The Four Spent the Day Together is populated with characters pursuing new beginnings, attempting to leave behind addictions or abusive marriages, only to find hope curdling into violence. Chris Kraus frequently uses the phrase "clean slate", transforming it into intentionally weary through recurring use. Examples include "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They opted for a clean break" recur in the story. And yet, Kraus herself appears to be undertaking her personal new beginning, since this presents as a different type of work – observational, authentically narrative. However it turns out to be laden with the recurring issues and styles as her previous works.
From Accidental Writer to Renowned Book
Kraus started out as an visual artist who transitioned to writing almost accidentally with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, made up of epistles to an unresponsive love interest, transforming personal female narrative from self-debasement into defiance. She kept producing books, but the following three fascinating and rebarbative novels did not possess the impact and rawness that the letter form imparted to the voice of I Love Dick. It didn't help was her role as a nonconformist creator who had evolved into a extensive real estate holder, so there was considerable focus on housing investments. It follows that she now wants to explore different types of content, turning outward to external narratives, at a time when she asserts that contemporary political climate turns intimate literature redundant.
Multiple Generations, One Unescapable Past
The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, covering three generations – all unable to escape their backgrounds. There is the tale of a couple named Emma and Jasper, versions of the author's parents, relocating from the New York borough to a pastoral setting. There is the account of Kraus, in the character of Catt Greene, confronting the belated success of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her substance-dependent spouse a man named Paul. The third thread involves the narrative of a homicide of one troubled youth by another in a locality long abandoned by liberal ideals only a brief drive from Catt's rural residence in a remote part of Minnesota.
From my perspective as a reader fond of polished prose of the kind Kraus herself often avoids, I was seduced by the narrative style of the opening part.
As a reader who appreciates crafted language of the style that Kraus often disregards, I was won over by the storytelling approach of the initial part. It possesses a novel degree of detail that accommodates minutiae, like the container that the young Catt dislodges from ice at the start of the story, aided by her beloved father. "I found an ice toy!" she declares; "a great plaything", he answers, "the ambiguous meanings of language tumbling in their mouths like piece candy". She tells Emma's narrative with curiosity and intimacy. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not precisely her dream."
Frustration and Disruption
I was fated to feel let down when I expected this fresh tone could continue through the novel. Kraus says here that she is annoyed by the satisfaction readers like me have taken from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to fragmentation, to the messy artistic approach she echoes from her hero Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her past books comes back in the second segment. Catt is working on refurbishing three dozen dilapidated units in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while traveling between Minnesota and LA, unable to aid Paul control his drinking. She is overwhelmed as her spouse moves between low-resource employment as an recovery specialist in a environment driven by the hostility and dread that underpins an electoral success. A significant portion discusses about Catt's social media ostracism on Twitter, her occupation changed from "novelist" to "real estate holder" on a reference site. The author still appears to invest excessive emotion about this. At one point she remarks that she's looking into the killing so that before departing the state, "she may grasp something about an the United States that her social media opponents would fail to comprehend, would not even see".
The Homicide Account
Then we reach to the murder itself – and the titular day experienced by the victim with the murderer and his friends. The author possesses excellent raw material, and details moment by moment what occurred as the victim Brandon came to see Brittney after meeting her on an app where she offered adult photos. He was hoping for sex but appears congenially to have passed the day in the company of her associates, mooching around having his vehicle repaired and funding treats and narcotics, before being shot by Brittney's boyfriend Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has repeatedly received inpatient care for fits of anger.
Obsession and Unfinished Business
Catt develops an obsession by the narrative, and I found myself captivated by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards accurate chronicling and daring boundary-pushing wrestle in this part. Yet I wished her to delve deeper into her own obsessions here. The compelling persona is the character Brittney, who gains dimension partially because of the protagonist's connection to her – another bright, bullied girl derailing in a difficult, overlooked locality. Kraus tells us that Catt converses with Brittney in prison, but she doesn't dramatise these conversations. The whole section feels oddly unfinished, to the point that her narrative ends almost mid-par
