The Four Spent the Day Together is populated with protagonists seeking clean slates, trying to break free from substance abuse or toxic relationships, only to find hope curdling into aggression. Kraus often employs the phrase "clean slate", making it deliberately jaded through recurring use. Sentences like "He could make a fresh start" and "They decided to make a fresh start" appear throughout the story. At the same time, the author herself is embarking on her own fresh start, because this seems a novel form of writing – observational, truly literary. Yet it proves to be laden with the recurring issues and approaches as past novels.
From Unplanned Author to Iconic Work
Chris Kraus started out as an visual artist who entered the literary world unintentionally with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, made up of letters to an unreceptive lover, transforming confessional female writing from humiliation into rebellion. She continued writing, but the following three fascinating and rebarbative novels did not possess the impact and rawness that the correspondence format brought to the narrative voice of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her identity as a maverick maker who had evolved into a extensive real estate holder, so there was much discussion on real estate deals. It follows that she presently aims to try out new kinds of material, looking outwards to the experiences of others, at a moment when she asserts that Trumpian politics makes confessional writing unnecessary.
Multiple Generations, One Unescapable Past
The Four Spent the Day Together is structured in three parts, encompassing several time periods – all unable to escape their backgrounds. We encounter the tale of Emma and Jasper, based on the author's parents, relocating from the New York borough to the Connecticut countryside. There is the narrative of the author, in the persona of Catt Greene, grappling with the late recognition of I Love Dick, the rise of Trump, and her addict husband a man named Paul. Finally the narrative of a homicide of one lost young man by another in a town long abandoned by liberal ideals only 80 miles from the protagonist's home in rural Minnesota.
For this reader attracted to refined literature of the sort the author herself tends to eschew, I was seduced by the literary tone of the first section.
As someone who reads drawn to crafted language of the style that Kraus usually avoids, I was captivated by the novelistic voice of the initial part. There is a novel degree of detail that allows space for small details, like the container that the protagonist as a child frees from the ice at the opening of the book, helped by her adored dad. "I discovered a frozen plaything!" she declares; "a lovely toy", he answers, "the elliptical meanings of words rolling around in their mouths like piece candy". Kraus writes Emma's narrative with curiosity and intimacy. "Emma felt like she'd stepped into a dream – not hers, exactly."
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 resents the enjoyment those who appreciate polished prose have derived from I Love Dick; she's committed to disjunction, to the unpolished style she echoes from her hero writer Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her previous novels reasserts itself in the middle section. Catt is working on refurbishing multiple decrepit residences in the city's most challenging districts while moving between the Midwest and the West Coast, unable to aid her husband control his drinking. She is overwhelmed as Paul transitions between low-resource employment as an addiction therapist in a environment fueled by the rage and anxiety that underpins an electoral success. There are several pages about the protagonist facing cancellation on a platform, her listed profession modified from "novelist" to "property owner" on Wikipedia. She still gives the impression to invest excessive emotion about this. In a moment she states that she's investigating the murder so that before exiting the region, "she may grasp something about an the nation that her Twitter detractors would be unable to grasp, would not even see".
The Killing Story
Thus we arrive to the murder itself – and the eponymous day passed by the murdered individual with the killer and his companions. The author possesses compelling foundational content, and details moment by moment what transpired when the victim Brandon came to see Brittney after connecting via an application where she offered adult photos. He was hoping for sex but seems amiably to have occupied the day with her companions, loitering having his vehicle repaired and covering the cost of food and substances, before being killed by gunfire by Brittney's boyfriend Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has repeatedly received inpatient care for aggressive outbursts.
Preoccupation and Open Ends
Catt develops an obsession by the story, and I found myself captivated by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards accurate chronicling and reckless transgression wrestle in this part. However, I would have preferred her to go further into her personal fixations here. The compelling persona is the character Brittney, who becomes vivid in part due to the protagonist's connection to her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman going off the rails in a troubled, forgotten town. The author informs us that the protagonist communicates with Brittney in prison, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. This entire part feels oddly unfinished, to the extent that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par
