The Four Spent the Day Together is populated with characters chasing after clean slates, struggling to escape substance abuse or harmful partnerships, only to witness hope devolve into conflict. Chris Kraus repeatedly invokes the phrase "clean slate", rendering it intentionally weary through constant reiteration. Sentences like "He could make a fresh start" and "They chose to begin anew" appear throughout the story. Meanwhile, the author herself appears to be undertaking her own fresh start, as this appears a novel form of writing – observational, genuinely novelistic. But then it reveals itself to be laden with the recurring issues and approaches as her previous works.
From Unplanned Author to Renowned Book
The writer was originally an creative who became a writer unintentionally with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, which was composed of letters to an unreceptive lover, transforming intimate women's literature from self-debasement into assassination. She persisted as a writer, but the three subsequent fascinating and rebarbative novels lacked the impact and rawness that the letter form brought to the voice of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her identity as a renegade artist 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 try out new kinds of material, directing her gaze to the experiences of others, at a moment when she asserts that Trumpian politics turns intimate literature redundant.
Three Generations, One Unescapable Past
The Four Spent the Day Together is structured in three parts, spanning three generations – all unable to escape their pasts. We encounter the tale of Emma and Jasper, based on the author's parents, relocating from the New York borough to rural Connecticut. Then there is the narrative of the author, in the character of Catt Greene, grappling with the belated success of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her substance-dependent spouse Paul. Finally the story of the murder of one troubled youth by another in a community long abandoned by progressive politics only 80 miles from the protagonist's home in the Minnesota countryside.
From my perspective as a reader fond of refined literature of the kind Kraus herself tends to eschew, I was enchanted 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 seduced by the literary tone of the initial part. It exhibits a fresh level of observation that allows space for minutiae, like the bucket that the protagonist as a child pries out of frozen water at the start of the story, assisted by her cherished parent. "I found an ice toy!" she says; "a nice toy", he replies, "the nuanced interpretations of terms circulating in their speech like piece candy". She tells Emma's narrative with inquiry and familiarity. "It seemed to Emma she had entered a dream – not hers, exactly."
Frustration and Disruption
I was fated to feel let down when I wished this different style could last out the book. The author states here that she is annoyed by the enjoyment readers like me have derived from I Love Dick; she's devoted to disruption, to the messy artistic approach she has in common with her idol Kathy Acker, and the emptiness and redundancy of her earlier works returns in the middle section. Catt is working on refurbishing 36 run-down apartments in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while traveling between the Midwest and the West Coast, unsuccessful in assisting her husband manage his alcohol use. She experiences powerlessness as her spouse cycles through underfunded jobs as an recovery specialist in a environment fueled by the rage and anxiety that underpins Trump's victory. There are several pages about the protagonist facing cancellation on Twitter, her occupation changed from "author" to "landlord" on the online encyclopedia. She still gives the impression to care a little too much about this. At one point she states that she's investigating the murder so that before departing the state, "she might be able to learn something about an America that her Twitter detractors would be unable to grasp, would overlook entirely".
The Homicide Account
Then we reach to the homicide in question – and the eponymous day passed by the victim with the perpetrator and his associates. The author possesses compelling foundational content, and reconstructs step by step what transpired when a man named Brandon came to meet Brittney after encountering her on a platform where she marketed explicit images. He sought a sexual encounter but seems affably to have spent the day alongside her friends, mooching around fixing his automobile and funding treats and narcotics, before being murdered by Brittney's partner Micah – a individual with mental health challenges who has frequently been hospitalised for aggressive outbursts.
Preoccupation and Open Ends
The protagonist becomes fixated by the story, and I was intrigued by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards responsible documentation and daring boundary-pushing tussle in this section. But I'd have liked her to explore more thoroughly her own obsessions here. The standout figure is Brittney, who becomes vivid partly through Catt seeing herself in her – a similarly gifted, tormented individual derailing in a struggling, neglected community. Kraus notes that the protagonist communicates with Brittney in detention, but she doesn't dramatise these conversations. This entire part feels oddly unfinished, to the degree that her narrative ends almost mid-par
