The Four Spent the Day Together is populated with characters seeking clean slates, attempting to leave behind addictions or abusive marriages, only to witness hope devolve into conflict. Chris Kraus repeatedly invokes the phrase "clean slate", making it deliberately jaded through constant reiteration. Phrases such as "He could make a fresh start" and "They opted for a clean break" appear throughout the story. At the same time, Kraus herself appears to be undertaking her own fresh start, because this seems a novel form of writing – fact-based, genuinely novelistic. Yet it proves to be laden with the familiar conflicts and approaches as earlier books.
From Unplanned Author to Cult Classic
The writer was originally an creative who became a writer somewhat by chance with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, made up of epistles to an unresponsive love interest, converting confessional female writing from humiliation into rebellion. She continued writing, but the three subsequent compelling and abrasive novels lacked the shock and immediacy that the correspondence format infused into the narrative voice of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her role as a nonconformist creator who had evolved into a major property owner, so there was considerable focus on real estate deals. It follows that she now wants to try out different types of content, looking outwards to the experiences of others, at a moment when she asserts that contemporary political climate makes confessional writing redundant.
Multiple Generations, One Unescapable Past
The Four Spent the Day Together is structured in three parts, covering several time periods – each trapped by their backgrounds. We encounter the narrative about a couple named Emma and Jasper, representations of Kraus's parents, relocating from the New York borough to the Connecticut countryside. There is the account of Kraus, in the guise of a figure named Catt Greene, grappling with the late recognition of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her addict husband Paul. Finally the narrative of a homicide of one lost young man by another in a town long abandoned by liberal ideals only a short distance from the protagonist's home in rural Minnesota.
As a reader drawn to polished prose of the kind Kraus often avoids, I was enchanted by the novelistic voice of the initial segment.
As someone who reads drawn to honed writing of the variety that Kraus often disregards, I was seduced by the literary tone of the opening segment. There is a fresh level of observation that allows space for minutiae, like the container that the youthful Catt dislodges from ice at the start of the story, helped by her cherished parent. "I found an ice toy!" she declares; "a nice toy", he responds, "the elliptical meanings of words circulating in their speech like sweet treats". Kraus writes Emma's story with inquiry and familiarity. "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 continue through the novel. Kraus says here that she resents the enjoyment readers like me have derived from I Love Dick; she's devoted to disruption, to the untidy aesthetics she has in common with her idol Kathy Acker, and the emptiness and redundancy of her past books comes back in the middle section. Catt is working on refurbishing multiple decrepit residences in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while shuttling between two different states, unsuccessful in assisting her husband manage his alcohol use. She is overwhelmed as Paul cycles through low-resource employment as an addiction therapist in a environment fueled by the anger and fear that drives a political win. A significant portion discusses about Catt being cancelled on social media, her professional designation altered from "author" to "property owner" on a reference site. Kraus still seems to care a little too much about this. At one point she says that she's investigating the murder so that before exiting the region, "she could potentially understand something about an the United States that her Twitter detractors would not understand, would not even perceive".
The Homicide Account
So then we come to the homicide in question – and the titular day spent by the deceased with the perpetrator and his friends. Kraus has great source material, and knows hour by hour what occurred as Brandon came to see Brittney after meeting her on an app 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 paying for snacks and drugs, before being shot by her romantic interest Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has repeatedly received inpatient care for fits of anger.
Fascination and Incompletion
The protagonist becomes fixated by the story, and I found myself captivated by the way that her twin drives towards ethical reporting and reckless transgression wrestle in this part. However, I would have preferred her to go further into her personal fixations here. The standout figure is Brittney, who becomes vivid partly through the protagonist's connection to her – another bright, bullied girl spiraling out of control in a difficult, overlooked locality. The author informs us that Catt converses with Brittney in prison, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. This entire part feels oddly unfinished, to the extent that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par
