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The Four Spent the Day Together centers on protagonists seeking clean slates, attempting to leave behind drugs or toxic relationships, only to see hope turn into violence. Chris Kraus repeatedly invokes the phrase "clean slate", making it willfully cynical through its repetitions. Phrases such as "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They opted for a clean break" appear throughout the narrative. And yet, Kraus herself seems to be making her individual reinvention, as this seems a different type of work – observational, authentically narrative. But then it turns out to be filled with the recurring issues and approaches as earlier books.

From Chance Novelist to Iconic Work

Kraus began as an creative who transitioned to writing unintentionally with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, structured as missives to a distant beloved, converting confessional female writing from self-debasement into defiance. She kept producing books, but the following three compelling and abrasive novels did not possess the impact and rawness that the letter form brought to the voice of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her role as a nonconformist creator who had evolved into a large-scale low-rent landlord, so there was significant attention on property transactions. It is logical that she presently aims to explore fresh narrative sources, turning outward to other people's stories, at a time when she states that contemporary political climate renders personal narrative unnecessary.

Several Eras, Shared Inescapable History

The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, spanning several time periods – all unable to escape their histories. We encounter the narrative about Emma and Jasper, based on the author's parents, moving from the Bronx to rural Connecticut. Then there is the narrative of the author, in the guise of a figure named Catt Greene, confronting the delayed acclaim of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her addict husband a man named Paul. The third thread involves the account of a killing of one directionless individual by another in a town long abandoned by liberal ideals only a short distance from Catt's rural residence in a remote part of Minnesota.

From my perspective as a reader fond of refined literature of the type Kraus often avoids, I was captivated by the novelistic voice of the initial segment.

As a reader drawn to precise prose of the style that the author usually avoids, I was won over by the literary tone of the initial part. It exhibits a fresh level of observation that makes room for trivial aspects, like the bucket that the protagonist as a child frees from the ice at the start of the story, aided by her adored dad. "I discovered a frozen plaything!" she says; "a lovely toy", he responds, "the elliptical meanings of words tumbling in their mouths like piece candy". 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 bound to become frustrated when I wished this fresh tone could last out the book. Kraus says here that she dislikes the satisfaction audiences such as myself have gotten from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to disjunction, to the unpolished style she shares with her inspiration author Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her earlier works returns in the central part. The protagonist is working on refurbishing 36 run-down apartments in the city's most challenging districts while shuttling between the Midwest and the West Coast, unable to aid her husband curb his addiction. She experiences powerlessness as her spouse moves between underfunded jobs as an substance abuse counselor in a environment propelled by the anger and fear that powers Trump's victory. Multiple pages are devoted about the protagonist facing cancellation on Twitter, her listed profession modified from "writer" to "property owner" on Wikipedia. Kraus still seems to be overly concerned about this. On one occasion she says that she's researching the homicide so that before departing the state, "she could potentially understand something about an the nation that her Twitter detractors would not understand, would overlook entirely".

The Homicide Account

Then we reach to the homicide in question – and the referenced day passed by the murdered individual with the killer and his associates. The author possesses great source material, and knows hour by hour what transpired when the victim Brandon came to visit Brittney after meeting her on an app where she offered adult photos. He sought a sexual encounter but seems amiably to have occupied the day with her companions, mooching around fixing his automobile and covering the cost of food and substances, before being shot by her romantic interest Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has repeatedly received inpatient care for fits of anger.

Preoccupation and Open Ends

Catt gets obsessed by the narrative, and I was fascinated by the way that her twin drives towards responsible documentation and reckless transgression clash in this segment. Yet I wished her to delve deeper into her individual preoccupations here. The most interesting character is Brittney herself, who gains dimension 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 doesn't dramatise these conversations. The complete segment feels oddly unfinished, to the degree that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par