The Four Spent the Day Together centers on protagonists chasing after clean slates, attempting to leave behind substance abuse or harmful partnerships, only to find hope curdling into aggression. Chris Kraus repeatedly invokes the phrase "new beginning", making it willfully cynical through recurring use. Phrases such as "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They opted for a clean break" appear throughout the narrative. At the same time, Kraus herself appears to be undertaking her individual reinvention, as this presents as a novel form of writing – fact-based, truly literary. However it turns out to be laden with the familiar conflicts and styles as past novels.
From Unplanned Author to Iconic Work
Chris Kraus started out as an artist who transitioned to writing almost accidentally with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, structured as letters to an unreceptive lover, elevating confessional female writing from humiliation into rebellion. She persisted as a writer, but the following three compelling and abrasive novels missed the shock and immediacy that the correspondence format brought to the tone of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her identity as a maverick maker who had turned into a large-scale low-rent landlord, so there was considerable focus on housing investments. It follows that she currently desires to try out new kinds of material, turning outward to external narratives, at a time when she states that Trumpian politics makes confessional writing redundant.
Several Eras, Collective Unavoidable Background
The Four Spent the Day Together is structured in three parts, covering several time periods – each trapped by their histories. The book includes the story of Emma and Jasper, based on the author's parents, transitioning from the urban environment to a pastoral setting. Additionally the story of Kraus herself, in the persona of Catt Greene, grappling with the belated success of I Love Dick, the rise of Trump, and her addict husband Paul. Finally the narrative of a homicide of one lost young man by another in a locality mostly forsaken by liberal ideals only 80 miles from the protagonist's home in a remote part of Minnesota.
For this reader fond of refined literature of the kind Kraus herself often avoids, I was enchanted by the novelistic voice of the initial segment.
As a reader who favors honed writing of the kind that the author tends to eschew, I was seduced by the storytelling approach of the opening segment. It possesses a new quality of attentiveness that allows space for small details, like the container that the young Catt pries out of frozen water at the start of the story, helped by her adored dad. "Look, an ice toy!" she says; "a great plaything", he answers, "the elliptical meanings of words rolling around in their mouths like sweet treats". Kraus writes Emma's narrative with curiosity and intimacy. "Emma felt like she'd stepped into a dream – not hers, exactly."
Frustration and Disruption
I was destined to be disappointed when I expected this new voice could last out the book. Kraus says here that she is annoyed by the satisfaction those who appreciate polished prose have derived from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to fragmentation, to the unpolished style she shares with her idol author Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her earlier works returns in the second segment. The protagonist is working on refurbishing 36 run-down apartments in the city's most challenging districts while moving between two different states, failing to help Paul manage his alcohol use. She experiences powerlessness as Paul transitions between poorly supported positions as an recovery specialist in a world fueled by the anger and fear that powers Trump's victory. Multiple pages are devoted about the protagonist facing cancellation on Twitter, her occupation changed from "writer" to "real estate holder" on Wikipedia. She still gives the impression to care a little too much about this. At one point she remarks that she's investigating the murder so that before exiting the region, "she may grasp something about an the nation that her social media opponents would be unable to grasp, would overlook entirely".
The Homicide Account
So then we come to the murder itself – and the titular day passed by the victim with the killer and his companions. Kraus utilizes great source material, and details moment by moment what transpired when the victim Brandon came to visit Brittney after meeting her on an app where she offered adult photos. He was hoping for sex but seems amiably to have occupied the day with her companions, mooching around fixing his automobile and paying for snacks and drugs, before being murdered by Brittney's partner a man named Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has repeatedly received inpatient care for violent rage.
Preoccupation and Open Ends
Catt develops an obsession by the account, and I was intrigued by the way that her twin drives towards responsible documentation and daring boundary-pushing clash in this segment. However, I would have preferred her to delve deeper into her own obsessions here. The standout figure is Brittney herself, who becomes vivid in part due to Catt's identification with her – another bright, bullied girl going off the rails in a struggling, neglected community. Kraus notes that Catt converses with Brittney in prison, but she fails to enact these dialogues. This entire part feels oddly unfinished, to the extent that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par
