The Four Spent the Day Together is populated with individuals pursuing clean slates, struggling to escape drugs or harmful partnerships, only to see hope turn into conflict. The author often employs the phrase "clean slate", making it intentionally weary through its repetitions. Phrases such as "He could make a fresh start" and "They opted for a clean break" recur in the story. Meanwhile, Kraus herself appears to be undertaking her personal new beginning, as this presents as a novel form of writing – observational, genuinely novelistic. However it proves to be packed with the same dilemmas and aesthetics as past novels.
From Unplanned Author to Cult Classic
Chris Kraus started out as an artist who entered the literary world somewhat by chance with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, made up of missives to a distant beloved, transforming personal female narrative from humiliation into assassination. She persisted as a writer, but the following three fascinating and rebarbative novels did not possess the power and directness that the epistolary style imparted to the narrative voice of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her position as a nonconformist creator who had turned into a extensive real estate holder, so there was much discussion on property transactions. It makes sense that she presently aims to try out different types of content, looking outwards to external narratives, at a time when she states that current political era turns intimate literature obsolete.
Three Generations, Collective Unavoidable Background
The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, encompassing multiple eras – all unable to escape their histories. We encounter the tale of characters Emma and Jasper, versions of the author's parents, relocating from the Bronx to rural Connecticut. Then there is the narrative of the author, in the character of Catt Greene, confronting the delayed acclaim of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her partner struggling with addiction Paul. Finally the narrative of a homicide of one troubled youth by another in a community long abandoned by liberal ideals only a short distance from Catt's cottage in the Minnesota countryside.
As a reader drawn to polished prose of the type Kraus herself tends to eschew, I was enchanted by the narrative style of the opening part.
Being a reader drawn to crafted language of the variety that Kraus tends to eschew, I was seduced by the storytelling approach of the initial part. It possesses a new quality of attentiveness that allows space for small details, like the pail that the youthful Catt dislodges from ice at the start of the story, assisted by her beloved father. "I found an ice toy!" she declares; "a nice toy", he answers, "the ambiguous meanings of language circulating in their speech like hard candy". She tells Emma's narrative with inquiry and familiarity. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not hers, exactly."
Disappointment and Disjunction
I was fated to feel let down when I expected this different style could persist to the end. The author states here that she resents the satisfaction readers like me have gotten from I Love Dick; she's committed to fragmentation, to the messy artistic approach she has in common with her inspiration author Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her past books comes back in the central part. The protagonist is working on refurbishing three dozen dilapidated units in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while moving between Minnesota and LA, unsuccessful in assisting Paul curb his addiction. She feels helpless as Paul transitions between poorly supported positions as an recovery specialist in a world propelled by the hostility and dread that drives an electoral success. There are several pages about the protagonist facing cancellation on a platform, her listed profession modified from "author" to "real estate holder" on Wikipedia. Kraus still seems to be overly concerned about this. At one point she states that she's researching the homicide so that before exiting the region, "she could potentially understand something about an the United States that her online critics would be unable to grasp, would not even perceive".
The Homicide Account
Then we reach to the murder itself – and the eponymous day passed by the murdered individual with the murderer and his friends. The author possesses great source material, and knows hour by hour what occurred as Brandon came to meet Brittney after connecting via an application where she marketed explicit images. He anticipated intimacy 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 boyfriend a man named Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has repeatedly received inpatient care for fits of anger.
Preoccupation and Open Ends
Catt develops an obsession by the story, and I was intrigued by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards ethical reporting and reckless transgression tussle in this section. Yet I wished her to explore more thoroughly her personal fixations here. The most interesting character is Brittney herself, who becomes vivid in part due to the protagonist's connection to her – another bright, bullied girl derailing in a difficult, overlooked locality. Kraus tells us that the protagonist communicates with Brittney in jail, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. The whole section feels oddly unfinished, to the degree that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par
