The Four Spent the Day Together centers on individuals pursuing fresh starts, struggling to escape drugs or harmful partnerships, only to witness hope devolve into aggression. Chris Kraus often employs the phrase "clean slate", transforming it into intentionally weary through constant reiteration. Examples include "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They chose to begin anew" recur in the text. At the same time, she appears to be undertaking her individual reinvention, because this presents as a novel form of writing – observational, truly literary. But then it proves to be laden with the recurring issues and aesthetics as earlier books.
From Accidental Writer to Iconic Work
Chris Kraus started out as an visual artist who entered the literary world unintentionally with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, made up of letters to an unreceptive lover, converting confessional female writing from abjection into defiance. She persisted as a writer, but the three subsequent compelling and abrasive novels missed the shock and immediacy that the letter form infused into the narrative voice of I Love Dick. It didn't help was her position as a renegade artist who had evolved into a major property owner, so there was much discussion on property transactions. It makes sense that she currently desires to experiment with fresh narrative sources, directing her gaze to other people's stories, at a moment when she claims that current political era renders personal narrative unnecessary.
Three Generations, One Unescapable Past
The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, covering several time periods – all unable to escape their histories. The book includes the story of characters Emma and Jasper, based on Kraus's parents, moving from the New York borough to a pastoral setting. There is the narrative of the author, in the guise of protagonist Catt Greene, reckoning with the belated success of I Love Dick, the rise of Trump, and her addict husband Paul. And there is the story of the murder of one lost young man by another in a community long abandoned by progressive politics only a brief drive from the protagonist's home in rural Minnesota.
As a reader drawn to polished prose of the kind Kraus herself often avoids, I was enchanted by the novelistic voice of the initial segment.
As someone who reads who favors precise prose of the kind that Kraus herself usually avoids, I was seduced by the novelistic voice of the first section. There is a fresh level of observation that makes room for minutiae, like the container that the young Catt frees from the ice at the beginning of the narrative, helped by her cherished parent. "I found an ice toy!" she says; "a nice toy", he replies, "the ambiguous meanings of language circulating in their speech like hard candy". The author narrates the tale of Emma with curiosity and intimacy. "Emma felt like she'd stepped into a dream – not entirely her own."
Letdown and Fragmentation
I was fated to feel let down when I wished this different style could continue through the novel. The author states here that she is annoyed by the pleasure audiences such as myself have gotten from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to disruption, to the untidy aesthetics she has in common with her idol Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her past books reasserts itself in the central part. Catt is working on refurbishing multiple decrepit residences in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while shuttling between two different states, unable to aid her husband manage his alcohol use. She is overwhelmed as her spouse moves between low-resource employment as an substance abuse counselor in a society fueled by the hostility and dread that underpins Trump's victory. Multiple pages are devoted about the protagonist facing cancellation on a platform, her listed profession modified from "author" to "landlord" on the online encyclopedia. Kraus still seems to invest excessive emotion about this. On one occasion she states that she's looking into the killing so that before leaving Minnesota, "she may grasp something about an the United States that her online critics would be unable to grasp, would overlook entirely".
The Killing Story
Then we reach to the actual killing – and the titular day spent by the deceased with the killer and his associates. Kraus utilizes great source material, and knows hour by hour what happened when Brandon came to see Brittney after connecting via an application where she marketed explicit images. He was hoping for sex but appears congenially to have passed the day alongside her friends, mooching around getting his car mended and funding treats and narcotics, before being killed by gunfire by her romantic interest Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has often been institutionalized for aggressive outbursts.
Fascination and Incompletion
Catt develops an obsession by the story, and I found myself captivated by the way that the author's conflicting impulses towards responsible documentation and audacious rule-breaking clash in this segment. Yet I wished 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 – a similarly gifted, tormented individual going off the rails in a struggling, neglected community. Kraus notes that Catt converses with Brittney in jail, but she fails to enact these dialogues. The complete segment feels strangely incomplete, to the point that her narrative ends almost mid-par