The Four Spent the Day Together is populated with individuals chasing after new beginnings, attempting to leave behind addictions or harmful partnerships, only to find hope curdling into violence. Chris Kraus frequently uses the phrase "fresh start", transforming it into intentionally weary through constant reiteration. Phrases such as "He aimed to start over" and "They opted for a clean break" appear throughout the narrative. And yet, she seems to be making her own fresh start, as this presents as a new kind of book – documentarian, truly literary. But then it proves to be filled with the same dilemmas and aesthetics as past novels.
From Unplanned Author to Cult Classic
Kraus started out as an artist who entered the literary world almost accidentally with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, made up of letters to an unreceptive lover, transforming intimate women's literature from abjection into rebellion. She kept producing books, but the following three fascinating and rebarbative novels missed the shock and immediacy that the letter form imparted to the voice of I Love Dick. It didn't help was her role as a nonconformist creator who had turned into a major property owner, so there was much discussion on property transactions. It is logical that she now wants to experiment with new kinds of material, looking outwards to external narratives, at a moment when she claims that Trumpian politics turns intimate literature unnecessary.
Three Generations, Collective Unavoidable Background
The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, spanning three generations – all unable to escape their backgrounds. There is the story of Emma and Jasper, based on her own mother and father, relocating from the Bronx to the Connecticut countryside. There is the account of Kraus, in the guise of protagonist Catt Greene, reckoning with the delayed acclaim of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her partner struggling with addiction Paul. And there is the account of a killing of one troubled youth by another in a locality largely deserted by liberal ideals only a short distance from Catt's rural residence in the Minnesota countryside.
From my perspective as a reader drawn to refined literature of the kind the author herself tends to eschew, I was captivated by the novelistic voice of the first section.
As someone who reads drawn to precise prose of the kind that Kraus herself often disregards, I was captivated by the novelistic voice of the first section. It exhibits 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 opening of the book, assisted by her beloved father. "Look, an ice toy!" she exclaims; "a lovely toy", he answers, "the ambiguous meanings of language tumbling in their mouths like hard candy". Kraus writes the tale of Emma with curiosity and intimacy. "Emma felt like she'd stepped into a dream – not entirely her own."
Disappointment and Disjunction
I was destined to be disappointed when I wished this new voice could last out the book. Kraus says here that she dislikes the enjoyment those who appreciate polished prose have taken from I Love Dick; she's committed to disjunction, to the untidy aesthetics she echoes from her inspiration writer Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her past books comes back in the central part. The protagonist is trying to renovate multiple decrepit residences in the city's most challenging districts while moving between two different states, unable to aid Paul control his drinking. She is overwhelmed as her spouse moves between low-resource employment as an substance abuse counselor in a world driven by the rage and anxiety that powers a political win. There are several pages about the protagonist facing cancellation on social media, her professional designation altered from "author" to "real estate holder" on the online encyclopedia. The author still appears 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 fail to comprehend, would not even perceive".
The Killing Story
Then we reach to the homicide in question – and the eponymous day experienced by the victim with the killer and his companions. Kraus utilizes excellent raw material, and details moment by moment what transpired when a man named Brandon came to meet Brittney after meeting her on an app where she sold sex pictures. He anticipated intimacy but seems affably to have spent the day in the company of her associates, mooching around getting his car mended and funding treats and narcotics, before being shot by Brittney's partner a man named Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has repeatedly received inpatient care for violent rage.
Obsession and Unfinished Business
Catt develops an obsession by the narrative, and I was fascinated by the way that the author's conflicting impulses towards accurate chronicling and daring boundary-pushing clash in this segment. But I'd have liked her to delve deeper into her own obsessions here. The most interesting character is Brittney herself, who becomes vivid in part due to the protagonist's connection to her – a similarly gifted, tormented individual spiraling out of control in a difficult, overlooked locality. Kraus tells us that Catt speaks to Brittney in prison, but she doesn't dramatise these conversations. The whole section feels strangely incomplete, to the extent that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par
