This latest work features protagonists pursuing clean slates, trying to break free from substance abuse or toxic relationships, only to find hope curdling into aggression. Kraus frequently uses the phrase "fresh start", transforming it into willfully cynical through recurring use. Phrases such as "He aimed to start over" and "They opted for a clean break" recur in the text. And yet, she seems to be making her own fresh start, since this presents as a new kind of book – observational, authentically narrative. But then it reveals itself to be packed with the same dilemmas and aesthetics as her previous works.
From Accidental Writer to Renowned Book
Chris Kraus was originally an creative who entered the literary world almost accidentally with her 1997 seminal work I Love Dick, which was composed of letters to an unreceptive lover, converting personal female narrative from self-debasement into assassination. She continued writing, but the next trio of compelling and abrasive novels lacked the power and directness that the correspondence format infused into the voice of I Love Dick. It didn't help was her role as a maverick maker who had evolved into a major property owner, so there was significant attention on property transactions. It follows that she presently aims to experiment with different types of content, looking outwards to the experiences of others, at a period in which she states that contemporary political climate makes confessional writing redundant.
Multiple Generations, One Unescapable Past
The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, spanning three generations – each trapped by their backgrounds. We encounter the tale of characters Emma and Jasper, based on Kraus's parents, relocating from the urban environment to the Connecticut countryside. Additionally the story of Kraus herself, in the character of a figure named Catt Greene, reckoning with the late recognition of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her partner struggling with addiction Paul. And there is the account of a killing of one troubled youth by another in a town long abandoned by progressive politics only a brief drive from Catt's cottage in a remote part of Minnesota.
As a reader attracted to polished prose of the type Kraus herself tends to eschew, I was enchanted by the literary tone of the opening part.
Being a reader who appreciates crafted language of the variety that Kraus herself usually avoids, I was won over by the storytelling approach of the initial part. It exhibits a novel degree of detail that allows space for minutiae, like the container that the protagonist as a child frees from the ice at the start of the story, assisted by her adored dad. "I found an ice toy!" she declares; "a nice toy", he answers, "the elliptical meanings of words tumbling in their mouths like piece candy". She tells the tale of Emma with inquiry and familiarity. "Emma felt like she'd stepped into a dream – not precisely her dream."
Letdown and Fragmentation
I was fated to feel let down when I wished this different style could last out the book. Kraus notes here that she is annoyed by the enjoyment audiences such as myself have derived from I Love Dick; she's devoted to fragmentation, to the messy artistic approach she shares with her inspiration Kathy Acker, and the void and recurrence of her past books reasserts itself in the middle section. The protagonist is trying to renovate multiple decrepit residences in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while traveling between the Midwest and the West Coast, failing to help her husband control his drinking. She feels helpless as her spouse moves between poorly supported positions as an substance abuse counselor in a world propelled by the anger and fear that drives Trump's victory. Multiple pages are devoted about Catt being cancelled on social media, her professional designation altered from "writer" to "property owner" on the online encyclopedia. Kraus still seems to care a little too much about this. On one occasion she says that she's investigating the murder so that before leaving Minnesota, "she could potentially understand something about an the nation that her online critics would fail to comprehend, would not even see".
The Murder Narrative
Thus we arrive to the murder itself – and the titular day experienced by the deceased with the perpetrator and his companions. Kraus utilizes compelling foundational content, and knows hour by hour what happened when Brandon came to visit Brittney after meeting her on an app where she offered adult photos. He sought a sexual encounter but appears congenially to have passed the day in the company of her associates, wandering about getting his car mended and paying for snacks and drugs, before being murdered by her romantic interest a man named Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has repeatedly received inpatient care for aggressive outbursts.
Obsession and Unfinished Business
Catt gets obsessed by the narrative, and I was intrigued by the way that the author's conflicting impulses towards ethical reporting and audacious rule-breaking clash in this segment. But I'd have liked her to delve deeper into her personal fixations here. The most interesting character is the character Brittney, who comes alive partly through Catt seeing herself in her – a similarly gifted, tormented individual spiraling out of control in a struggling, neglected community. The author informs us that Catt speaks to Brittney in prison, but she fails to enact these dialogues. The complete segment feels curiously unresolved, to the point that Kraus's narration ends almost mid-par
