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The Four Spent the Day Together features protagonists pursuing new beginnings, attempting to leave behind substance abuse or abusive marriages, only to see hope turn into conflict. Chris Kraus repeatedly invokes the phrase "fresh start", rendering it willfully cynical through constant reiteration. Examples include "He aimed to start over" and "They chose to begin anew" recur in the narrative. And yet, Kraus herself is embarking on her own fresh start, as this seems a different type of work – observational, authentically narrative. However it reveals itself to be filled with the same dilemmas and approaches as earlier books.

From Chance Novelist to Iconic Work

The writer was originally an visual artist who became a writer unintentionally with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, structured as missives to a distant beloved, converting confessional female writing from abjection into assassination. She kept producing books, but the three subsequent engaging and challenging novels did not possess the power and directness that the letter form infused into the narrative voice of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her role as a nonconformist creator who had evolved into a major property owner, so there was significant attention on real estate deals. It makes sense that she currently desires to explore new kinds of material, turning outward to the experiences of others, at a time when she asserts that contemporary political climate turns intimate literature obsolete.

Three Generations, Shared Inescapable History

The Four Spent the Day Together is structured in three parts, covering multiple eras – none able to break free from their pasts. The book includes the tale of a couple named Emma and Jasper, based on Kraus's parents, moving from the Bronx to rural Connecticut. Additionally the narrative of the author, in the character of protagonist Catt Greene, reckoning with the belated success of I Love Dick, the rise of Trump, and her partner struggling with addiction Paul. The third thread involves the story of the murder of one lost young man by another in a locality mostly forsaken by progressive politics only a short distance from Catt's cottage in rural Minnesota.

From my perspective as a reader drawn to refined literature of the type the author herself tends to eschew, I was captivated by the narrative style of the initial segment.

As someone who reads who appreciates crafted language of the variety that Kraus herself usually avoids, I was captivated by the storytelling approach of the first section. There is a new quality of attentiveness that allows space for trivial aspects, like the bucket that the protagonist as a child frees from the ice at the opening of the book, assisted by her cherished parent. "Look, an ice toy!" she exclaims; "a lovely toy", he answers, "the elliptical meanings of words rolling around in their mouths like sweet treats". The author narrates Emma's story with inquiry and familiarity. "It seemed to Emma she had entered a dream – not precisely her dream."

Disappointment and Disjunction

I was fated to feel let down when I expected this different style could last out the book. The author states here that she dislikes the satisfaction those who appreciate polished prose have gotten from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to disruption, to the unpolished style she has in common with her hero author Kathy Acker, and the emptiness and redundancy of her previous novels returns in the central part. The protagonist is trying to renovate multiple decrepit residences in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while shuttling between the Midwest and the West Coast, failing to help her husband manage his alcohol use. She feels helpless as Paul cycles through poorly supported positions as an substance abuse counselor in a environment driven by the hostility and dread that powers a political win. A significant portion discusses about the protagonist facing cancellation on Twitter, her listed profession modified from "writer" to "property owner" on Wikipedia. Kraus still seems to care a little too much about this. On one occasion she says that she's researching the homicide so that before exiting the region, "she may grasp something about an the nation that her Twitter detractors would be unable to grasp, would not even perceive".

The Homicide Account

So then we come to the actual killing – and the eponymous day spent by the murdered individual with the perpetrator and his associates. Kraus has compelling foundational content, and reconstructs step by step what happened when Brandon came to see Brittney after connecting via an application 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 shot by her romantic interest Micah – a individual with mental health challenges who has often been institutionalized for fits of anger.

Preoccupation and Open Ends

Catt gets obsessed by the story, and I was intrigued by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards accurate chronicling and reckless transgression tussle in this section. Yet I wished her to delve deeper into her individual preoccupations here. The compelling persona is Brittney herself, who comes alive 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 speaks to Brittney in detention, but she fails to enact these dialogues. The whole section feels curiously unresolved, to the degree that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par