The Four Spent the Day Together features protagonists pursuing new beginnings, attempting to leave behind substance abuse or toxic relationships, only to find hope curdling into conflict. Chris Kraus often employs the phrase "new beginning", rendering it intentionally weary through its repetitions. Sentences like "He aimed to start over" and "They opted for a clean break" appear throughout the story. And yet, she is embarking on her personal new beginning, because this appears a novel form of writing – documentarian, authentically narrative. But then it turns out to be laden with the same dilemmas and approaches as earlier books.
From Unplanned Author to Renowned Book
Chris Kraus started out as an creative who became a writer 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 kept producing books, but the three subsequent compelling and abrasive novels missed the power and directness that the letter form imparted to the voice of I Love Dick. It didn't help was her position as a nonconformist creator who had turned into a large-scale low-rent landlord, so there was considerable focus on property transactions. It is logical that she now wants to experiment with new kinds of material, turning outward to the experiences of others, at a period in which she states that Trumpian politics makes confessional writing redundant.
Several Eras, One Unescapable Past
The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, covering multiple eras – all unable to escape their histories. There is the story of Emma and Jasper, based on her own mother and father, transitioning from the New York borough to the Connecticut countryside. There is the account of Kraus, in the character of a figure named Catt Greene, confronting the belated success of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her addict husband a man named Paul. And there is the narrative of a homicide of one troubled youth by another in a community mostly forsaken by progressive politics only 80 miles from the protagonist's home in rural Minnesota.
As a reader drawn to refined literature of the kind the author herself often avoids, I was captivated by the narrative style of the initial segment.
As someone who reads who appreciates precise prose of the variety that the author tends to eschew, I was captivated by the storytelling approach of the opening segment. It exhibits a new quality of attentiveness that makes room for minutiae, like the pail that the young Catt dislodges from ice at the beginning of the narrative, helped by her beloved father. "I discovered a frozen plaything!" she exclaims; "a nice toy", he responds, "the nuanced interpretations of terms tumbling in their mouths like hard candy". Kraus writes Emma's story with interest and closeness. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not entirely her own."
Letdown and Fragmentation
I was destined to be disappointed when I hoped this new voice could continue through the novel. The author states here that she resents the satisfaction those who appreciate polished prose have derived from I Love Dick; she's committed to fragmentation, to the unpolished style she has in common with her inspiration writer Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her past books comes back in the second segment. The protagonist is working on refurbishing multiple decrepit residences in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while moving between two different states, unsuccessful in assisting Paul manage his alcohol use. She feels helpless as Paul transitions between poorly supported positions as an recovery specialist in a society propelled by the anger and fear that powers an electoral success. There are several pages about Catt's social media ostracism on social media, her listed profession modified from "author" to "real estate holder" on Wikipedia. She still gives the impression to care a little too much about this. On one occasion she states that she's researching the homicide so that before exiting the region, "she could potentially understand something about an the nation that her online critics would be unable to grasp, would not even perceive".
The Murder Narrative
Then we reach to the actual killing – and the titular day spent by the deceased with the perpetrator and his friends. Kraus utilizes excellent raw material, and knows hour by hour what happened when Brandon came to meet Brittney after meeting her on an app where she sold sex pictures. He anticipated intimacy but seems affably to have spent the day in the company of her associates, loitering getting his car mended and paying for snacks and drugs, before being killed by gunfire by Brittney's boyfriend a man named Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has often been institutionalized for aggressive outbursts.
Obsession and Unfinished Business
Catt gets obsessed by the account, and I found myself captivated by the way that her twin drives towards accurate chronicling and reckless transgression tussle in this section. However, I would have preferred her to delve deeper into her own obsessions here. The most interesting character is the character Brittney, who gains dimension in part due to Catt seeing herself in 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 whole section feels oddly unfinished, to the point that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par
