The Four Spent the Day Together features characters chasing after fresh starts, attempting to leave behind drugs or harmful partnerships, only to witness hope devolve into aggression. Chris Kraus often employs the phrase "new beginning", transforming it into deliberately jaded through recurring use. Sentences like "He aimed to start over" and "They decided to make a fresh start" recur in the narrative. Meanwhile, the author herself is embarking on her own fresh start, as this appears a novel form of writing – documentarian, truly literary. However it proves to be filled with the familiar conflicts and styles as her previous works.
From Unplanned Author to Renowned Book
The writer was originally an creative who transitioned to writing almost accidentally with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, structured as missives to a distant beloved, transforming personal female narrative from self-debasement into rebellion. She continued writing, but the following three fascinating and rebarbative novels missed the shock and immediacy that the letter form brought to the narrative voice of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her role as a maverick maker who had turned into a extensive real estate holder, so there was considerable focus on housing investments. It makes sense that she now wants to explore fresh narrative sources, looking outwards to other people's stories, at a time when she states that contemporary political climate renders personal narrative obsolete.
Multiple Generations, Collective Unavoidable Background
The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, spanning three generations – all unable to escape their backgrounds. The book includes the story of Emma and Jasper, versions of the author's parents, moving from the urban environment to rural Connecticut. Then there is the narrative of the author, in the guise of a figure named Catt Greene, confronting the delayed acclaim of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her partner struggling with addiction a man named 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 the protagonist's home in rural Minnesota.
From my perspective as a reader attracted to honed writing of the type Kraus typically rejects, I was captivated by the narrative style of the initial segment.
Being a reader who favors precise prose of the variety that Kraus herself tends to eschew, I was captivated by the literary tone of the first section. It exhibits a fresh level of observation that makes room for small details, like the bucket that the youthful Catt dislodges from ice at the start of the story, assisted by her cherished parent. "I found an ice toy!" she declares; "a great plaything", he replies, "the nuanced interpretations of terms circulating in their speech like sweet treats". The author narrates the tale of Emma with interest and closeness. "It seemed to Emma she had entered a dream – not hers, exactly."
Frustration and Disruption
I was fated to feel let down when I wished this different style could continue through the novel. Kraus notes here that she resents the pleasure those who appreciate polished prose have taken from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to disjunction, to the untidy aesthetics she has in common with her idol Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her previous novels reasserts itself in the middle section. The protagonist is working on refurbishing three dozen dilapidated units in the city's most challenging districts while shuttling between two different states, unable to aid Paul manage his alcohol use. She is overwhelmed as Paul cycles through underfunded jobs as an addiction therapist in a environment driven by the rage and anxiety that powers an electoral success. Multiple pages are devoted about the protagonist facing cancellation on Twitter, her professional designation altered from "novelist" to "landlord" on a reference site. The author still appears to be overly concerned about this. In a moment she says that she's researching the homicide so that before leaving Minnesota, "she may grasp something about an the nation that her Twitter detractors would not understand, would not even see".
The Killing Story
So then we come to the murder itself – and the referenced day experienced by the deceased with the perpetrator and his companions. Kraus utilizes compelling foundational content, and details moment by moment what occurred as a man named Brandon came to meet Brittney after meeting her on an app where she marketed explicit images. He was hoping for sex but appears congenially to have passed the day alongside her friends, mooching around having his vehicle repaired and covering the cost of food and substances, before being shot by Brittney's partner Micah – a individual with mental health challenges who has frequently been hospitalised for violent rage.
Obsession and Unfinished Business
Catt develops an obsession by the account, and I was fascinated by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards accurate chronicling and reckless transgression wrestle in this part. But I'd have liked her to go further into her own obsessions here. The standout figure is the character Brittney, who gains dimension partly through Catt's identification with her – a similarly gifted, tormented individual derailing in a struggling, neglected community. The author informs us that Catt converses with Brittney in detention, but she fails to enact these dialogues. This entire part feels oddly unfinished, to the extent that her narrative ends almost mid-par
