The Four Spent the Day Together centers on protagonists pursuing fresh starts, struggling to escape substance abuse or harmful partnerships, only to see hope turn into conflict. Kraus often employs the phrase "new beginning", making it willfully cynical through its repetitions. Sentences like "He could make a fresh start" and "They opted for a clean break" appear throughout the story. At the same time, the author herself is embarking on her individual reinvention, because this seems a novel form of writing – documentarian, genuinely novelistic. Yet it turns out to be filled with the recurring issues and styles as her previous works.
From Unplanned Author to Renowned Book
Chris Kraus began as an artist who transitioned to writing unintentionally with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, made up of missives to a distant beloved, converting personal female narrative from self-debasement into defiance. She kept producing books, but the three subsequent fascinating and rebarbative novels lacked the impact and rawness that the correspondence format infused into the voice of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her identity as a maverick maker who had become a large-scale low-rent landlord, so there was much discussion on housing investments. It is logical that she now wants to experiment with different types of content, looking outwards to other people's stories, at a period in which she states that Trumpian politics renders personal narrative redundant.
Several Eras, One Unescapable Past
The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, encompassing three generations – all unable to escape their pasts. There is the narrative about characters Emma and Jasper, based on her own mother and father, transitioning from the New York borough to a pastoral setting. There is the narrative of the author, in the guise of protagonist Catt Greene, reckoning with the belated success of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her partner struggling with addiction a man named Paul. And there is the narrative of a homicide of one directionless individual by another in a community largely deserted by liberal ideals only 80 miles from the protagonist's home in the Minnesota countryside.
From my perspective as a reader fond of honed writing of the sort the author herself typically rejects, I was seduced by the novelistic voice of the first section.
As someone who reads who appreciates crafted language of the variety that the author tends to eschew, I was won over by the storytelling approach of the opening segment. It exhibits a novel degree of detail that accommodates minutiae, like the pail that the youthful Catt frees from the ice at the opening of the book, helped by her adored dad. "I found 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 the tale of Emma with curiosity and intimacy. "It seemed to Emma she had entered a dream – not entirely her own."
Frustration and Disruption
I was destined to be disappointed when I hoped this different style could continue through the novel. The author states here that she is annoyed by the satisfaction audiences such as myself have derived from I Love Dick; she's committed to fragmentation, to the unpolished style she echoes from her hero writer Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her past books reasserts itself in the middle section. Catt is working on refurbishing multiple decrepit residences in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while moving between two different states, unsuccessful in assisting Paul manage his alcohol use. She is overwhelmed as her spouse moves between poorly supported positions as an recovery specialist in a environment propelled by the anger and fear that underpins a political win. There are several pages about the protagonist facing cancellation on social media, her listed profession modified from "author" to "property owner" on a reference site. She still gives the impression to be overly concerned about this. At one point she states that she's investigating the murder so that before exiting the region, "she might be able to learn something about an America that her online critics would not understand, would overlook entirely".
The Homicide Account
So then we come to the homicide in question – and the titular day spent by the deceased with the murderer and his friends. The author possesses excellent raw material, and knows hour by hour what happened when Brandon came to see Brittney after encountering her on a platform where she marketed explicit images. He was hoping for sex but seems amiably to have occupied the day in the company of her associates, mooching around getting his car mended and funding treats and narcotics, before being killed by gunfire by Brittney's partner a man named Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has repeatedly received inpatient care for aggressive outbursts.
Obsession and Unfinished Business
Catt develops an obsession by the narrative, and I found myself captivated by the way that her twin drives towards ethical reporting and daring boundary-pushing clash in this segment. But I'd have liked her to explore more thoroughly her individual preoccupations here. The standout figure is Brittney, who gains dimension in part due to Catt seeing herself in her – another bright, bullied girl derailing in a struggling, neglected community. The author informs us that the protagonist communicates with Brittney in jail, but she fails to enact these dialogues. The whole section feels curiously unresolved, to the extent that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par
