The Four Spent the Day Together centers on individuals chasing after new beginnings, struggling to escape drugs or toxic relationships, only to witness hope devolve into conflict. Chris Kraus repeatedly invokes the phrase "clean slate", rendering it deliberately jaded through constant reiteration. Phrases such as "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They decided to make a fresh start" appear throughout the text. And yet, Kraus herself is embarking on her personal new beginning, as this appears a novel form of writing – documentarian, truly literary. However it reveals itself to be packed with the same dilemmas and approaches as earlier books.
From Accidental Writer to Cult Classic
The writer started out as an creative who transitioned to writing somewhat by chance with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, which was composed of letters to an unreceptive lover, transforming personal female narrative from abjection into rebellion. She persisted as a writer, but the following three engaging and challenging novels lacked the power and directness that the letter form brought to the voice of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her position as a nonconformist creator who had turned into a major property owner, so there was much discussion on property transactions. It is logical that she presently aims to explore different types of content, turning outward to other people's stories, at a period in which she asserts that contemporary political climate makes confessional writing unnecessary.
Multiple Generations, Collective Unavoidable Background
The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, spanning three generations – each trapped by their backgrounds. The book includes the story of characters Emma and Jasper, based on the author's parents, moving from the New York borough to the Connecticut countryside. There is the account of Kraus, in the persona of Catt Greene, confronting the late recognition of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her partner struggling with addiction her husband Paul. Finally the story of the murder of one lost young man by another in a locality long abandoned by progressive politics only a brief drive from Catt's cottage in rural Minnesota.
From my perspective as a reader drawn to refined literature of the sort Kraus herself typically rejects, I was seduced by the novelistic voice of the opening part.
Being a reader who favors crafted language of the style that Kraus tends to eschew, I was won over by the novelistic voice of the opening segment. It possesses a new quality of attentiveness that accommodates small details, like the bucket that the young Catt frees from the ice at the beginning of the narrative, aided by her beloved father. "I found an ice toy!" she says; "a great plaything", he answers, "the elliptical meanings of words rolling around in their mouths like hard candy". The author narrates Emma's narrative with curiosity and intimacy. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not precisely her dream."
Letdown and Fragmentation
I was bound to become frustrated when I expected this new voice could last out the book. Kraus says here that she resents the enjoyment audiences such as myself have derived from I Love Dick; she's devoted to fragmentation, to the untidy aesthetics she shares with her idol Kathy Acker, and the emptiness and redundancy of her previous novels returns in the central part. Catt Greene is working on refurbishing multiple decrepit residences in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while traveling between the Midwest and the West Coast, unsuccessful in assisting Paul manage his alcohol use. She feels helpless as Paul moves between poorly supported positions as an recovery specialist in a environment driven by the rage and anxiety that drives a political win. A significant portion discusses about Catt being cancelled on Twitter, her listed profession modified from "novelist" to "property owner" on the online encyclopedia. She still gives the impression to be overly concerned about this. On one occasion she states that she's investigating the murder so that before exiting the region, "she could potentially understand something about an America that her social media opponents would be unable to grasp, would not even perceive".
The Killing Story
Then we reach to the actual killing – and the referenced day passed by the murdered individual with the murderer and his friends. Kraus has compelling foundational content, and knows hour by hour what happened when Brandon came to visit Brittney after meeting her on an app where she offered adult photos. He was hoping for sex but seems affably to have spent the day in the company of her associates, mooching around fixing his automobile and paying for snacks and drugs, before being killed by gunfire by Brittney's boyfriend Micah – a individual with mental health challenges who has repeatedly received inpatient care for fits of anger.
Preoccupation and Open Ends
The protagonist becomes fixated by the story, and I was fascinated by the way that her twin drives towards responsible documentation and reckless transgression tussle in this section. Yet I wished her to delve deeper into her personal fixations here. The most interesting character is the character Brittney, who comes alive partly through the protagonist's connection to her – a similarly gifted, tormented individual derailing 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 curiously unresolved, to the degree that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par
