The Four Spent the Day Together by author Chris Kraus – A Renowned Writer Ventures Into Something New

The Four Spent the Day Together is populated with protagonists seeking fresh starts, trying to break free from drugs or abusive marriages, only to see hope turn into aggression. Kraus frequently uses the phrase "fresh start", transforming it into deliberately jaded through constant reiteration. Phrases such as "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They opted for a clean break" appear throughout the narrative. Meanwhile, Kraus herself appears to be undertaking her own fresh start, because this presents as a different type of work – documentarian, truly literary. But then it proves to be packed with the recurring issues and approaches as past novels.

From Chance Novelist to Renowned Book

The writer was originally an visual artist who entered the literary world almost accidentally with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, made up of letters to an unreceptive lover, converting intimate women's literature from self-debasement into assassination. She kept producing books, but the next trio of engaging and challenging novels did not possess the power and directness that the letter form infused into the tone of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her identity as a nonconformist creator who had become a large-scale low-rent landlord, so there was considerable focus on housing investments. It is logical that she now wants to experiment with new kinds of material, directing her gaze to the experiences of others, at a time when she asserts that contemporary political climate turns intimate literature redundant.

Several Eras, Shared Inescapable History

The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, covering three generations – all unable to escape their histories. The book includes the tale of Emma and Jasper, based on the author's parents, moving from the New York borough to a pastoral setting. Additionally the account of Kraus, in the character of Catt Greene, reckoning with the delayed acclaim of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her addict husband her husband Paul. And there is the story of the murder of one lost young man by another in a community mostly forsaken by liberal ideals only 80 miles from Catt's cottage in a remote part of Minnesota.

For this reader attracted to honed writing of the type the author herself tends to eschew, I was seduced by the literary tone of the first section.

As a reader who appreciates precise prose of the style that Kraus herself usually avoids, I was won over by the novelistic voice of the opening segment. It possesses a fresh level of observation that accommodates trivial aspects, like the container that the young Catt pries out of frozen water at the beginning of the narrative, assisted by her beloved father. "I discovered a frozen plaything!" she declares; "a great plaything", he responds, "the elliptical meanings of words rolling around in their mouths like piece candy". Kraus writes Emma's story with curiosity and intimacy. "Emma felt like she'd stepped into a dream – not hers, exactly."

Letdown and Fragmentation

I was fated to feel let down when I hoped this different style could persist to the end. Kraus notes here that she dislikes the satisfaction audiences such as myself have gotten from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to disjunction, to the messy artistic approach she has in common with her idol author Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her previous novels comes back in the second segment. Catt Greene is attempting to do up three dozen dilapidated units in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while traveling between two different states, unable to aid Paul curb his addiction. She experiences powerlessness as her spouse cycles through low-resource employment as an substance abuse counselor in a environment fueled by the rage and anxiety that underpins Trump's victory. A significant portion discusses about Catt being cancelled on a platform, her listed profession modified from "writer" to "property owner" on the online encyclopedia. The author still appears to invest excessive emotion about this. At one point she says that she's looking into the killing so that before departing the state, "she could potentially understand something about an America that her Twitter detractors would not understand, would not even see".

The Homicide Account

So then we come to the actual killing – and the titular day experienced by the murdered individual with the killer and his companions. The author possesses excellent raw material, and details moment by moment what happened when the victim Brandon came to visit Brittney after meeting her on an app where she marketed explicit images. He anticipated intimacy but seems affably to have spent the day with her companions, wandering about fixing his automobile and funding treats and narcotics, before being shot by her romantic interest a man named Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has frequently been hospitalised for aggressive outbursts.

Obsession and Unfinished Business

Catt develops an obsession by the narrative, and I found myself captivated by the way that her twin drives towards responsible documentation and reckless transgression wrestle in this part. Yet I wished her to go further into her personal fixations here. The standout figure is Brittney herself, who comes alive in part due to Catt seeing herself in her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman spiraling out of control in a struggling, neglected community. The author informs us that Catt converses with Brittney in prison, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. This entire part feels curiously unresolved, to the extent that her narrative ends almost mid-par