The Four Spent the Day Together features protagonists chasing after fresh starts, trying to break free from drugs or harmful partnerships, only to find hope curdling into aggression. Chris Kraus often employs the phrase "fresh start", transforming it into intentionally weary through its repetitions. Phrases such as "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They chose to begin anew" appear throughout the text. Meanwhile, she is embarking on her personal new beginning, as this seems a new kind of book – observational, genuinely novelistic. But then it reveals itself to be filled with the familiar conflicts and approaches as earlier books.
From Accidental Writer to Iconic Work
The writer began as an artist who became a writer almost accidentally with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, structured as letters to an unreceptive lover, transforming personal female narrative from humiliation into rebellion. She kept producing books, but the three subsequent fascinating and rebarbative novels missed the power and directness that the correspondence format brought to the voice of I Love Dick. It didn't help was her identity as a maverick maker who had evolved into a large-scale low-rent landlord, so there was much discussion on housing investments. It makes sense that she now wants to experiment with different types of content, looking outwards to the experiences of others, at a time when she claims that current political era renders personal narrative obsolete.
Multiple Generations, One Unescapable Past
The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, covering three generations – none able to break free from their pasts. The book includes the story of Emma and Jasper, representations of Kraus's parents, moving from the Bronx to a pastoral setting. Then there is the story of Kraus herself, in the persona of a figure named Catt Greene, grappling with the late recognition of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her substance-dependent spouse Paul. The third thread involves the account of a killing of one directionless individual by another in a town mostly forsaken by liberal ideals only a brief drive from Catt's rural residence in the Minnesota countryside.
From my perspective as a reader drawn to polished prose of the kind Kraus often avoids, I was enchanted by the literary tone of the initial segment.
As someone who reads drawn to precise prose of the style that the author often disregards, I was won over by the novelistic voice of the first section. There is a new quality of attentiveness that accommodates small details, like the bucket that the protagonist as a child frees from the ice at the opening of the book, helped by her adored dad. "Look, an ice toy!" she exclaims; "a lovely toy", he replies, "the elliptical meanings of words tumbling in their mouths like piece candy". The author narrates Emma's narrative with interest and closeness. "Emma felt like she'd stepped into a dream – not precisely her dream."
Disappointment and Disjunction
I was fated to feel let down when I wished this new voice could last out the book. Kraus notes here that she dislikes the satisfaction those who appreciate polished prose have taken from I Love Dick; she's devoted to disjunction, to the untidy aesthetics she has in common with her inspiration Kathy Acker, and the emptiness and redundancy of her earlier works comes back in the second segment. The protagonist is attempting to do up three dozen dilapidated units in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while moving between two different states, unsuccessful in assisting Paul manage his alcohol use. She is overwhelmed as her spouse cycles through underfunded jobs as an addiction therapist in a society driven by the rage and anxiety that underpins an electoral success. There are several pages about Catt being cancelled on Twitter, her occupation changed from "writer" to "property owner" on a reference site. The author still appears to be overly concerned about this. In a moment she remarks that she's investigating the murder so that before leaving Minnesota, "she may grasp something about an the nation that her social media opponents would be unable to grasp, would not even perceive".
The Homicide Account
Thus we arrive to the murder itself – and the referenced day experienced by the murdered individual with the perpetrator and his friends. The author possesses excellent raw material, and details moment by moment what transpired when the victim Brandon came to see Brittney after encountering her on a platform where she sold sex pictures. He was hoping for sex but seems affably to have spent the day with her companions, wandering about getting his car mended and paying for snacks and drugs, before being shot by Brittney's partner Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has repeatedly received inpatient care for aggressive outbursts.
Preoccupation and Open Ends
Catt develops an obsession by the narrative, and I was fascinated by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards ethical reporting and reckless transgression wrestle in this part. However, I would have preferred her to go further into her individual preoccupations here. The compelling persona is Brittney, who becomes vivid partly through the protagonist's connection to her – another bright, bullied girl going off the rails in a struggling, neglected community. Kraus tells us that Catt converses with Brittney in jail, but she fails to enact these dialogues. The complete segment feels strangely incomplete, to the point that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par
