The Four Spent the Day Together features protagonists pursuing clean slates, trying to break free from drugs or abusive marriages, only to witness hope devolve into violence. Chris Kraus frequently uses the phrase "clean slate", transforming it into intentionally weary through recurring use. Examples include "He aimed to start over" and "They chose to begin anew" recur in the text. And yet, she appears to be undertaking her personal new beginning, because this presents as a novel form of writing – documentarian, authentically narrative. Yet it proves to be laden with the familiar conflicts and aesthetics as past novels.
From Accidental Writer to Cult Classic
Kraus started out as an creative who transitioned to writing almost accidentally with her 1997 cult classic I Love Dick, which was composed of letters to an unreceptive lover, converting intimate women's literature from abjection into rebellion. She continued writing, but the three subsequent fascinating and rebarbative novels lacked the power and directness that the letter form imparted to the voice of I Love Dick. It didn't help was her identity as a maverick maker who had turned into a large-scale low-rent landlord, so there was much discussion on real estate deals. It follows that she currently desires to try out new kinds of material, looking outwards to the experiences of others, at a moment when she claims that contemporary political climate makes confessional writing unnecessary.
Three Generations, One Unescapable Past
The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, spanning several time periods – each trapped by their pasts. The book includes the story of Emma and Jasper, representations of her own mother and father, transitioning from the urban environment to rural Connecticut. Then there is the story of Kraus herself, in the character 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. The third thread involves the story of the murder of one lost young man by another in a locality long abandoned by liberal ideals only 80 miles from Catt's cottage in the Minnesota countryside.
For this reader attracted to polished prose of the kind the author herself tends to eschew, I was captivated by the narrative style of the first section.
As a reader drawn to crafted language of the kind that the author tends to eschew, I was won over by the storytelling approach of the opening segment. It possesses a new quality of attentiveness that accommodates trivial aspects, like the pail that the young Catt frees from the ice at the start of the story, aided by her adored dad. "I found an ice toy!" she declares; "a nice toy", he responds, "the elliptical meanings of words rolling around in their mouths like sweet treats". She tells the tale of Emma with curiosity and intimacy. "It seemed to Emma she had entered a dream – not precisely her dream."
Frustration and Disruption
I was destined to be disappointed when I wished this fresh tone could persist to the end. Kraus says here that she is annoyed by the pleasure those who appreciate polished prose have gotten from I Love Dick; she's devoted to disjunction, to the untidy aesthetics she shares with her idol Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her previous novels reasserts itself in the second segment. The protagonist is trying to renovate three dozen dilapidated units in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while traveling between Minnesota and LA, unable to aid Paul control his drinking. She feels helpless as Paul transitions between low-resource employment as an substance abuse counselor in a society fueled by the anger and fear that underpins Trump's victory. A significant portion discusses about Catt being cancelled on Twitter, her listed profession modified from "writer" to "property owner" on the online encyclopedia. She still gives the impression to invest excessive emotion about this. In a moment she remarks that she's looking into the killing so that before leaving Minnesota, "she might be able to learn something about an America that her online critics would be unable to grasp, would overlook entirely".
The Homicide Account
Then we reach to the actual killing – and the referenced day passed by the deceased with the murderer and his companions. The author possesses compelling foundational content, and reconstructs step by step what transpired when the victim Brandon came to meet Brittney after connecting via an application where she marketed explicit images. He sought a sexual encounter but seems affably to have spent the day in the company of her associates, mooching around fixing his automobile and paying for snacks and drugs, before being shot by Brittney's boyfriend Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has repeatedly received inpatient care for violent rage.
Fascination and Incompletion
The protagonist becomes fixated by the narrative, and I found myself captivated by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards responsible documentation and reckless transgression wrestle in this part. But I'd have liked her to explore more thoroughly her personal fixations here. The compelling persona is the character Brittney, who comes alive partly through Catt's identification with her – another bright, bullied girl derailing in a difficult, overlooked locality. Kraus tells us that Catt speaks to Brittney in prison, but she fails to enact these dialogues. The whole section feels strangely incomplete, to the extent that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par
