The new book features characters pursuing clean slates, attempting to leave behind addictions or harmful partnerships, only to see hope turn into conflict. Chris Kraus frequently uses the phrase "new beginning", rendering it intentionally weary through constant reiteration. Phrases such as "He could make a fresh start" and "They opted for a clean break" recur in the text. And yet, she is embarking on her own fresh start, since this presents as a different type of work – observational, truly literary. But then it turns out to be packed with the familiar conflicts and styles as her previous works.
From Chance Novelist to Cult Classic
The writer was originally an creative who entered the literary world unintentionally with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, which was composed of missives to a distant beloved, converting intimate women's literature from abjection into rebellion. She continued writing, but the following three compelling and abrasive novels lacked the power and directness that the correspondence format infused into the narrative voice of I Love Dick. It didn't help was her position as a renegade artist who had become a extensive real estate holder, so there was significant attention on housing investments. It is logical that she presently aims to explore fresh narrative sources, turning outward to other people's stories, at a period in which she states 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 – none able to break free from their pasts. There is the narrative about characters Emma and Jasper, representations of Kraus's parents, relocating from the Bronx to rural Connecticut. Additionally the narrative of the author, in the persona of Catt Greene, confronting the delayed acclaim of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her addict husband Paul. And there is the story of the murder of one troubled youth by another in a town long abandoned by liberal ideals only a brief drive from Catt's rural residence in rural Minnesota.
For this reader drawn to refined literature of the kind Kraus tends to eschew, I was seduced by the literary tone of the opening part.
As a reader who favors precise prose of the style that the author usually avoids, I was seduced by the storytelling approach of the opening segment. It exhibits a novel degree of detail that makes room for trivial aspects, like the container that the protagonist as a child dislodges from ice at the opening of the book, helped by her beloved father. "Look, an ice toy!" she says; "a lovely toy", he answers, "the nuanced interpretations of terms rolling around in their mouths like hard candy". She tells the tale of Emma with curiosity and intimacy. "Emma experienced a dreamlike sensation – not hers, exactly."
Frustration and Disruption
I was bound to become frustrated when I expected this new voice could persist to the end. Kraus says here that she resents the satisfaction those who appreciate polished prose have taken from I Love Dick; she's dedicated to disruption, to the untidy aesthetics she shares with her idol author Kathy Acker, and the emptiness and redundancy of her earlier works reasserts itself in the second segment. Catt is working on refurbishing multiple decrepit residences in the city's most challenging districts while traveling between Minnesota and LA, unsuccessful in assisting her husband curb his addiction. She is overwhelmed as Paul moves between underfunded jobs as an substance abuse counselor in a world fueled by the hostility and dread that powers an electoral success. Multiple pages are devoted about Catt being cancelled on social media, her occupation changed from "author" to "property owner" on a reference site. The author still appears to be overly concerned about this. In a moment she remarks that she's investigating the murder so that before departing the state, "she may grasp something about an the United States that her social media opponents would be unable to grasp, would overlook entirely".
The Murder Narrative
So then we come to the homicide in question – and the referenced day spent by the murdered individual with the killer and his friends. Kraus has great source material, and knows hour by hour what transpired when Brandon came to visit Brittney after meeting her on an app where she offered adult photos. He was hoping for sex but seems affably to have spent the day with her companions, wandering about getting his car mended and covering the cost of food and substances, before being murdered by Brittney's boyfriend Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has frequently been hospitalised for aggressive outbursts.
Preoccupation and Open Ends
The protagonist becomes fixated by the story, and I was fascinated by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards ethical reporting and daring boundary-pushing wrestle in this part. But I'd have liked her to delve deeper into her own obsessions here. The compelling persona is Brittney, who comes alive in part due to the protagonist's connection to her – another bright, bullied girl derailing in a troubled, forgotten town. The author informs us that Catt speaks to Brittney in prison, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. The whole section feels oddly unfinished, to the degree that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par
