The Four Spent the Day Together features characters seeking new beginnings, struggling to escape addictions or harmful partnerships, only to see hope turn into violence. Chris Kraus often employs the phrase "new beginning", rendering it willfully cynical through constant reiteration. Phrases such as "He could make a fresh start" and "They decided to make a fresh start" appear throughout the story. At the same time, the author herself seems to be making her own fresh start, as this seems a different type of work – documentarian, genuinely novelistic. However it turns out to be filled with the recurring issues and aesthetics as her previous works.
From Unplanned Author to Cult Classic
Kraus started out as an visual artist who entered the literary world unintentionally with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, made up of missives to a distant beloved, transforming personal female narrative from self-debasement into assassination. She kept producing books, but the three subsequent compelling and abrasive novels missed the power and directness that the epistolary style imparted to the narrative voice of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her role as a maverick maker who had become a large-scale low-rent landlord, so there was much discussion on housing investments. It follows that she presently aims to experiment with fresh narrative sources, turning outward to the experiences of others, at a period in which she asserts that current political era turns intimate literature redundant.
Three Generations, Shared Inescapable History
The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, spanning three generations – none able to break free from their backgrounds. There is the story of characters Emma and Jasper, representations of the author's parents, moving from the urban environment to a pastoral setting. Then there is the account of Kraus, in the character of a figure named Catt Greene, reckoning with the belated success 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 community largely deserted by progressive politics only a brief drive from Catt's cottage in rural Minnesota.
From my perspective as a reader attracted to honed writing of the kind Kraus typically rejects, I was enchanted by the literary tone of the initial segment.
As a reader drawn to crafted language of the kind that Kraus often disregards, I was captivated by the storytelling approach of the initial part. It exhibits a fresh level of observation that allows space for minutiae, like the bucket that the young Catt pries out of frozen water at the opening of the book, aided by her adored dad. "Look, an ice toy!" she exclaims; "a lovely toy", he responds, "the nuanced interpretations of terms rolling around in their mouths like piece candy". The author narrates Emma's narrative with curiosity and intimacy. "Emma felt like she'd stepped into a dream – not hers, exactly."
Disappointment and Disjunction
I was bound to become frustrated when I hoped this fresh tone could continue through the novel. The author states here that she is annoyed by the enjoyment readers like me have derived from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to disjunction, to the messy artistic approach she shares with her idol Kathy Acker, and the emptiness and redundancy of her past books comes back in the second segment. The protagonist is working on refurbishing multiple decrepit residences in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while traveling between Minnesota and LA, failing to help her husband control his drinking. She is overwhelmed as Paul moves between poorly supported positions as an addiction therapist in a environment fueled by the rage and anxiety that drives Trump's victory. There are several pages about Catt's social media ostracism on social media, her occupation changed from "novelist" to "property owner" on Wikipedia. Kraus still seems to be overly concerned about this. In a moment she remarks that she's researching the homicide so that before departing the state, "she may grasp something about an the United States that her social media opponents would be unable to grasp, would overlook entirely".
The Murder Narrative
Thus we arrive to the actual killing – and the referenced day spent by the victim with the killer and his friends. Kraus has excellent raw material, and knows hour by hour what happened when the victim Brandon came to see Brittney after connecting via an application where she sold sex pictures. He was hoping for sex but seems amiably to have occupied the day in the company of her associates, mooching around fixing his automobile and covering the cost of food and substances, before being shot by Brittney's boyfriend Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has repeatedly received inpatient care for violent rage.
Fascination and Incompletion
Catt develops an obsession by the account, and I was intrigued by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards ethical reporting and daring boundary-pushing clash in this segment. But I'd have liked her to explore more thoroughly her own obsessions here. The most interesting character is Brittney, who comes alive partially because of Catt's identification with her – a similarly gifted, tormented individual going off the rails in a troubled, forgotten town. The author informs us that Catt speaks to 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
