The Four Spent the Day Together centers on characters pursuing clean slates, attempting to leave behind substance abuse or harmful partnerships, only to witness hope devolve into violence. Chris Kraus frequently uses the phrase "new beginning", rendering it intentionally weary through its repetitions. Phrases such as "He aimed to start over" and "They chose to begin anew" are scattered across the narrative. At the same time, she seems to be making her personal new beginning, because this presents as a novel form of writing – documentarian, truly literary. However it reveals itself to be laden with the same dilemmas and aesthetics as her previous works.
From Unplanned Author to Cult Classic
The writer started out as an visual artist who transitioned to writing somewhat by chance with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, structured as missives to a distant beloved, elevating personal female narrative from self-debasement into assassination. She kept producing books, but the three subsequent engaging and challenging novels lacked the impact and rawness that the letter form infused into the tone of I Love Dick. It didn't help was her position as a renegade artist who had become a major property owner, so there was considerable focus on real estate deals. It makes sense that she currently desires to explore fresh narrative sources, looking outwards to other people's stories, at a period in which she claims that contemporary political climate renders personal narrative unnecessary.
Several Eras, One Unescapable Past
The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, encompassing three generations – none able to break free from their histories. There is the narrative about a couple named Emma and Jasper, representations of the author's parents, transitioning from the Bronx to a pastoral setting. Additionally the narrative of the author, in the character of protagonist Catt Greene, reckoning with the late recognition of I Love Dick, the rise of Trump, and her substance-dependent spouse a man named Paul. The third thread involves the story of the murder of one troubled youth by another in a town mostly forsaken by progressive politics only a short distance from Catt's rural residence in the Minnesota countryside.
For this reader attracted to honed writing of the type the author herself tends to eschew, I was captivated by the novelistic voice of the initial segment.
As a reader drawn to crafted language of the style that the author often disregards, I was captivated by the storytelling approach of the opening segment. There is a fresh level of observation that accommodates small details, like the bucket that the protagonist as a child dislodges from ice at the beginning of the narrative, aided by her cherished parent. "I discovered a frozen plaything!" she exclaims; "a nice toy", he replies, "the elliptical meanings of words circulating in their speech like sweet treats". She tells Emma's narrative with inquiry and familiarity. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not hers, exactly."
Frustration and Disruption
I was fated to feel let down when I hoped this new voice could last out the book. The author states here that she resents the enjoyment those who appreciate polished prose have derived from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to disjunction, to the unpolished style she has in common with her inspiration Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her past books reasserts itself in the second segment. The protagonist is trying to renovate three dozen dilapidated units in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while shuttling between Minnesota and LA, failing to help her husband curb his addiction. She experiences powerlessness as Paul cycles through poorly supported positions as an addiction therapist in a world propelled by the anger and fear that powers Trump's victory. A significant portion discusses about Catt's social media ostracism on Twitter, her listed profession modified from "novelist" to "property owner" on the online encyclopedia. Kraus still seems to care a little too much about this. In a moment she states that she's investigating the murder so that before exiting the region, "she might be able to learn something about an the nation that her Twitter detractors would be unable to grasp, would not even see".
The Murder Narrative
Thus we arrive to the homicide in question – and the eponymous day passed by the murdered individual with the killer and his friends. Kraus has excellent raw material, and reconstructs step by step what occurred as a man named Brandon came to meet Brittney after connecting via an application where she sold sex pictures. He was hoping for sex but seems amiably to have occupied the day with her companions, wandering about having his vehicle repaired and covering the cost of food and substances, before being killed by gunfire by Brittney's partner Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has often been institutionalized for fits of anger.
Fascination and Incompletion
Catt gets obsessed by the narrative, and I found myself captivated by the way that her twin drives towards responsible documentation and daring boundary-pushing clash in this segment. Yet I wished her to delve deeper into her personal fixations here. The most interesting character is Brittney herself, who becomes vivid partially because of the protagonist's connection to her – another bright, bullied girl spiraling out of control in a difficult, overlooked locality. Kraus tells us that the protagonist communicates with Brittney in detention, but she fails to enact these dialogues. The whole section feels oddly unfinished, to the degree that her narrative ends almost mid-par
