The Four Spent the Day Together features protagonists chasing after new beginnings, attempting to leave behind drugs or abusive marriages, only to see hope turn into aggression. The author frequently uses the phrase "new beginning", transforming it into willfully cynical through constant reiteration. Phrases such as "He could make a fresh start" and "They chose to begin anew" recur in the narrative. At the same time, she seems to be making her individual reinvention, as this appears a different type of work – fact-based, genuinely novelistic. However it turns out to be packed with the same dilemmas and approaches as her previous works.
From Unplanned Author to Iconic Work
Chris Kraus began as an creative who entered the literary world somewhat by chance with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, made up of letters to an unreceptive lover, converting intimate women's literature from abjection into defiance. She continued writing, but the following three compelling and abrasive novels lacked the power and directness that the epistolary style brought to the tone of I Love Dick. It didn't help was her identity as a renegade artist who had turned into a major property owner, so there was considerable focus on housing investments. It is logical that she now wants to explore fresh narrative sources, directing her gaze to external narratives, at a moment when she states that contemporary political climate renders personal narrative obsolete.
Several Eras, One Unescapable Past
The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, covering several time periods – all unable to escape their pasts. There is the story of Emma and Jasper, representations of her own mother and father, relocating from the urban environment to the Connecticut countryside. Additionally the story of Kraus herself, in the persona of a figure named Catt Greene, reckoning with the late recognition of I Love Dick, the rise of Trump, and her addict husband Paul. And there is the story of the murder of one directionless individual by another in a community mostly forsaken by forward-thinking policies only a brief drive from Catt's rural residence in the Minnesota countryside.
As a reader attracted to polished prose of the type the author herself tends to eschew, I was captivated by the narrative style of the opening part.
As a reader who appreciates crafted language of the variety that Kraus herself often disregards, I was captivated by the literary tone of the first section. It exhibits a new quality of attentiveness that makes room for trivial aspects, like the pail that the youthful Catt pries out of frozen water at the start of the story, aided by her adored dad. "I found an ice toy!" she says; "a lovely toy", he answers, "the ambiguous meanings of language rolling around in their mouths like sweet treats". The author narrates Emma's story with inquiry and familiarity. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not entirely her own."
Disappointment and Disjunction
I was bound to become frustrated when I hoped this new voice could persist to the end. Kraus notes here that she dislikes the enjoyment readers like me have taken from I Love Dick; she's committed to fragmentation, to the messy artistic approach she has in common with her idol author Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her past books reasserts itself in the middle section. Catt Greene is trying to renovate multiple decrepit residences in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while shuttling between two different states, failing to help Paul manage his alcohol use. She experiences powerlessness as Paul transitions between poorly supported positions as an addiction therapist in a environment fueled by the anger and fear that underpins an electoral success. A significant portion discusses about Catt's social media ostracism on social media, her listed profession modified from "novelist" to "landlord" on the online encyclopedia. She still gives the impression to care a little too much about this. At one point she says that she's researching the homicide so that before exiting the region, "she might be able to learn something about an the nation that her Twitter detractors would fail to comprehend, would not even see".
The Killing Story
Then we reach to the murder itself – and the eponymous day spent by the murdered individual with the killer and his companions. Kraus utilizes excellent raw material, and details moment by moment what transpired when Brandon came to meet Brittney after connecting via an application where she offered adult photos. He anticipated intimacy but seems affably to have spent the day in the company of her associates, loitering having his vehicle repaired and covering the cost of food and substances, before being murdered by her romantic interest Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has frequently been hospitalised for aggressive outbursts.
Obsession and Unfinished Business
Catt gets obsessed by the narrative, and I found myself captivated by the way that her twin drives towards responsible documentation and audacious rule-breaking tussle in this section. Yet I wished her to explore more thoroughly her own obsessions here. The compelling persona is Brittney herself, who becomes vivid partially because of Catt's identification with her – a similarly gifted, tormented individual going off the rails in a troubled, forgotten town. Kraus tells us that Catt speaks to Brittney in detention, but she fails to enact these dialogues. The complete segment feels oddly unfinished, to the extent that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par
