The Four Spent the Day Together centers on protagonists pursuing clean slates, attempting to leave behind substance abuse or abusive marriages, only to witness hope devolve into conflict. The author often employs the phrase "clean slate", transforming it into deliberately jaded through its repetitions. Sentences like "He aimed to start over" and "They decided to make a fresh start" recur in the text. At the same time, Kraus herself appears to be undertaking her individual reinvention, since this presents as a novel form of writing – observational, genuinely novelistic. But then it turns out to be packed with the same dilemmas and aesthetics as past novels.
From Chance Novelist to Cult Classic
Chris Kraus was originally an creative who transitioned to writing somewhat by chance with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, which was composed of epistles to an unresponsive love interest, converting intimate women's literature from abjection into assassination. She continued writing, but the following three engaging and challenging novels lacked the impact and rawness that the epistolary style brought to the tone of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her position as a renegade artist who had become a major property owner, so there was significant attention on housing investments. It makes sense that she now wants to explore different types of content, turning outward to external narratives, at a time when she claims that current political era turns intimate literature redundant.
Several Eras, One Unescapable Past
The Four Spent the Day Together is structured in three parts, encompassing three generations – all unable to escape their histories. We encounter the narrative about a couple named Emma and Jasper, versions of Kraus's parents, moving from the urban environment to a pastoral setting. Then there is the story of Kraus herself, in the character of a figure named Catt Greene, confronting the belated success of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her partner struggling with addiction her husband Paul. Finally the narrative of a homicide of one lost young man by another in a locality long abandoned by progressive politics only a short distance from Catt's rural residence in a remote part of Minnesota.
As a reader fond of polished prose of the kind Kraus herself tends to eschew, I was enchanted by the narrative style of the initial segment.
As a reader who appreciates precise prose of the style that Kraus usually avoids, I was won over by the novelistic voice of the opening segment. It exhibits a fresh level of observation that makes room for trivial aspects, like the container that the youthful Catt frees from the ice at the beginning of the narrative, assisted by her adored dad. "Look, an ice toy!" she declares; "a nice toy", he replies, "the ambiguous meanings of language circulating in their speech like hard candy". She tells Emma's story with inquiry and familiarity. "It seemed to Emma she had entered a dream – not hers, exactly."
Letdown and Fragmentation
I was destined to be disappointed when I hoped this new voice could persist to the end. Kraus notes here that she dislikes the satisfaction those who appreciate polished prose have taken from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to fragmentation, to the unpolished style she echoes from her inspiration Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her past books reasserts itself in the middle section. Catt is trying to renovate multiple decrepit residences in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while shuttling between Minnesota and LA, unsuccessful in assisting Paul curb his addiction. She feels helpless as her spouse transitions between poorly supported positions as an recovery specialist in a environment fueled by the hostility and dread that underpins Trump's victory. A significant portion discusses about Catt's social media ostracism on Twitter, her professional designation altered from "author" to "landlord" on Wikipedia. She still gives the impression to be overly concerned about this. On one occasion she says that she's looking into the killing so that before exiting the region, "she may grasp something about an the nation that her social media opponents would fail to comprehend, would not even see".
The Homicide Account
Thus we arrive to the actual killing – and the eponymous day spent by the victim with the killer and his companions. Kraus has excellent raw material, and reconstructs step by step what happened when the victim Brandon came to see Brittney after encountering her on a platform where she marketed explicit images. He was hoping for sex but seems affably to have spent the day in the company of her associates, loitering 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 repeatedly received inpatient care for fits of anger.
Obsession and Unfinished Business
The protagonist becomes fixated by the account, and I was intrigued by the way that the author's conflicting impulses towards ethical reporting and reckless transgression tussle in this section. However, I would have preferred her to go further into her personal fixations here. The standout figure is Brittney herself, who comes alive partly through Catt's identification with her – another bright, bullied girl spiraling out of control in a troubled, forgotten town. Kraus notes that Catt speaks to Brittney in jail, but she doesn't dramatise these conversations. The whole section feels curiously unresolved, to the degree that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par
