The Four Spent the Day Together features protagonists seeking new beginnings, struggling to escape drugs or abusive marriages, only to find hope curdling into aggression. Chris Kraus frequently uses the phrase "fresh start", making it intentionally weary through constant reiteration. Sentences like "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They opted for a clean break" recur in the story. Meanwhile, she seems to be making her personal new beginning, as this presents as a different type of work – observational, truly literary. However it turns out to be laden with the recurring issues and styles as her previous works.
From Chance Novelist to Cult Classic
Chris Kraus was originally an creative who entered the literary world almost accidentally with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, which was composed of epistles to an unresponsive love interest, converting confessional female writing from self-debasement into assassination. She kept producing books, but the next trio of engaging and challenging novels lacked the power and directness that the epistolary style brought to the voice of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her identity as a nonconformist creator who had become a extensive real estate holder, so there was significant attention on housing investments. It follows that she presently aims to experiment with fresh narrative sources, looking outwards to the experiences of others, at a time when she asserts that current political era turns intimate literature unnecessary.
Three Generations, Shared Inescapable History
The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, encompassing three generations – each trapped by their pasts. There is the tale of characters Emma and Jasper, versions of her own mother and father, transitioning from the urban environment to a pastoral setting. Then there is the narrative of the author, in the guise of protagonist Catt Greene, reckoning with the late recognition of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her substance-dependent spouse Paul. Finally the story of the murder of one lost young man by another in a community largely deserted by liberal ideals only a short distance from Catt's cottage in a remote part of Minnesota.
For this reader fond of polished prose of the kind the author herself tends to eschew, I was seduced by the novelistic voice of the opening part.
As someone who reads drawn to precise prose of the style that Kraus herself tends to eschew, I was won over by the literary tone of the initial part. It possesses a novel degree of detail that allows space for minutiae, like the container that the young Catt dislodges from ice at the opening of the book, helped by her beloved father. "I discovered a frozen plaything!" she says; "a lovely toy", he answers, "the ambiguous meanings of language rolling around in their mouths like piece candy". Kraus writes the tale of Emma with inquiry and familiarity. "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 hoped this fresh tone could continue through the novel. Kraus says here that she is annoyed by the satisfaction audiences such as myself have derived from I Love Dick; she's devoted to fragmentation, to the messy artistic approach she has in common with her idol Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her past books comes back in the middle section. Catt Greene is attempting to do up multiple decrepit residences in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while shuttling between the Midwest and the West Coast, failing to help Paul control his drinking. She is overwhelmed as Paul transitions between underfunded jobs as an substance abuse counselor in a society driven by the anger and fear that underpins an electoral success. There are several pages about the protagonist facing cancellation on a platform, her professional designation altered from "author" to "landlord" on the online encyclopedia. She still gives the impression to care a little too much about this. On one occasion she remarks that she's researching the homicide so that before leaving Minnesota, "she could potentially understand something about an the nation that her online critics would fail to comprehend, would not even see".
The Killing Story
Thus we arrive to the homicide in question – and the referenced day spent by the victim with the perpetrator and his associates. Kraus has great source material, and reconstructs step by step what happened when the victim Brandon came to visit Brittney after meeting her on an app where she marketed explicit images. He was hoping for sex but seems amiably to have occupied the day in the company of her associates, loitering having his vehicle repaired and funding treats and narcotics, before being shot by Brittney's partner a man named Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has repeatedly received inpatient care for aggressive outbursts.
Obsession and Unfinished Business
Catt develops an obsession by the story, and I was intrigued by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards accurate chronicling and reckless transgression tussle in this section. However, I would have preferred her to go further into her individual preoccupations here. The standout figure is the character Brittney, who becomes vivid in part due to Catt seeing herself in her – another bright, bullied girl spiraling out of control in a difficult, overlooked locality. The author informs us that Catt converses with Brittney in jail, but she fails to enact these dialogues. This entire part feels strangely incomplete, to the extent that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par
