The Four Spent the Day Together features characters chasing after fresh starts, attempting to leave behind substance abuse or toxic relationships, only to witness hope devolve into conflict. The author often employs the phrase "fresh start", rendering it intentionally weary through recurring use. Sentences like "He aimed to start over" and "They opted for a clean break" are scattered across the text. And yet, she is embarking on her personal new beginning, because this seems a new kind of book – documentarian, truly literary. Yet it reveals itself to be packed with the same dilemmas and approaches as earlier books.
From Unplanned Author to Renowned Book
Chris Kraus started out as an visual artist who became a writer unintentionally with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, which was composed of letters to an unreceptive lover, converting intimate women's literature from humiliation into assassination. She continued writing, but the next trio of fascinating and rebarbative novels lacked the power and directness that the letter form imparted to the narrative voice of I Love Dick. It didn't help was her identity as a maverick maker who had turned into a major property owner, so there was significant attention on housing investments. It is logical that she currently desires to experiment with new kinds of material, turning outward to other people's stories, at a period in which she states that current political era renders personal narrative unnecessary.
Several Eras, Collective Unavoidable Background
The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, spanning several time periods – each trapped by their backgrounds. The book includes the story of Emma and Jasper, representations of her own mother and father, moving from the Bronx to a pastoral setting. There is the narrative of the author, in the guise of Catt Greene, grappling with the delayed acclaim of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her partner struggling with addiction her husband Paul. The third thread involves the story of the murder of one directionless individual by another in a community long abandoned by forward-thinking policies only 80 miles from Catt's cottage in the Minnesota countryside.
As a reader attracted to honed writing of the type the author herself tends to eschew, I was captivated by the literary tone of the opening part.
As a reader drawn to crafted language of the style that Kraus usually avoids, I was won over by the storytelling approach of the initial part. There is a fresh level of observation that accommodates small details, like the pail that the protagonist as a child pries out of frozen water at the start of the story, aided by her cherished parent. "I discovered a frozen plaything!" she says; "a great plaything", he responds, "the elliptical meanings of words tumbling in their mouths like sweet treats". Kraus writes the tale of Emma with inquiry and familiarity. "It seemed to Emma she had entered a dream – not precisely her dream."
Disappointment and Disjunction
I was bound to become frustrated when I expected this new voice could last out the book. Kraus says here that she resents the enjoyment readers like me have gotten from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to disruption, to the unpolished style she echoes from her hero Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her earlier works comes back in the middle section. The protagonist is attempting to do up three dozen dilapidated units in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while shuttling between the Midwest and the West Coast, unsuccessful in assisting her husband manage his alcohol use. She feels helpless as Paul cycles through underfunded jobs as an recovery specialist in a world fueled by the anger and fear that drives Trump's victory. A significant portion discusses about Catt's social media ostracism on Twitter, her occupation changed from "author" to "property owner" on a reference site. Kraus still seems to be overly concerned about this. In a moment she says that she's researching the homicide so that before departing the state, "she might be able to learn something about an America that her social media opponents would fail to comprehend, would not even see".
The Killing Story
So then we come to the murder itself – and the eponymous day experienced by the deceased with the murderer and his companions. Kraus has compelling foundational content, and reconstructs step by step what happened when Brandon came to visit Brittney after connecting via an application where she marketed explicit images. He anticipated intimacy but appears congenially to have passed the day with her companions, wandering about having his vehicle repaired and covering the cost of food and substances, before being killed by gunfire by her romantic interest Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has frequently been hospitalised for fits of anger.
Obsession and Unfinished Business
Catt develops an obsession by the story, and I was fascinated by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards ethical reporting and reckless transgression clash in this segment. Yet I wished her to go further into her own obsessions here. The compelling persona is Brittney, who gains dimension partially because of Catt seeing herself in her – another bright, bullied girl spiraling out of control in a difficult, overlooked locality. Kraus notes that Catt converses with Brittney in detention, but she fails to enact these dialogues. This entire part feels oddly unfinished, to the extent that her narrative ends almost mid-par
