This latest work centers on characters pursuing clean slates, trying to break free from addictions or harmful partnerships, only to see hope turn into conflict. Chris Kraus frequently uses the phrase "fresh start", transforming it into willfully cynical through recurring use. Sentences like "He was ready for a new beginning" and "They opted for a clean break" appear throughout the narrative. And yet, the author herself is embarking on her personal new beginning, since this seems a novel form of writing – observational, authentically narrative. Yet it proves to be filled with the familiar conflicts and aesthetics as her previous works.
From Chance Novelist to Iconic Work
The writer started out as an artist who entered the literary world unintentionally with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, which was composed of missives to a distant beloved, elevating confessional female writing from abjection into assassination. She kept producing books, but the next trio of compelling and abrasive novels missed the impact and rawness that the letter form infused into the voice of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her position as a maverick maker who had become a large-scale low-rent landlord, so there was considerable focus on property transactions. It follows that she currently desires to experiment with different types of content, looking outwards to other people's stories, at a moment when she asserts that Trumpian politics renders personal narrative unnecessary.
Three Generations, One Unescapable Past
The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, covering multiple eras – each trapped by their pasts. We encounter the narrative about characters Emma and Jasper, versions of the author's parents, transitioning from the New York borough to rural Connecticut. Then there is the account of Kraus, in the guise of a figure named Catt Greene, reckoning with the belated success of I Love Dick, the rise of Trump, and her addict husband a man named Paul. Finally the story of the murder of one directionless individual by another in a community long abandoned by liberal ideals only 80 miles from Catt's rural residence in a remote part of Minnesota.
As a reader attracted to honed writing of the sort Kraus herself tends to eschew, I was seduced by the literary tone of the opening part.
As a reader who favors honed writing of the variety that Kraus usually avoids, I was won over by the storytelling approach of the first section. It exhibits a fresh level of observation that makes room for minutiae, like the container that the young Catt dislodges from ice at the start of the story, aided by her beloved father. "Look, an ice toy!" she exclaims; "a great plaything", he responds, "the nuanced interpretations of terms circulating in their speech like hard candy". The author narrates the tale of Emma with interest and closeness. "It seemed to Emma she had entered a dream – not entirely her own."
Disappointment and Disjunction
I was fated to feel let down when I expected this different style could continue through the novel. Kraus notes here that she dislikes the pleasure those who appreciate polished prose have derived from I Love Dick; she's devoted to disruption, to the untidy aesthetics she shares with her hero Kathy Acker, and the emptiness and redundancy of her past books comes back in the second segment. Catt Greene is working on refurbishing three dozen dilapidated units in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while shuttling between the Midwest and the West Coast, unsuccessful in assisting Paul control his drinking. She experiences powerlessness as her spouse cycles through poorly supported positions as an substance abuse counselor in a environment propelled by the anger and fear that drives an electoral success. There are several pages about Catt's social media ostracism on social media, her listed profession modified from "novelist" to "real estate holder" on Wikipedia. The author still appears to be overly concerned about this. At one point she remarks that she's looking into the killing so that before leaving Minnesota, "she could potentially understand something about an the United States that her Twitter detractors would be unable to grasp, would not even perceive".
The Homicide Account
Then we reach to the actual killing – and the titular day spent by the deceased with the killer and his companions. The author possesses great source material, and knows hour by hour what transpired when the victim Brandon came to see Brittney after encountering her on a platform where she marketed explicit images. He was hoping for sex but seems affably to have spent the day with her companions, mooching around having his vehicle repaired and paying for snacks and drugs, before being shot by Brittney's partner Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has frequently been hospitalised for aggressive outbursts.
Fascination and Incompletion
The protagonist becomes fixated by the story, and I found myself captivated by the way that her twin drives towards responsible documentation and reckless transgression clash in this segment. But I'd have liked her to explore more thoroughly her individual preoccupations here. The standout figure is Brittney herself, who gains dimension in part due to the protagonist's connection to her – another bright, bullied girl going off the rails in a struggling, neglected community. Kraus notes that the protagonist communicates with Brittney in jail, but she fails to enact these dialogues. The complete segment feels strangely incomplete, to the extent that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par
