The Four Spent the Day Together centers on protagonists pursuing new beginnings, attempting to leave behind drugs or abusive marriages, only to find hope curdling into conflict. Chris Kraus repeatedly invokes the phrase "clean slate", rendering it intentionally weary through its repetitions. Phrases such as "He aimed to start over" and "They chose to begin anew" appear throughout the story. And yet, the author herself seems to be making her individual reinvention, because this presents as a different type of work – fact-based, genuinely novelistic. However it reveals itself to be laden with the familiar conflicts and styles as earlier books.
From Unplanned Author to Cult Classic
Kraus started out as an creative who became a writer somewhat by chance with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, structured as missives to a distant beloved, transforming intimate women's literature from abjection into defiance. She persisted as a writer, but the following three compelling and abrasive novels missed the impact and rawness that the letter form infused into the tone 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 much discussion on real estate deals. It is logical that she now wants to explore new kinds of material, looking outwards to external narratives, at a moment when she states that Trumpian politics renders personal narrative unnecessary.
Three Generations, Collective Unavoidable Background
The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, spanning multiple eras – each trapped by their backgrounds. There is the tale of Emma and Jasper, based on Kraus's parents, moving from the New York borough to a pastoral setting. Then there is the narrative of the author, in the character of a figure named Catt Greene, reckoning with the belated success of I Love Dick, the rise of Trump, and her addict husband a man named Paul. Finally the account of a killing of one lost young man by another in a community long abandoned by liberal ideals only a short distance from Catt's cottage in a remote part of Minnesota.
As a reader drawn to honed writing of the kind Kraus tends to eschew, I was seduced by the novelistic voice of the opening part.
As someone who reads who appreciates crafted language of the style that the author often disregards, I was seduced by the novelistic voice of the initial part. There is a new quality of attentiveness that makes room for trivial aspects, like the pail that the protagonist as a child dislodges from ice at the opening of the book, aided by her adored dad. "Look, an ice toy!" she declares; "a nice toy", he replies, "the elliptical meanings of words tumbling in their mouths like sweet treats". Kraus writes Emma's narrative with interest and closeness. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not precisely her dream."
Frustration and Disruption
I was bound to become frustrated when I wished this new voice could continue through the novel. The author states here that she dislikes the satisfaction readers like me have gotten from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to disjunction, to the unpolished style she shares with her hero Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her earlier works returns in the middle section. Catt is trying to renovate three dozen dilapidated units in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while shuttling between two different states, failing to help her husband curb his addiction. She experiences powerlessness as Paul cycles through underfunded jobs as an recovery specialist in a world driven by the rage and anxiety that powers an electoral success. There are several pages about Catt's social media ostracism on Twitter, her occupation changed from "author" to "landlord" on Wikipedia. The author still appears to care a little too much about this. In a moment she remarks that she's investigating the murder so that before departing the state, "she could potentially understand something about an America that her online critics would not understand, would not even perceive".
The Killing Story
So then we come to the homicide in question – and the titular day passed by the murdered individual with the murderer and his associates. Kraus has excellent raw material, and knows hour by hour what occurred as a man named Brandon came to see Brittney after connecting via an application where she sold sex pictures. He was hoping for sex but appears congenially to have passed the day in the company of her associates, wandering about getting his car mended and funding treats and narcotics, before being killed by gunfire by Brittney's boyfriend Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has frequently been hospitalised for aggressive outbursts.
Fascination and Incompletion
Catt gets obsessed by the story, and I was fascinated by the way that her twin drives towards accurate chronicling and reckless transgression clash in this segment. But I'd have liked her to explore more thoroughly her own obsessions here. The most interesting character is the character Brittney, who comes alive partially because of Catt's identification with her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman derailing in a struggling, neglected community. The author informs us that the protagonist communicates with Brittney in detention, but she doesn't dramatise these conversations. This entire part feels strangely incomplete, to the point that her narrative ends almost mid-par
