The Four Spent the Day Together centers on individuals pursuing clean slates, struggling to escape substance abuse or harmful partnerships, only to witness hope devolve into violence. Kraus repeatedly invokes the phrase "new beginning", making it willfully cynical through recurring use. Examples include "He aimed to start over" and "They opted for a clean break" are scattered across the story. And yet, she is embarking on her own fresh start, because this appears a new kind of book – fact-based, truly literary. Yet it proves to be laden with the familiar conflicts and aesthetics as her previous works.
From Accidental Writer to Cult Classic
Chris Kraus began as an visual artist who transitioned to writing unintentionally with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, which was composed of epistles to an unresponsive love interest, elevating intimate women's literature from abjection into assassination. She persisted as a writer, but the next trio of compelling and abrasive novels did not possess the power and directness that the letter form brought to the tone of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her identity as a renegade artist who had turned into a large-scale low-rent landlord, so there was much discussion on property transactions. It follows that she currently desires to explore fresh narrative sources, looking outwards to external narratives, at a period in which she claims that Trumpian politics makes confessional writing unnecessary.
Three Generations, Collective Unavoidable Background
The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, spanning three generations – each trapped by their histories. The book includes the narrative about a couple named Emma and Jasper, versions of Kraus's parents, moving from the urban environment to rural Connecticut. Additionally the narrative of the author, in the persona of Catt Greene, reckoning with the delayed acclaim of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her addict husband her husband Paul. Finally the story of the murder of one lost young man by another in a community long abandoned by liberal ideals only a brief drive from Catt's cottage in a remote part of Minnesota.
For this reader attracted to polished prose of the sort the author herself typically rejects, I was seduced by the novelistic voice of the opening part.
As a reader who appreciates crafted language of the kind that Kraus usually avoids, I was won over by the literary tone of the opening segment. It exhibits a fresh level of observation that allows space for trivial aspects, like the container that the young Catt frees from the ice at the opening of the book, assisted by her cherished parent. "Look, an ice toy!" she says; "a nice toy", he responds, "the ambiguous meanings of language rolling around in their mouths like hard candy". She tells Emma's story with inquiry and familiarity. "It seemed to Emma she had entered a dream – not precisely her dream."
Frustration and Disruption
I was destined to be disappointed when I wished this fresh tone could last out the book. Kraus says here that she resents the enjoyment those who appreciate polished prose have gotten from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to fragmentation, to the untidy aesthetics she echoes from her hero Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her past books comes back in the middle section. The protagonist is trying to renovate multiple decrepit residences in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while traveling between two different states, unable to aid her husband curb his addiction. She feels helpless as Paul transitions between poorly supported positions as an substance abuse counselor in a society propelled by the rage and anxiety that powers Trump's victory. A significant portion discusses about Catt's social media ostracism on a platform, her occupation changed from "author" to "landlord" on Wikipedia. She still gives the impression to invest excessive emotion about this. At one point she states that she's investigating the murder so that before departing the state, "she might be able to learn something about an the United States that her social media opponents would be unable to grasp, would not even see".
The Killing Story
Then we reach to the homicide in question – and the eponymous day experienced by the murdered individual with the perpetrator and his associates. Kraus utilizes compelling foundational content, and knows hour by hour what happened when the victim Brandon came to visit Brittney after connecting via an application where she offered adult photos. He anticipated intimacy but seems amiably to have occupied the day alongside her friends, mooching around getting his car mended and funding treats and narcotics, before being shot by her romantic interest a man named Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has frequently been hospitalised for aggressive outbursts.
Obsession and Unfinished Business
Catt develops an obsession by the story, and I found myself captivated by the way that the author's conflicting impulses towards responsible documentation and daring boundary-pushing clash in this segment. However, I would have preferred her to explore more thoroughly her individual preoccupations here. The compelling persona is Brittney herself, who gains dimension partially because of Catt seeing herself in her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman spiraling out of control in a struggling, neglected community. The author informs us that Catt converses with Brittney in detention, but she fails to enact these dialogues. This entire part feels strangely incomplete, to the extent that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par
