The Four Spent the Day Together centers on individuals pursuing fresh starts, struggling to escape addictions or abusive marriages, only to witness hope devolve into aggression. Chris Kraus frequently uses the phrase "fresh start", rendering it intentionally weary through its repetitions. Phrases such as "He aimed to start over" and "They decided to make a fresh start" recur in the narrative. And yet, she appears to be undertaking her personal new beginning, because this presents as a new kind of book – fact-based, truly literary. However it reveals itself to be packed with the familiar conflicts and styles as earlier books.
From Accidental Writer to Renowned Book
Chris Kraus began as an visual artist who became a writer somewhat by chance with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, which was composed of missives to a distant beloved, elevating personal female narrative from abjection into assassination. She kept producing books, but the following three engaging and challenging novels did not possess the power and directness that the epistolary style brought to the voice of I Love Dick. It didn't help was her position as a renegade artist who had turned into a extensive real estate holder, so there was much discussion on real estate deals. It follows that she presently aims to experiment with fresh narrative sources, turning outward to other people's stories, at a moment when she claims that contemporary political climate makes confessional writing redundant.
Three Generations, Shared Inescapable History
The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, spanning three generations – each trapped by their histories. We encounter the story of characters Emma and Jasper, versions of her own mother and father, moving from the urban environment to rural Connecticut. Additionally the story of Kraus herself, in the guise of a figure named Catt Greene, reckoning with the delayed acclaim of I Love Dick, the ascent of a political figure, and her partner struggling with addiction Paul. And there is the narrative of a homicide of one troubled youth by another in a community mostly forsaken by forward-thinking policies only a brief drive from Catt's rural residence in the Minnesota countryside.
For this reader attracted to honed writing of the kind the author herself typically rejects, I was seduced by the literary tone of the initial segment.
As a reader who appreciates honed writing of the style that Kraus often disregards, I was captivated by the storytelling approach of the opening segment. It possesses a new quality of attentiveness that allows space for minutiae, like the bucket that the young Catt pries out of frozen water at the opening of the book, helped by her cherished parent. "I found an ice toy!" she declares; "a great plaything", he responds, "the elliptical meanings of words tumbling in their mouths like hard candy". She tells the tale of Emma with curiosity and intimacy. "Emma felt like she'd stepped into a dream – not entirely her own."
Frustration and Disruption
I was destined to be disappointed when I expected this fresh tone could persist to the end. Kraus notes here that she resents the satisfaction audiences such as myself have taken from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to disruption, to the untidy aesthetics she has in common with her idol writer Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her earlier works returns in the second segment. Catt Greene is attempting to do up three dozen dilapidated units in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while shuttling between Minnesota and LA, failing to help Paul control his drinking. She feels helpless as Paul cycles through poorly supported positions as an substance abuse counselor in a society driven by the anger and fear that powers an electoral success. A significant portion discusses about Catt being cancelled on a platform, her professional designation altered from "writer" to "property owner" on Wikipedia. Kraus still seems to care a little too much about this. At one point she states that she's looking into the killing so that before leaving Minnesota, "she could potentially understand something about an the nation that her social media opponents would fail to comprehend, would not even perceive".
The Killing Story
Thus we arrive to the actual killing – and the titular day spent by the victim with the killer and his friends. The author possesses excellent raw material, and knows hour by hour what transpired when Brandon came to meet Brittney after encountering her on a platform where she sold sex pictures. He was hoping for sex but seems amiably to have occupied the day alongside her friends, loitering fixing his automobile and funding treats and narcotics, before being killed by gunfire by Brittney's partner a man named Micah – a individual with mental health challenges who has frequently been hospitalised for aggressive outbursts.
Obsession and Unfinished Business
Catt gets obsessed by the narrative, and I was fascinated by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards ethical reporting and audacious rule-breaking clash in this segment. However, I would have preferred her to delve deeper into her individual preoccupations here. The compelling persona is Brittney, who gains dimension in part due to the protagonist's connection to her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman derailing in a struggling, neglected community. The author informs us that the protagonist communicates with Brittney in detention, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. This entire part feels strangely incomplete, to the extent that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par
