The Four Spent the Day Together centers on protagonists seeking fresh starts, trying to break free from addictions or abusive marriages, only to see hope turn into conflict. Kraus frequently uses the phrase "clean slate", transforming it into deliberately jaded through constant reiteration. Phrases such as "He could make a fresh start" and "They chose to begin anew" are scattered across the narrative. Meanwhile, she seems to be making her individual reinvention, since this seems a novel form of writing – documentarian, genuinely novelistic. But then it turns out to be packed with the familiar conflicts and styles as past novels.
From Accidental Writer to Renowned Book
Chris Kraus began as an creative who transitioned to writing almost accidentally with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, which was composed of letters to an unreceptive lover, elevating intimate women's literature from abjection into rebellion. She persisted as a writer, but the three subsequent compelling and abrasive novels missed the power and directness that the epistolary style infused into the tone of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her position as a renegade artist who had turned into a major property owner, so there was much discussion on housing investments. It makes sense that she presently aims to try out fresh narrative sources, turning outward to other people's stories, at a period in which she claims that contemporary political climate renders personal narrative redundant.
Several Eras, Collective Unavoidable Background
The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, covering multiple eras – each trapped by their backgrounds. We encounter the tale of characters Emma and Jasper, representations of her own mother and father, relocating from the urban environment to a pastoral setting. There is the narrative of the author, in the character of Catt Greene, reckoning with the belated success of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her substance-dependent spouse a man named Paul. The third thread involves the story of the murder of one troubled youth by another in a town long abandoned by progressive politics only a brief drive from the protagonist's home in the Minnesota countryside.
As a reader fond of polished prose of the type the author herself tends to eschew, I was captivated by the literary tone of the first section.
Being a reader who appreciates honed writing of the kind that the author often disregards, I was captivated by the storytelling approach of the initial part. It exhibits a new quality of attentiveness that makes room for trivial aspects, like the bucket that the youthful Catt frees from the ice at the start of the story, aided by her adored dad. "Look, an ice toy!" she declares; "a lovely toy", he answers, "the elliptical meanings of words circulating in their speech like hard candy". Kraus writes Emma's story with inquiry and familiarity. "It seemed to Emma she had entered a dream – not entirely her own."
Letdown and Fragmentation
I was bound to become frustrated when I expected this fresh tone could continue through the novel. Kraus notes here that she is annoyed by the enjoyment those who appreciate polished prose have gotten from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to disruption, to the messy artistic approach she shares with her hero Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her previous novels comes back in the middle section. Catt is working on refurbishing 36 run-down apartments in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while shuttling between Minnesota and LA, unable to aid her husband control his drinking. She feels helpless as Paul transitions between low-resource employment as an substance abuse counselor in a environment fueled by the hostility and dread that drives an electoral success. There are several pages about Catt being cancelled on Twitter, her listed profession modified from "author" to "real estate holder" on Wikipedia. Kraus still seems to be overly concerned about this. In a moment she remarks that she's looking into the killing so that before exiting the region, "she could potentially understand something about an the United States that her Twitter detractors would not understand, would not even perceive".
The Killing Story
So then we come to the actual killing – and the eponymous day spent by the deceased with the killer and his associates. Kraus utilizes great source material, and knows hour by hour what happened when the victim Brandon came to visit Brittney after meeting her on an app where she marketed explicit images. He sought a sexual encounter but appears congenially to have passed the day in the company of her associates, wandering about having his vehicle repaired and funding treats and narcotics, before being shot by Brittney's partner Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has often been institutionalized for violent rage.
Obsession and Unfinished Business
Catt gets obsessed by the story, and I found myself captivated by the way that her twin drives towards accurate chronicling and daring boundary-pushing clash in this segment. However, I would have preferred her to delve deeper into her own obsessions here. The compelling persona is Brittney, who becomes vivid in part due to the protagonist's connection to her – another bright, bullied girl spiraling out of control in a troubled, forgotten town. The author informs us that the protagonist communicates with Brittney in prison, but she fails to enact these dialogues. The whole section feels oddly unfinished, to the point that her narrative ends almost mid-par
