The Four Spent the Day Together is populated with protagonists seeking clean slates, struggling to escape substance abuse or abusive marriages, only to find hope curdling into aggression. Chris Kraus repeatedly invokes the phrase "new beginning", rendering it intentionally weary through recurring use. Sentences like "He could make a fresh start" and "They opted for a clean break" recur in the story. At the same time, the author herself appears to be undertaking her own fresh start, because this appears a novel form of writing – observational, truly literary. Yet it reveals itself to be packed with the familiar conflicts and styles as earlier books.
From Unplanned Author to Iconic Work
Chris Kraus began as an creative who entered the literary world almost accidentally with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, made up of letters to an unreceptive lover, transforming confessional female writing from abjection into assassination. She persisted as a writer, but the following three compelling and abrasive novels missed the shock and immediacy that the letter form brought to the voice of I Love Dick. It didn't help was her identity as a nonconformist creator who had become a major property owner, so there was much discussion on real estate deals. It follows that she currently desires to explore different types of content, turning outward to external narratives, at a period in which she states that current political era makes confessional writing obsolete.
Three Generations, One Unescapable Past
The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, spanning three generations – none able to break free from their histories. There is the narrative about characters Emma and Jasper, versions of the author's parents, relocating from the urban environment to rural Connecticut. Then there is the account of Kraus, in the character of Catt Greene, confronting the delayed acclaim of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her substance-dependent spouse her husband Paul. Finally the narrative of a homicide of one directionless individual by another in a town largely deserted by progressive politics only a brief drive from Catt's cottage in rural Minnesota.
For this reader fond of polished prose of the sort Kraus herself tends to eschew, I was seduced by the literary tone of the opening part.
As a reader who appreciates honed writing of the style that Kraus tends to eschew, I was won over by the novelistic voice of the initial part. It exhibits a new quality of attentiveness that allows space for small details, like the container that the youthful Catt pries out of frozen water at the opening of the book, helped by her cherished parent. "I found an ice toy!" she declares; "a nice toy", he replies, "the ambiguous meanings of language circulating in their speech like hard candy". The author narrates Emma's narrative with curiosity and intimacy. "Emma felt like she'd stepped into a dream – not entirely her own."
Frustration and Disruption
I was fated to feel let down when I hoped this fresh tone could persist to the end. The author states here that she resents the satisfaction audiences such as myself have gotten from I Love Dick; she's devoted to disruption, to the unpolished style she echoes from her hero writer Kathy Acker, and the emptiness and redundancy of her previous novels returns in the middle section. The protagonist is working on refurbishing multiple decrepit residences in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while moving between the Midwest and the West Coast, unsuccessful in assisting Paul manage his alcohol use. She feels helpless as Paul transitions between low-resource employment as an substance abuse counselor in a environment driven by the rage and anxiety that powers a political win. Multiple pages are devoted about Catt's social media ostracism on social media, her listed profession modified from "writer" to "real estate holder" on the online encyclopedia. Kraus still seems to be overly concerned about this. In a moment she says that she's investigating the murder so that before departing the state, "she could potentially understand something about an America that her social media opponents would not understand, would overlook entirely".
The Killing Story
Then we reach to the actual killing – and the titular day experienced by the deceased with the killer and his companions. The author possesses excellent raw material, and knows hour by hour what happened when a man named Brandon came to meet Brittney after connecting via an application where she sold sex pictures. He sought a sexual encounter but appears congenially to have passed the day in the company of her associates, loitering getting his car mended and paying for snacks and drugs, before being shot by Brittney's boyfriend Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has repeatedly received inpatient care for aggressive outbursts.
Obsession and Unfinished Business
Catt gets obsessed by the narrative, and I was fascinated by the way that the author's conflicting impulses towards accurate chronicling and daring boundary-pushing clash in this segment. Yet I wished her to delve deeper into her own obsessions here. The standout figure is Brittney herself, who becomes vivid partially because of Catt's identification with her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman derailing in a troubled, forgotten town. Kraus tells us that the protagonist communicates with Brittney in detention, but she fails to enact these dialogues. This entire part feels curiously unresolved, to the point that her narrative ends almost mid-par
