The Four Spent the Day Together centers on characters seeking new beginnings, trying to break free from substance abuse or abusive marriages, only to witness hope devolve into aggression. Kraus repeatedly invokes the phrase "new beginning", making it willfully cynical through its repetitions. Examples include "He aimed to start over" and "They chose to begin anew" recur in the story. At the same time, the author herself is embarking on her personal new beginning, as this seems a novel form of writing – observational, genuinely novelistic. But then it proves to be laden with the familiar conflicts and styles as past novels.
From Chance Novelist to Renowned Book
Chris Kraus started out as an creative who entered the literary world unintentionally with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, which was composed of letters to an unreceptive lover, converting personal female narrative from abjection into assassination. She continued writing, but the next trio of fascinating and rebarbative novels missed the power and directness that the letter form brought to the tone of I Love Dick. It didn't help was her position as a renegade artist who had become a large-scale low-rent landlord, so there was much discussion on real estate deals. It makes sense that she now wants to explore different types of content, looking outwards to other people's stories, at a moment when she states that Trumpian politics makes confessional writing unnecessary.
Multiple Generations, Shared Inescapable History
The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, encompassing several time periods – none able to break free from their histories. There is the story of characters Emma and Jasper, versions of Kraus's parents, moving from the urban environment to a pastoral setting. There is the story of Kraus herself, in the persona 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. And there is the story of the murder of one troubled youth by another in a community long abandoned by liberal ideals only a short distance from the protagonist's home in rural Minnesota.
From my perspective as a reader drawn to polished prose of the kind the author herself tends to eschew, I was captivated by the narrative style of the initial segment.
Being a reader drawn to crafted language of the kind that the author tends to eschew, I was seduced by the novelistic voice of the initial part. It possesses a fresh level of observation that allows space for trivial aspects, like the bucket that the youthful Catt dislodges from ice at the beginning of the narrative, assisted by her beloved father. "I found an ice toy!" she exclaims; "a great plaything", he replies, "the nuanced interpretations of terms tumbling in their mouths like piece candy". Kraus writes Emma's story with curiosity and intimacy. "Emma felt like she'd stepped into a dream – not hers, exactly."
Frustration and Disruption
I was destined to be disappointed when I hoped this new voice could last out the book. Kraus says here that she dislikes the satisfaction those who appreciate polished prose have derived from I Love Dick; she's committed to disjunction, to the messy artistic approach she shares with her hero author Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her earlier works returns in the central part. Catt is attempting to do up multiple decrepit residences in the city's most challenging districts while shuttling between the Midwest and the West Coast, failing to help Paul manage his alcohol use. She experiences powerlessness as Paul transitions between low-resource employment as an substance abuse counselor in a environment propelled by the rage and anxiety that drives Trump's victory. A significant portion discusses about Catt's social media ostracism on Twitter, her occupation changed from "writer" to "property owner" on Wikipedia. She still gives the impression to be overly concerned about this. In a moment she states that she's looking into the killing so that before exiting the region, "she could potentially understand something about an America that her Twitter detractors would not understand, would not even see".
The Killing Story
So then we come to the homicide in question – and the eponymous day experienced by the murdered individual with the killer and his associates. The author possesses excellent raw material, and knows hour by hour what happened when a man named Brandon came to meet Brittney after meeting her on an app where she marketed explicit images. He sought a sexual encounter but seems amiably to have occupied the day with her companions, loitering getting his car mended and funding treats and narcotics, before being murdered by Brittney's partner Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has repeatedly received inpatient care for fits of anger.
Obsession and Unfinished Business
Catt gets obsessed by the account, and I was fascinated by the way that her twin drives towards accurate chronicling and audacious rule-breaking tussle in this section. But I'd have liked her to explore more thoroughly her own obsessions here. The compelling persona is Brittney, who gains dimension partly through 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 detention, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. The whole section feels oddly unfinished, to the point that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par
