The Four Spent the Day Together centers on characters pursuing clean slates, trying to break free from substance abuse or toxic relationships, only to witness hope devolve into violence. Chris Kraus frequently uses the phrase "clean slate", transforming it into willfully cynical through recurring use. Phrases such as "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They opted for a clean break" appear throughout the narrative. Meanwhile, the author herself appears to be undertaking her own fresh start, since this seems a different type of work – documentarian, genuinely novelistic. But then it reveals itself to be packed with the familiar conflicts and approaches as earlier books.
From Accidental Writer to Renowned Book
Chris Kraus started out as an visual artist who entered the literary world unintentionally with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, structured as epistles to an unresponsive love interest, elevating personal female narrative from self-debasement into defiance. She continued writing, but the next trio of engaging and challenging novels lacked the shock and immediacy that the epistolary style infused into the narrative voice of I Love Dick. It didn't help was her position as a maverick maker who had turned into a large-scale low-rent landlord, so there was significant attention on housing investments. It is logical that she presently aims to experiment with different types of content, turning outward to external narratives, at a moment when she claims that contemporary political climate renders personal narrative obsolete.
Several Eras, Shared Inescapable History
The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, spanning three generations – none able to break free from their histories. There is the tale of Emma and Jasper, versions of her own mother and father, moving from the Bronx to rural Connecticut. Additionally the narrative of the author, in the guise of Catt Greene, grappling with the late recognition of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her substance-dependent spouse Paul. Finally the account of a killing of one directionless individual by another in a locality largely deserted by liberal ideals only a brief drive from Catt's cottage in the Minnesota countryside.
From my perspective as a reader attracted to refined literature of the sort Kraus often avoids, I was enchanted by the novelistic voice of the first section.
As a reader drawn to honed writing of the variety that Kraus tends to eschew, I was captivated by the novelistic voice of the opening segment. It possesses a new quality of attentiveness that accommodates minutiae, like the container that the young Catt pries out of frozen water at the start of the story, assisted by her beloved father. "Look, an ice toy!" she declares; "a lovely toy", he replies, "the nuanced interpretations of terms circulating in their speech 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."
Disappointment and Disjunction
I was bound to become frustrated when I expected this different style could persist to the end. The author states here that she resents the enjoyment 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 hero author 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 moving between the Midwest and the West Coast, unable to aid Paul curb his addiction. She is overwhelmed as Paul cycles through low-resource employment as an recovery specialist in a environment driven by the anger and fear that powers an electoral success. A significant portion discusses about Catt being cancelled on a platform, her professional designation altered from "novelist" to "real estate holder" on the online encyclopedia. Kraus still seems to be overly concerned about this. At one point she says that she's looking into the killing so that before departing the state, "she could potentially understand something about an the nation that her social media opponents would be unable to grasp, would overlook entirely".
The Murder Narrative
Then we reach to the homicide in question – and the referenced day experienced by the deceased with the murderer and his friends. Kraus utilizes compelling foundational content, and reconstructs step by step what happened when Brandon came to see Brittney after encountering her on a platform where she offered adult photos. He anticipated intimacy but seems affably to have spent the day in the company of her associates, mooching around fixing his automobile and funding treats and narcotics, before being killed by gunfire by Brittney's partner a man named Micah – a individual with mental health challenges who has repeatedly received inpatient care for aggressive outbursts.
Obsession and Unfinished Business
Catt gets obsessed by the narrative, and I found myself captivated by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards ethical reporting and reckless transgression clash in this segment. But I'd have liked her to delve deeper into her own obsessions here. The standout figure is Brittney herself, who gains dimension in part due to Catt's identification with her – a similarly gifted, tormented individual going off the rails in a difficult, overlooked locality. The author informs us that the protagonist communicates with Brittney in detention, but she doesn't dramatise these conversations. The whole section feels strangely incomplete, to the degree that her narrative ends almost mid-par
