The Four Spent the Day Together features individuals chasing after new beginnings, trying to break free from addictions or abusive marriages, only to see hope turn into conflict. Chris Kraus frequently uses the phrase "fresh start", making it willfully cynical through recurring use. Phrases such as "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They decided to make a fresh start" are scattered across the text. Meanwhile, the author herself appears to be undertaking her personal new beginning, as this seems a novel form of writing – documentarian, genuinely novelistic. Yet it proves to be packed with the familiar conflicts and approaches as earlier books.
From Unplanned Author to Cult Classic
The writer started out as an visual artist who became a writer somewhat by chance with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, made up of epistles to an unresponsive love interest, converting intimate women's literature from self-debasement into rebellion. She persisted as a writer, but the following three engaging and challenging novels did not possess the shock and immediacy that the epistolary style brought to the narrative voice of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her position as a nonconformist creator who had become a extensive real estate holder, so there was much discussion on housing investments. It makes sense that she presently aims to try out new kinds of material, turning outward to other people's stories, at a period in which she states that contemporary political climate turns intimate literature unnecessary.
Multiple Generations, Shared Inescapable History
The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, covering three generations – all unable to escape their backgrounds. There is the story of Emma and Jasper, based on her own mother and father, relocating from the Bronx to the Connecticut countryside. There is the narrative of the author, in the persona of protagonist Catt Greene, grappling with the belated success of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her partner struggling with addiction a man named Paul. The third thread involves the story of the murder of one directionless individual by another in a locality largely deserted by liberal ideals only 80 miles from the protagonist's home in rural Minnesota.
From my perspective as a reader attracted to refined literature of the kind Kraus tends to eschew, I was enchanted by the literary tone of the opening part.
Being a reader who appreciates precise prose of the variety that the author usually avoids, I was captivated by the literary tone of the opening segment. There is a novel degree of detail that makes room for trivial aspects, like the pail that the youthful Catt dislodges from ice at the opening of the book, aided by her beloved father. "Look, an ice toy!" she exclaims; "a lovely toy", he replies, "the nuanced interpretations of terms tumbling in their mouths like sweet treats". Kraus writes Emma's narrative with curiosity and intimacy. "Emma felt like she'd stepped into a dream – not entirely her own."
Disappointment and Disjunction
I was fated to feel let down when I wished this different style could last out the book. Kraus notes here that she is annoyed by the enjoyment audiences such as myself have derived from I Love Dick; she's devoted to fragmentation, to the unpolished style she echoes from her hero Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her previous novels comes back in the middle section. Catt Greene is trying to renovate multiple decrepit residences in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while shuttling between the Midwest and the West Coast, unable to aid Paul control his drinking. She experiences powerlessness as Paul cycles through poorly supported positions as an recovery specialist in a environment driven by the anger and fear that drives a political win. A significant portion discusses about Catt's social media ostracism on a platform, her professional designation altered from "author" to "property owner" on Wikipedia. Kraus still seems to invest excessive emotion about this. On one occasion she says that she's investigating the murder so that before exiting the region, "she could potentially understand something about an America that her social media opponents would not understand, would overlook entirely".
The Homicide Account
Then we reach to the homicide in question – and the titular day spent by the victim with the perpetrator and his friends. The author possesses compelling foundational content, and knows hour by hour what happened when a man named Brandon came to see Brittney after connecting via an application where she marketed explicit images. He sought a sexual encounter but seems amiably to have occupied the day alongside her friends, mooching around having his vehicle repaired and covering the cost of food and substances, before being murdered by Brittney's partner Micah – a individual with mental health challenges who has frequently been hospitalised for fits of anger.
Preoccupation and Open Ends
Catt develops an obsession by the narrative, and I was intrigued by the way that her twin drives towards ethical reporting and reckless transgression wrestle in this part. Yet I wished her to delve deeper into her individual preoccupations here. The standout figure is Brittney, who gains dimension partially because of the protagonist's connection to her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman spiraling out of control in a struggling, neglected community. Kraus notes that Catt speaks to Brittney in jail, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. The whole section feels strangely incomplete, to the extent that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par
