The Four Spent the Day Together is populated with characters seeking fresh starts, struggling to escape addictions or abusive marriages, only to see hope turn into conflict. Chris Kraus repeatedly invokes the phrase "clean slate", rendering it intentionally weary through its repetitions. Examples include "He could make a fresh start" and "They decided to make a fresh start" appear throughout the text. Meanwhile, the author herself seems to be making her own fresh start, as this seems a novel form of writing – observational, truly literary. Yet it turns out to be filled with the familiar conflicts and styles as past novels.
From Accidental Writer to Iconic Work
Kraus was originally an creative who became a writer somewhat by chance with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, made up of missives to a distant beloved, converting intimate women's literature from abjection into rebellion. She continued writing, but the following three engaging and challenging novels lacked the shock and immediacy that the letter form infused into the voice of I Love Dick. It didn't help was her position as a maverick maker who had become a extensive real estate holder, so there was much discussion on real estate deals. It is logical that she currently desires to experiment with different types of content, looking outwards to the experiences of others, at a moment when she claims that contemporary political climate turns intimate literature redundant.
Three Generations, Shared Inescapable History
The Four Spent the Day Together is structured in three parts, encompassing several time periods – each trapped by their pasts. The book includes the narrative about characters Emma and Jasper, based on her own mother and father, moving from the New York borough to a pastoral setting. There is the narrative of the author, in the character of Catt Greene, confronting the late recognition of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her addict husband her husband Paul. The third thread involves the story of the murder of one lost young man by another in a locality largely deserted by liberal ideals only a short distance from Catt's rural residence in rural Minnesota.
From my perspective as a reader attracted to honed writing of the kind the author herself often avoids, I was seduced by the literary tone of the first section.
As a reader drawn to honed writing of the style that the author usually avoids, I was captivated by the literary tone of the opening segment. There is a fresh level of observation that allows space for minutiae, like the pail that the protagonist as a child frees from the ice at the beginning of the narrative, assisted by her cherished parent. "I found an ice toy!" she says; "a lovely toy", he answers, "the elliptical meanings of words tumbling in their mouths like hard candy". The author narrates Emma's narrative with interest and closeness. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not hers, exactly."
Frustration and Disruption
I was destined to be disappointed when I wished this different style could last out the book. Kraus notes here that she dislikes the pleasure those who appreciate polished prose have taken from I Love Dick; she's devoted to disjunction, to the messy artistic approach she has in common with her hero author Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her previous novels returns in the middle section. Catt is attempting to do up multiple decrepit residences in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while traveling between Minnesota and LA, unsuccessful in assisting Paul manage his alcohol use. She feels helpless as Paul transitions between poorly supported positions as an recovery specialist in a society propelled by the anger and fear that drives Trump's victory. There are several pages about the protagonist facing cancellation on social media, her occupation changed from "author" to "landlord" on the online encyclopedia. The author still appears to care a little too much about this. In a moment she remarks that she's researching the homicide so that before leaving Minnesota, "she could potentially understand something about an the nation that her online critics would not understand, would not even see".
The Murder Narrative
Then we reach to the actual killing – and the referenced day passed by the victim with the killer and his friends. The author possesses excellent raw material, and reconstructs step by step what occurred as the victim Brandon came to meet Brittney after meeting her on an app where she offered adult photos. He anticipated intimacy but seems affably to have spent the day in the company of her associates, loitering fixing his automobile and covering the cost of food and substances, before being murdered by Brittney's boyfriend a man named Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has often been institutionalized for fits of anger.
Preoccupation and Open Ends
The protagonist becomes fixated by the narrative, and I was fascinated by the way that the author's conflicting impulses towards responsible documentation and reckless transgression clash in this segment. However, I would have preferred her to go further into her individual preoccupations here. The most interesting character is Brittney, who gains dimension in part due to Catt's identification with her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman going off the rails in a troubled, forgotten town. Kraus tells us that Catt speaks to Brittney in detention, but she doesn't dramatise these conversations. The whole section feels strangely incomplete, to the degree that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par
