The Four Spent the Day Together features individuals chasing after new beginnings, trying to break free from drugs or abusive marriages, only to witness hope devolve into violence. The author often employs the phrase "new beginning", making it intentionally weary through constant reiteration. Phrases such as "He could make a fresh start" and "They opted for a clean break" appear throughout the text. And yet, she seems to be making her own fresh start, since this appears a new kind of book – fact-based, genuinely novelistic. However it proves to be filled with the familiar conflicts and styles as earlier books.
From Unplanned Author to Iconic Work
Chris Kraus was originally an artist who became a writer somewhat by chance with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, which was composed of epistles to an unresponsive love interest, elevating intimate women's literature from abjection into assassination. She continued writing, but the following three engaging and challenging novels did not possess the impact and rawness that the letter form brought to the voice of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her role as a nonconformist creator who had turned into a extensive real estate holder, so there was significant attention on property transactions. It makes sense that she presently aims to explore different types of content, turning outward to external narratives, at a moment when she claims that Trumpian politics renders personal narrative obsolete.
Three Generations, One Unescapable Past
The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, spanning three generations – each trapped by their histories. The book includes the tale of Emma and Jasper, representations of Kraus's parents, relocating from the New York borough to a pastoral setting. Then there is the account of Kraus, in the character of Catt Greene, confronting the delayed acclaim of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her addict husband a man named Paul. And there is the story of the murder of one troubled youth by another in a locality long abandoned by progressive politics only 80 miles from Catt's rural residence in rural Minnesota.
From my perspective as a reader drawn to polished prose of the kind Kraus tends to eschew, I was seduced by the literary tone of the opening part.
As someone who reads who appreciates precise prose of the variety that Kraus often disregards, I was won over by the storytelling approach of the first section. It exhibits a fresh level of observation that makes room for trivial aspects, like the container that the protagonist as a child frees from the ice at the beginning of the narrative, assisted by her adored dad. "Look, an ice toy!" she declares; "a lovely toy", he responds, "the nuanced interpretations of terms rolling around in their mouths like piece candy". Kraus writes Emma's story with interest and closeness. "Emma felt like she'd stepped into a dream – not hers, exactly."
Letdown and Fragmentation
I was fated to feel let down when I expected this fresh tone could persist to the end. Kraus says here that she is annoyed by the satisfaction readers like me have derived from I Love Dick; she's committed to disjunction, to the untidy aesthetics she has in common with her inspiration Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her earlier works comes back in the second segment. Catt Greene is attempting to do up multiple decrepit residences in the city's most challenging districts while moving between the Midwest and the West Coast, failing to help Paul control his drinking. She experiences powerlessness as her spouse transitions between poorly supported positions as an substance abuse counselor in a environment propelled by the anger and fear that underpins Trump's victory. There are several pages about the protagonist facing cancellation on Twitter, her listed profession modified from "writer" to "real estate holder" on Wikipedia. She still gives the impression to be overly concerned about this. In a moment she remarks that she's researching the homicide so that before exiting the region, "she might be able to learn something about an America that her online critics would not understand, would not even perceive".
The Killing Story
So then we come to the murder itself – and the eponymous day passed by the victim with the murderer and his companions. Kraus has compelling foundational content, and reconstructs step by step what occurred as Brandon came to see 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, mooching around fixing his automobile and paying for snacks and drugs, before being shot by Brittney's partner Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has often been institutionalized for aggressive outbursts.
Preoccupation and Open Ends
The protagonist becomes fixated by the account, and I found myself captivated by the way that her twin drives towards accurate chronicling and audacious rule-breaking wrestle in this part. But I'd have liked her to delve deeper into her personal fixations here. The standout figure is Brittney, who becomes vivid partly through Catt's identification with her – a similarly gifted, tormented individual spiraling out of control in a difficult, overlooked locality. The author informs us that Catt converses with Brittney in detention, but she fails to enact these dialogues. The complete segment feels oddly unfinished, to the degree that her narrative ends almost mid-par
