The new book is populated with individuals chasing after clean slates, attempting to leave behind addictions or toxic relationships, only to see hope turn into violence. Chris Kraus repeatedly invokes the phrase "new beginning", rendering it deliberately jaded through recurring use. Sentences like "He could make a fresh start" and "They opted for a clean break" appear throughout the text. Meanwhile, she seems to be making her own fresh start, as this presents as a different type of work – documentarian, truly literary. However it reveals itself to be packed with the recurring issues and aesthetics as her previous works.
From Accidental Writer to Cult Classic
The writer started out as an artist who entered the literary world somewhat by chance with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, structured as epistles to an unresponsive love interest, transforming intimate women's literature from abjection into rebellion. She kept producing books, but the three subsequent compelling and abrasive novels missed the power and directness that the letter form imparted to the voice of I Love Dick. Compounding this was her identity as a maverick maker who had turned into a major property owner, so there was much discussion on housing investments. It is logical that she presently aims to explore fresh narrative sources, directing her gaze to the experiences of others, at a period in which she claims that current political era makes confessional writing obsolete.
Multiple Generations, One Unescapable Past
The Four Spent the Day Together is organized into a trio of segments, covering three generations – none able to break free from their pasts. The book includes the tale of Emma and Jasper, representations of Kraus's parents, moving from the Bronx to rural Connecticut. There is the narrative of the author, in the character of Catt Greene, confronting the belated success of I Love Dick, the rise of Trump, and her partner struggling with addiction a man named Paul. Finally the story of the murder of one directionless individual by another in a town long abandoned by progressive politics only a brief drive from Catt's rural residence in the Minnesota countryside.
For this reader drawn to polished prose of the sort the author herself typically rejects, I was enchanted by the novelistic voice of the first section.
Being a reader who favors crafted language of the variety that the author often disregards, I was won over by the storytelling approach of the first section. It exhibits a novel degree of detail that accommodates minutiae, like the pail that the youthful Catt dislodges from ice at the start of the story, assisted by her cherished parent. "I found an ice toy!" she declares; "a nice toy", he responds, "the ambiguous meanings of language tumbling in their mouths like hard candy". The author narrates Emma's story with interest and closeness. "Emma felt like she'd stepped into a dream – not precisely her dream."
Frustration and Disruption
I was destined to be disappointed when I hoped this fresh tone could continue through the novel. Kraus says here that she is annoyed by the pleasure readers like me have derived from I Love Dick; she's committed to disjunction, to the unpolished style she shares with her inspiration author Kathy Acker, and the blankness and repetitiveness of her past books comes back in the middle section. Catt is trying to renovate three dozen dilapidated units in the most troubled areas of Albuquerque while moving between two different states, unable to aid her husband control his drinking. She experiences powerlessness as Paul transitions between underfunded jobs as an substance abuse counselor in a society fueled by the hostility and dread that drives an electoral success. A significant portion discusses about Catt being cancelled on social media, her professional designation altered from "author" to "landlord" on the online encyclopedia. The author still appears to invest excessive emotion about this. At one point she remarks that she's looking into the killing so that before departing the state, "she might be able to learn something about an the United States that her online critics would fail to comprehend, would overlook entirely".
The Murder Narrative
Thus we arrive to the murder itself – and the eponymous day experienced by the murdered individual with the perpetrator and his associates. Kraus has excellent raw material, and knows hour by hour what transpired when the victim Brandon came to visit Brittney after connecting via an application where she offered adult photos. He sought a sexual encounter but seems amiably to have occupied the day in the company of her associates, wandering about fixing his automobile and paying for snacks and drugs, before being killed by gunfire by Brittney's partner Micah – a young, mentally ill man who has repeatedly received inpatient care for fits of anger.
Obsession and Unfinished Business
Catt gets obsessed by the account, and I found myself captivated by the way that Kraus's dual urges towards responsible documentation and reckless transgression wrestle in this part. But I'd have liked her to delve deeper into her own obsessions here. The most interesting character is the character Brittney, who gains dimension partially because of the protagonist's connection to her – yet another intelligent, harassed young woman going off the rails in a troubled, forgotten town. The author informs us that Catt converses with Brittney in prison, but she fails to enact these dialogues. The complete segment feels oddly unfinished, to the point that the author's storytelling ends almost mid-par
