The Four Spent the Day Together centers on protagonists chasing after fresh starts, attempting to leave behind drugs or toxic relationships, only to witness hope devolve into conflict. Chris Kraus frequently uses the phrase "clean slate", making it deliberately jaded through recurring use. Examples include "He aimed to start over" and "They chose to begin anew" appear throughout the narrative. Meanwhile, the author herself seems to be making her individual reinvention, since this seems a different type of work – observational, truly literary. However it turns out to be laden with the recurring issues and approaches as earlier books.
From Chance Novelist to Iconic Work
The writer was originally an visual artist who entered the literary world almost accidentally with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, which was composed of letters to an unreceptive lover, elevating confessional female writing from humiliation into assassination. She persisted as a writer, but the following three compelling and abrasive novels lacked the power and directness that the letter form imparted to the voice of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her position as a maverick maker who had become a major property owner, so there was significant attention on housing investments. It follows that she presently aims to try out different types of content, turning outward to the experiences of others, at a time when she asserts that current political era renders personal narrative redundant.
Several Eras, Shared Inescapable History
The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, encompassing multiple eras – all unable to escape their backgrounds. We encounter the story of a couple named Emma and Jasper, representations of her own mother and father, relocating from the New York borough to a pastoral setting. There is the narrative of the author, in the persona of Catt Greene, confronting the delayed acclaim of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her addict husband Paul. And there is the narrative of a homicide of one lost young man by another in a community long abandoned by liberal ideals only a short distance from the protagonist's home in the Minnesota countryside.
For this reader drawn to polished prose of the kind the author herself often avoids, I was seduced by the narrative style of the initial segment.
Being a reader who appreciates precise prose of the variety that the author usually avoids, I was won over by the storytelling approach of the initial part. It possesses a fresh level of observation that accommodates trivial aspects, like the bucket that the young Catt frees from the ice at the beginning of the narrative, aided by her cherished parent. "I found an ice toy!" she declares; "a lovely toy", he responds, "the elliptical meanings of words tumbling in their mouths like hard candy". Kraus writes Emma's narrative with interest and closeness. "Emma felt like she'd stepped into a dream – not entirely her own."
Letdown and Fragmentation
I was bound to become frustrated when I expected this different style could continue through the novel. Kraus says here that she is annoyed by the enjoyment those who appreciate polished prose have derived from I Love Dick; she's committed to disruption, to the messy artistic approach she echoes from her inspiration author Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her past books returns in the middle section. The protagonist is working on refurbishing multiple decrepit residences in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while moving between the Midwest and the West Coast, unsuccessful in assisting Paul control his drinking. She feels helpless as Paul cycles through underfunded jobs as an addiction therapist in a world fueled by the anger and fear that drives Trump's victory. Multiple pages are devoted about the protagonist facing cancellation on Twitter, her listed profession modified from "novelist" to "landlord" on Wikipedia. She still gives the impression to be overly concerned 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 America that her social media opponents would not understand, would not even perceive".
The Homicide Account
So then we come to the murder itself – and the eponymous day experienced by the deceased with the perpetrator and his associates. Kraus has excellent raw material, and details moment by moment what occurred as a man named Brandon came to see Brittney after encountering her on a platform where she marketed explicit images. He anticipated intimacy but seems affably to have spent the day alongside her friends, mooching around getting his car mended and covering the cost of food and substances, before being murdered by Brittney's boyfriend Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has frequently been hospitalised for fits of anger.
Obsession and Unfinished Business
Catt develops an obsession by the story, and I found myself captivated by the way that her twin drives towards accurate chronicling and audacious rule-breaking wrestle in this part. However, I would have preferred her to delve deeper into her personal fixations here. The standout figure is the character Brittney, who comes alive in part due to Catt's identification with her – another bright, bullied girl going off the rails in a troubled, forgotten town. The author informs us that Catt speaks to Brittney in jail, but she fails to enact these dialogues. The whole section feels oddly unfinished, to the point that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par
