and the West Coast, unable to aid Paul manage his alcohol use. She feels helpless as Paul transitions between poorly supported positions as an recovery specialist in a environment propelled by the hostility and dread that drives an electoral success. Multiple pages are devoted about the protagonist facing cancellation on social media, her listed profession modified from "novelist" to "landlord" on the online encyclopedia. The author still appears to be overly concerned about this. In a moment she says that she's investigating the murder so that before exiting the region, "she might be able to learn something about an the United States that her Twitter detractors would fail to comprehend, would not even perceive".
The Killing Story
Then we reach to the murder itself – and the referenced day passed by the murdered individual with the perpetrator and his associates. The author possesses compelling foundational content, and reconstructs step by step what happened when a man named Brandon came to meet Brittney after connecting via an application where she offered adult photos. He anticipated intimacy but appears congenially to have passed the day in the company of her associates, wandering about having his vehicle repaired and paying for snacks and drugs, before being murdered by Brittney's boyfriend Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has frequently been hospitalised for fits of anger.
Obsession and Unfinished Business
Catt develops an obsession by the story, and I found myself captivated by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards accurate chronicling and reckless transgression clash in this segment. However, I would have preferred her to delve deeper into her own obsessions here. The standout figure is Brittney, who comes alive partly through the protagonist's connection to her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman derailing in a difficult, overlooked locality. Kraus tells us that Catt speaks to Brittney in jail, but she fails to enact these dialogues. The whole section feels curiously unresolved, to the degree that her narrative ends almost mid-par
