The Four Spent the Day Together centers on characters pursuing new beginnings, struggling to escape addictions or abusive marriages, only to see hope turn into violence. Chris Kraus often employs the phrase "new beginning", transforming it into deliberately jaded through constant reiteration. Phrases such as "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They decided to make a fresh start" recur in the story. Meanwhile, the author herself is embarking on her personal new beginning, as this presents as a new kind of book – fact-based, genuinely novelistic. Yet it reveals itself to be packed with the familiar conflicts and approaches as past novels.
From Accidental Writer to Renowned Book
Chris Kraus started out as an artist who transitioned to writing somewhat by chance with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, which was composed of epistles to an unresponsive love interest, elevating confessional female writing from self-debasement into rebellion. She persisted as a writer, but the next trio of fascinating and rebarbative novels missed the impact and rawness that the letter form infused into the voice of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her role 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, looking outwards to other people's stories, at a time when she states that current political era makes confessional writing unnecessary.
Several Eras, Shared Inescapable History
The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, encompassing several time periods – each trapped by their backgrounds. The book includes the story of characters Emma and Jasper, representations of her own mother and father, moving from the urban environment to the Connecticut countryside. Then there is the account of Kraus, in the guise of Catt Greene, grappling with the late recognition of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her substance-dependent spouse a man named Paul. Finally the story of the murder of one directionless individual by another in a locality long abandoned by progressive politics only a short distance from the protagonist's home in rural Minnesota.
For this reader drawn to polished prose of the type Kraus herself often avoids, I was captivated by the novelistic voice of the initial segment.
As a reader who appreciates precise prose of the style that Kraus often disregards, I was seduced by the novelistic voice of the first section. It possesses a fresh level of observation that accommodates minutiae, like the bucket that the young Catt frees from the ice at the beginning of the narrative, helped by her cherished parent. "Look, an ice toy!" she says; "a great plaything", he replies, "the elliptical meanings of words tumbling in their mouths like hard candy". The author narrates Emma's narrative with inquiry and familiarity. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not precisely her dream."
Letdown and Fragmentation
I was fated to feel let down when I expected this different style could last out the book. Kraus says here that she dislikes the pleasure readers like me have taken from I Love Dick; she's committed to disjunction, to the unpolished style she echoes from her idol author Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her previous novels returns in the central part. The protagonist is working on refurbishing multiple decrepit residences in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while moving between two different states, unable to aid Paul manage his alcohol use. She feels helpless as Paul transitions between underfunded jobs as an addiction therapist in a world propelled by the rage and anxiety that powers an electoral success. There are several pages about Catt being cancelled on Twitter, her occupation changed from "author" to "property owner" on a reference site. Kraus still seems to invest excessive emotion about this. At one point she says that she's investigating the murder so that before departing the state, "she might be able to learn something about an America that her online critics would be unable to grasp, would overlook entirely".
The Killing Story
Thus we arrive to the murder itself – and the titular day experienced by the deceased with the killer and his associates. Kraus has compelling foundational content, and knows hour by hour what happened when Brandon came to see Brittney after connecting via an application where she sold sex pictures. He anticipated intimacy but seems affably to have spent the day with her companions, loitering fixing his automobile and funding treats and narcotics, before being murdered by her romantic interest Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has often been institutionalized for violent rage.
Obsession and Unfinished Business
Catt develops an obsession by the account, and I was fascinated by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards ethical reporting and audacious rule-breaking wrestle in this part. Yet I wished her to go further into her individual preoccupations here. The compelling persona is Brittney herself, who comes alive partially because of Catt's identification with her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman spiraling out of control in a difficult, overlooked locality. Kraus notes that Catt converses with Brittney in jail, but she doesn't dramatise these conversations. This entire part feels oddly unfinished, to the point that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par
